Windows

P 3413 Let’s not paint on windows of our mind.

/ DVH

Fear, and sin love to paint their tormenting little scenarios in our minds. I like to be positive on this blog, but the bible clearly says we need to ‘know our adversary.’  And one of his best tricks is to make me think that my adversary is … ME, MYSELF AND I!! I am sure you know what I mean – we often forget what the Lord has already done to set us free.

When something bad happens, we can instantly find reasons to blame ourselves. But what really happens is the other guy stands by whispering into our minds, reminding us of our mistakes and faults. Our poor motivation starts with a thought. Then he tempts us with something we think is good that distracts us from the real battle. God doesn’t tempt us. James 1:13: “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God” [for temptation does not originate from God, but from our own flaws]; for God cannot be tempted by [what is] evil, and He Himself tempts no one.” Find the ‘fatal flaw’ and deal with it.

The enemy uses doubt like a spray can of paint while he is trying to twist or cover up the truth. Plus he tries to disrupt our thoughts with temptations, threats or intimidation. It happened to Jesus and it will happen to us, we are not exempt. But, because we chose Jesus we have a way to escape, thank you Lord! Knowing the Word of God is our way to fight! Let’s be alert and aware of the devil’s schemes, and remember how easily we can be outwitted. 2 Corinthians 2:11. “…in order that satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”

Our enemy will always challenge God’s word. (Genesis 3.) he has no tender-heartedness, or pity in him, so he delights in preying on our ignorance or innocence. And another way he sucks us into his vortex of lies, is to challenge our identity in Christ. (Luke 4:1-13; Mark 1:34.) He tells us those promises in God’s Word are for someone much nicer and more spiritual than we are. Many saints suffer from his whispers that their salvation is not firm.

Our salvation, our turning to Jesus to save us, may not look like Brother-I-got-baptised-in-the-river-Jordan’s grand event. Instead, we simply went up the front and didn’t feel a thing … but we knew we had to make that choice and we did. Our enemy picks at the parts of our faith that are weakened by our own sin, doubt, and sometimes other people’s rejection of us etc. Daily, he prods at us to focus on those things. 

Let’s focus on Jesus, what He did FOR us, and what He is doing IN us, right now. He is our true north! My prayers may not be answered and sometimes yours aren’t either … but that’s not the point. The point is what is your focus today? If we are not clinging to Jesus like a limpet on a rock, we could be making ourselves a target. The devil creates emotional tornadoes everywhere, and we can be easily overwhelmed by those thoughts that hit us upside the head … unless we choose to make the main thing the main thing. JESUS IS ALWAYS THE MAIN THING. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7. We cannot afford to face our adversary unprotected – we have armour! Let’s stand still ready to battle the accuser when he flings lies at us. We do things the way Jesus tells us to do them. He’s the One Who beat satan.

Under extreme circumstances, which we all face, it is good to SING! — “Be filled with the Spirit singing to yourselves, with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melodies in your heart to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:18,19. Preferably not out loud in a public place, because people will look at you funny and perhaps send for the men in those white coats. I sing in my head, and I recommend that. I find my best fighting scriptures there too. It can be distracting if you happen to be talking to someone else, but it works – stay in listening-to-Jesus-mode, don’t switch off.

The bible tells us to “put on the whole armour of God,” because we need it. Ephesians 6:10-18. The first thing we do after making sure we have our armour on —is to make a stand. Plant your feet. You are a tree planted by God Himself by the riverside, don’t be moved. We have been saved by Grace, now we belong to Jesus. Ask for scriptures to fight the circumstances and feelings … we can’t afford to let ourselves entertain any kind of lie. Don’t worry if the person in front of you is piling up lies like some people pile up the trash – don’t you lie. Your truth is God’s truth, and that’s the bat we use to bash away the lies that come at us. We don’t care about what Sister-I-always-know-the-Answer says. What is Jesus saying, right here, right now – in His book?

