Wise

P 2435 You don’t have to be clever to serve Jesus.

/ DVH

1 Corinthians 2:4&5, 9&10TPT “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power… … However, as it is written:“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— these are things God has prepared for those who love Him—these are the things God has revealed to us by His Spirit.”

Some people say that the Apostle Paul had a really big brain — they say that about Einstein too. Apparently Einstein’s brain was 15% bigger in some areas than ours is. But in these scriptures above, Paul carefully explains that it is NOT his brain that comes up with the stuff he wrote! Those words came from the Holy Spirit’s inspiration and wisdom. And then Paul said something truly amazing – his words were a demonstration of the Spirit’s power. The Holy Spirit’s words are extraordinarily powerful. They heal, release, and open spiritually blind eyes, instantly.

The bible is not just there to comfort our soul when we are sad, mad or under the weather – the bible is a spiritual thermometer and diagnostician. The next time you read it, highlight the bits that really annoy you or puzzle you … The comforting stuff is great, but if we read just to gain comfort we will not grow.

There are often times when the way to get past something awful that you feel stuck in, is to persevere, and keep on reading the bible. Then go find something you don’t like, and you don’t want to do, and then go and do what it says. If you want a breakthrough this will give you one. This book can teach us about our real selves … if we let it. Human beings don’t just hide from others, we hide from God — and ourselves. Sometimes, WE don’t want to know what we don’t know!

The bible shows us our errors and missteps, as well as comforting us with God’s everlasting eternal unshakeable love – not just NICE thoughts that tickle our ears. Our God’s love is passionately fierce – He will not turn a blind eye to something that damages or is destroying His children … … even if they choose it.

We must be careful about what we let our faith REST ON. Seriously, keep that thought in the forefront of your mind as you read His book. We cannot rest our faith on what someone else said. We need to rest it on what the Lord says to us, personally. This is why it is good to read until the Lord speaks to your heart. Anybody can take 3 different scriptures and make them say 200 different things. Just read this blog every day, I take a stab at that with what I write all the time! 😂 

You and I need the Holy Spirit’s personal attention in our own personal lives, hearts and minds, so He can apply what we read into our own situations. Principles are great, but principles are an overriding umbrella, an impersonal thought, that can and will shelter you and I. But we need our own little Holy Spirit-given raincoat and wellies when we are struggling along against the wind and rain. We need to hear from Him, for ourselves. 

Remember what Jesus said: “Man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” The bible is our daily bread – our daily bread is not toast, coffee or weeties! It’s His word. Every single day we need a personal glimpse into His glory, to keep our faith alive and vibrant. We cannot do that without the Holy Spirit’s input. What we read when we read what Paul, or Peter, or John wrote, is the insight and wisdom they got from day to day as they too studied and thought about the bible as they knew it. 

We can only read the Epistles etc. with the Holy Spirit’s help – otherwise some concepts seem old-fashioned and irrelevant. The Holy Spirit knows what will settle our hearts when we are disturbed or afraid. We cannot possibly imagine what God will say … yet, when He speaks, that changes everything. He even speaks to little children who are not apparently, fully developed yet! But little children can come up with the most profound things. I think that’s because their childish faith doesn’t put what they know up against what He said!

Our wonderful heavenly Father has so much more He wants to give us. We must never leave His table, the one He has prepared for us in the presence of our enemies, feeling hungry or in despair. Stay there until you are full! Those times are the exact time to put aside what this world has said about our own ability to study or think, and go on to pick up the love, advice, comfort and wisdom of the One Who was here before this world began. It takes listening obedience to serve Jesus, not just a clever mind. Bye. 👋🏻

P 2258 So many denominations

/ DVH

Yeah, let’s established first up, on this blog you have one older lady’s opinion … right? I’m not a theologian, I haven’t been to bible school, I simply met Jesus Christ eons ago, and I’ve been following Him ever since. IF I know anything at all – HE taught me. Sadly there were some times that I ignored Him in favour of what my denomination taught me,  and yes I’ve repented! My point is, my opinions are limited.

I saw the above cartoon and I loved it. It seemed to me that it was the best explanation for why there are so many Christian denominations in this world. We are all looking at the same thing, we are just standing in different places. Please forgive me for intimating our Heavenly Father is like an elephant, that is not what I am trying to say! I am commenting on the fact that we all have so many different doctrines.

Some denominations even have sub-denominations! 😳 It also seems if you are in a denomination and want to make a splash, then you can skive off and start your own. Especially if what you believe seems important enough. That’s like expecting our arm to work by itself. Can’t happen! The Body of Christ is fragmented by its belief systems.  

The best I can offer by way of explanation is this – even if you have only two people you will still have a whole heap of different opinions. BTW, that could be why some marriages don’t work – people fall in love, but they don’t share the same basic beliefs and opinions. It’s the nitty gritty stuff that divides us, and “true love” often blinds us all! Well that was free! Moo-ving on …

… The fact is Almighty God is too big, too wise, too wonderful to be explained by any, or all of us. He is so much bigger than we have allowed Him to be. We are not acquainted with the fact that we don’t have to understand Him to relate to Him. And we don’t have to think like Him to explain Him – I suggest we let Him explain Himself. He’s so big He can say one thing to one person and something else to someone else. And both things are true. We must return to the place of wonder. It’s OK to not know stuff – instead let’s just fall in love with the God Who made it all.