Let’s press the refresh button, and remind ourselves that God loves me! Then quickly get rid of any sin that might trip us up, so we can stay in love with everyone around us. Peace is our portion. We live within His peace, and we spread that heart peace around us everywhere we go. As we acknowledge Jesus’ Lordship in our lives, we will get better and better at raising up the shield of faith.

Lastly, let the Holy Spirit frame your prayers. Yield to His will His way, daily. And please don’t let satan paint lies on the windows of your mind. They will block out the marvellous things the Lord has given us to see and do.  Bye.🔥.

P 3281 Doors an windows.

/ DVH

Whenever we can see our loving Heavenly Father at work, it could be a door, OR a window! What do I mean by that? A door opens life up to new possibilities for His plans in your own life – you can walk through it into a new place. A window shows you possibilities, but they are outside your reach. You can see stuff, but only from a distance. One creates action, the other can create despair and frustration… unless you prayerfully use what you see out of the window, to send you to the open door! An open door is not enough – you need the leading of the Holy Spirit and inner peace.

Christians talk about this stuff a lot. They often say that God has opened ‘a door’ for them to do such and such. Here’s what happened to Paul a couple of times … 2 Corinthians 2:12-14: “Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.” Yet in 1 Corinthians 16:8&9. “But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” 

Don’t you just love it? Paul goes to Troas and finds ‘an open door’ but he had no peace.  Plus Titus, his companion in the Lord, wasn’t there. This next scripture from Acts, shows us what happened after that. You and I can see an open door, many times in our Christian lives but, the question to ask is this: is it OUR door, or is it simply a window showing us possibilities. The verse in first Corinthians explains something powerful, something we need to know. A door was open at Ephesus at another time too, and Paul went through it, yet he lingered there, despite the fact that there were many adversaries!

What does that teach us? Here’s my potted version … adverse situations and people don’t mean the door you want to go through is shut! You might want to think on that. Many a fine missionary has run into all kinds of adversity and adversaries, but that did not daunt them. They stayed true to their heavenly calling. The leading of the Holy Spirit is extremely important whenever we want to obey the Lord by “going out into all the world to preach the gospel.” And no peace is a sign that you are there all by yourself. Peace is our umpire! We will end up side-lined in the sin bin if we ignore the umpire! 

Over to Acts 16:6-12 it says: “And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them …” 

Do you see that? It was the right calling —- wrong place —- God redirected Paul through a vision. It seems to me that he saw something through a window, and then the Lord helped him find the right door! Father God is so merciful, He gave Paul that vision to help him go in the right direction. If you go somewhere for Jesus because you believe He called you to go — then first of all, like Paul, take a partner who has the same heart as you! Remember, in 2nd Corinthians Paul didn’t find Titus so he moved on, plus He had no peace. That’s because God wanted him elsewhere and Troas was not the place. 

If we read about this situation in Acts, we can see that the Holy Spirit Himself forbad them to speak in Asia. We simply must learn to follow the Holy Spirit, He will guide us. People have lost their faith doing something God Himself never called them to do. They went simply because there was an open door. Not every open door belongs to us. Prayerfully make sure it is your door! 

Because we are His — Almighty God controls our opportunities. Jesus Himself said this in the book of Revelation 3:7,8: “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the Holy One, the True One, Who has the key of David, Who opens and no one will shut, Who shuts and no one opens.” ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name.”

Ps did you notice that this church had little power? Having little power does not mean your church is a failure or you have missed it! Keep preaching the gospel and don’t lose your hopes or dreams of seeing the dead raised and the sick healed, keep them. Keep them alive by keeping in the Word. Pray for everyone who needs it… then leave the results to Him. All of those things are promised to people who believe and act on what He says, using His Name. My advice is to keep moving and acting on the Word of God, and always make Jesus the centre of what you do. Even if you went the wrong way – He has another plan for you.

God promises us that if He shuts a door no one can open it, and when He opens one then watch out!  Just because you can see something, that does not mean it is your responsibility – even Paul had to learn to listen carefully to the Holy Spirit and obey Him. The bible tells us that we are to be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves, so please don’t let someone else’s rapidly growing church bring you down from where God put you. Praise God for their increase instead! Numbers don’t matter to the Lord, Jesus started out with only 12 men.

Like I said at the beginning of this blog, prayerfully check to see if what is in front of you is a door or a window. Make sure you wait on the Holy Spirit so you can spot the difference. You can have full confidence based on the book of Revelation that if it is a door God has opened in front of you, no man can shut it. Amen! Bye. 👋

P 2768 Religious wrappings.

/ DVH

Have you tried to open a Kit Kat or a bag of biscuits or a packet of cheese, lately? You need scissors! We used to be able to exert a little bit of effort, and the thing would just rip open. Actually, sometimes if you ripped it too hard, what was in the packet fell out because of the force applied – and you had Smarties all over the floor! But now you need to be a safe cracker to get into a bag of chips! Ah, the good old days … when partially-eaten chips were sealed with a peg so they wouldn’t go soft and nasty.

As you can tell, I am on about wrappings today. I think that religious wrappings are the worst kind of all, but I’ll get to that in a minute … …Right now I’m feeling nostalgic about the days gone by, when we went to a green grocer and if the apples looked nice, and they smelt nice, it was because they were nice. Today, looking nice means nothing, and you can go into a supermarket and not even smell the fruit and veg. The mind boggles. 

I can still remember sawdust on the butcher’s floor! They had that stuff there so if there were any little accidents, the sawdust absorbed all the evidence quickly and the butcher could sweep it away. Back then our milk came in glass bottles, delivered to your door, not in cartons. You could hear the bottles clink and clatter as the milkman thunked them down on your front steps. Then you would hear his horse and cart rattle off down the street. Ah well, memory lane aside – I’m finally picking up my subject for today.

Religious wrappings, what are they? Well, I think they are the things we wrap around ourselves so we can fit in. Either we don’t want to talk about our pain, or we don’t trust other people to keep what we say to themselves if we share it. Maybe, whatever it is, is so dastardly we don’t want anyone else to know about it! These are the things that will keep us sealed up away from the love of God, expressed through our brethren. So, sadly, we whack on a smiley face, raise our little hands … if that’s what our particular church expects … Or we sit still, and kneel at appropriate times etc. and nod and smile — when inside our hearts are broken, and we feel more like a discarded puppet than a real person!  Instead we add spiritual sawdust and quickly sweep up the evidence.

Do I see a tear out there? Oh, no. Perhaps it was a trick of the light…!  You know if we look at most church families we will see people who seem to be very much together. Lots of bright smiles and happy looks … But if we look closer? Well, that’s another story. It’s those supermarket apples all over again! Why do we work so hard to keep up a stupid charade. We seem to think that the Lord expects us to represent Him with bright happy faces, always saying positive things … yet, sometimes we are dying slowly inside. I’m pretty sure you won’t find “slap on a happy face” in the bible. You can ‘rejoice in the Lord always’ with tears still pouring down your face. I’ve done it.

It is very easy to think God doesn’t care about my troubles, my little bag of awful things – I’m just meant to plod along and hope they disappear … or I do!  But He cares! That’s why I’m writing this blog! Father God wants us to comfort and help one another. It seems to me that the church has left no room for the broken, or the unhappy, to join in. Personally, I think a whole lot of broken people are sitting bravely, week by week, desperate and sad, making the best of it as they can!! … on our nice seats. Covid did more than nearly kill a lot of people – it separated us. You know if we keep on separating church from our homes our faith won’t grow.

Jesus always interrupted whatever He was doing, to speak to, or heal a person trapped by pain and circumstances. Yet we feel that we simply must say that prayer, or sing that song, because we cannot let God down. It is one thing to want to see the Lord in every circumstance – but entirely another to deny real pain. Wouldn’t it be lovely if when we got to church someone said: “Is anyone here in pain? Let’s all gather around and pray for them.”  Maybe we would end up praying for everyone! Instead of hiding the fact that someone’s marriage is an illusion and our kids seem to be going off the rails.