If we think we can explain Him, no matter how clever we are, or how many words we take to do it, we are fooling ourselves. A truly wise person lets God explain Himself. And that’s called revelation. “We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing Him directly just as He knows us!” 1 Corinthians 13:12.

We need to be in a relationship with Him, and treasure His Presence far more than we need to understand how He thinks. People grab at this thing and that thing and think … “Aha! I finally have the Answer.” Denominations occur when we start trying to explain God. Even though some of those explanations or revelations are fantastic … but those things are not all there is. As soon as we think we have some sort of basic idea that sums up Almighty God – we just limited Him. We keep trying to fit  Almighty God into our teeny tiny boxes, and because He truly IS God, He will burst out of them!

We don’t have to prove Him. Let Him prove Himself! I don’t have to prove the sun is out when it is daytime or nighttime. Even if it is raining or cloudy – the SUN is still there. I just need to position myself into a place where I can see beyond my earthly restrictions. Like board a plane, or climb up above the clouds. Our position before Him is what matters, and to stand in the right place we need to realise that He is God and we are not. It is OK to have a Daddy Who knows more than we do. 

God forgave us all. He does not see the restrictions and boundaries and doctrines the way we see them – He sees people. And He loves them. Read the book! It is all about God relating to His people. Because of Jesus Christ, we are all now His people. No matter what denomination we belong to. We waste our time on this earth fighting, or abusing one another over things that won’t last. Father God does not care what colour skin we have, what sort of accent we have, what we believe – or not, HE JUST LOVES HIS KIDS. It’s in the book.

He’s so glorious He loves the people who actively hate Him. Imagine that. Not just loving your enemies, but deliberately actioning a plan to save them from themselves and then sacrificing Your only Son to provide the way to do it. That blows my mind. Let’s just agree that we don’t have to understand Him to love Him back. They will know we are Christians by our love … not by our denomination. Bye. 👋🏻

P 2239 The peril of ignoring our faults…

/ DVH

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 

But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:45-51.

‘If Jesus came back today would you repent or worship?’ Someone asked me that question once, and … big spiritual giant that I am … I said: “… um … probably … BOTH!” It may now be obvious to you that I like to cover all my bases. 😶 Time and apathy are forces that can wear away most good intentions. This means we desperately need the Holy Spirit, not just good intentions! I know many people make resolutions every New Year but I gave that up decades ago. I found I couldn’t make it past a week before I fell over and became disappointed in myself.

When there is no active revival around us, our impetus to remain focussed and in love with Jesus – and what He wants – becomes down-right cloudy … with a chance of extreme coldness … bordering on self-centredness. We could easily revert to the same old same old – and hope that will do. It will take the ripe fruits of faithfulness, and self-control … plus we might need to throw in a few boxes of patience … to keep us … keeping on. Otherwise we can easily give up too quickly – like the guy in the parable. 

Pressure, boredom, and a distinct lack of visible supervision is the thing our enemy employs to distract us from where we want to be. I strongly suspect the master in this parable was angry because he trusted that servant to do the right thing. AHA! That means we can’t blame our poor old pastor then doesn’t it? After all we are responsible for our own spiritual well-being and choices.

You know, this little story is so accurate, it hurts to read it. I find myself avoiding parables like this one in the same way I avoid mirrors. Mainly because I don’t like what I see … but … way up in the back of my mind … I kid myself that I would ne-v-er do that! The thing about Jesus is that through these stories, He exposes what is really in our hearts. So instead of dismissing the possibility that I might behave as badly as that servant did – I’ve learnt to ask the Lord to: ‘please show me where I fall into that exact same hole.’ 

That’s the kind of prayer that always gets answered … trust me! Instead of acquitting myself of any possibility of blame, I’ve learnt that I have no idea what I will do when the ‘nice’ wears off, and I am shoved against the wall by adverse circumstances. However, I must admit, I also have no immediate plans to bash up anyone who lives at my house and looks after me. The other person who lives here makes my meals etc! My mother didn’t raise no stupid children!! 

However, the guy in this parable proves my often stated point – none of us know what is INSIDE us – until the passing of time, and life itself, or a lack of visible supervision, puts our lives under pressure and we get distracted from our original goal. Then watch out! All kinds of ugly leaks out around the edges. Nobody plans to live like that guy did, it just kind of crept up on him because time passed and his supervisor was missing.

Our Master lives inside us – our biggest problem is, He’s so gentle, He is easy to ignore. But the rewards for faithfulness and wisdom are much better traits. Living for Jesus means active participation in His processes. Meanwhile, when was the last time you heard someone talk about this particular parable? Yeah, we both know what that means, the pastor doesn’t like it much either. It’s not easy to get a positive message out of this one!

The Lord highlighted two words to me today when I read it – faithful and wise. Meanwhile the opposite of that is pretty much unreliable and stupid – I really don’t want to come into that category. What to do? Well, I believe in honest maintenance. You see, we have a beloved Redeemer, so there is no need to hide from myself anymore. It’s time to own up and repent, and ask for His Grace to change my behaviour. That’s when I decide to make faith-filed, bible inspired, choices. Right at the point when I want to do the opposite, or even pretend … I’m ‘all good” really ...😳 

I think we have to monitor our own spiritual lives day by day, sometimes second by second! It is so easy to judge this guy who behaved so badly, without stopping to look in the mirror – but we will do that at our own peril. Who knows what might creep up on us one day to tempt us to behave the same way? Finally, here’s a great deliverance prayer: “…and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil …” Amen. 👋🏻 “It’s the little foxes that spoil the vines.” Song of songs.