How about we open up the windows and let the light in? Praying for each other instead of learning all the time. Why don’t we take off those very deftly sealed wrappings, and put what we learn, week by week, into practice? Well, that’s my little thought bundle for today. Bye.👋

P 2655 Reflections

/ DVH

I have recently come to the conclusion our society is no longer living our lives in a holistic, interactive, interpersonal way anymore. We seem to see sex as the same thing as intimacy, and we have contented ourselves with living this life voyeuristically. What I mean is people are watching other people live their fictional lives on TV or social media pages. 

Even if most of what is read is exaggerated or photoshopped – and whether it is true OR NOT — it is, unfortunately, way too easy to live our lives like peeping toms peeking through life’s windows, and occasionally making clever comments. That’s a very poor use of a beautiful God-given gift – insight. People can get so busy trying to impress each other, that they aren’t living the life they actually have, … enjoying the days God has given us, plus interacting with the people who live around us.  

Many years ago, hubby and I were blessed to travel to many other parts of this world. I became so obsessed with taking photos for our memories back home, that in the end … I was looking at all that glorious once-in-a-lifetime scenery through a view finder. The Lord whispered to my heart: “Look UP. You are really here. Enjoy the sun on your face, enjoy the people around you. Enjoy the atmosphere. You can’t live your life through a view finder!” Hilariously, that whole thing had a fascinating ending … we hardly ever looked at those photos when we got home! 

You and I only have now … even the next minute may not be ours. All over this world human beings have died while I am taking the time to type this. Humanity seems to have become quite shallow parodies of who we can really be. Only standing up to demand things, and complain about what we want. We protest, instead of finding ways to contribute! We were made for finer things.

But although we can now plumb the depths of our oceans with clever, specially made vehicles, we can’t plumb the depths of our own souls! Apparently hurting people aren’t very interesting or popular — so most of us have learnt to hide what is really happening inside, where we actually live — because we need to present a successful happy face to the world around us. We’ve stopped participating and now we live our lives spectating. The only thing that can tempt us to participate is MORE MONEY.

This faith life we have been given is to be lived, enjoyed, savoured – not dissected or commented upon. As Christians we will miss the best bits if we don’t appreciate what we have right now. It is in front of us. We all need to turn off our critical responses and start looking for what is good about things and how can I help? I don’t need to be famous to help, I just need to get off my butt and do something.

There are times when we spend our precious time discussing other people and their faults, and pulling them apart with words. If we are clever enough we can make you laugh, and feel bad, all at the same time!! We dissect other people like frogs in a laboratory … but our spiritual eyes are so blind that we cannot see that other people have pain that is beyond their words, and outward appearances. Thank God for our Saviour Who sees beyond our posturing and pretence, right into our hearts.  …“Then we cried out, “Lord, help us! Rescue us!” And He did! His light broke through the darkness and He led us out in freedom from death’s dark shadow and snapped every one of our chains.”  Psalms 107:13-14.

Thank God for Jesus! He specifically came here to show us another way to live. Despite this world’s cynicism, and the need for the next thing or fad to amuse us – we have the power to choose to change and BE changed. We can control our own destiny, by participating in what is good, right and profitable. We simply must deliberately choose to put down all that stuff that is often simply this life’s pollution, destroying the beauty of who we can be. You and I are the pinnacle of God’s creation! I don’t care if you have 5 billion dollars or I have one dollar to my name, we all have the capacity to grow and contribute to this world, even in our old age.  

However, we cannot help others if we present them with a specially crafted front – a parody of real faith. To witness to others, we need to be real. So if we aren’t coping, then we need to tell someone. Pray! Ask for the Lord’s help. Life is a process and nobody is perfected yet!  Lastly, as we live our lives, we cannot afford to live with a skewed reality. That’s the way this world currently lives.  Let’s live this life, the only one we have (!!) … knowing that even our scars can tell wonderful stories about our Saviour. Bye. 👋