Yield

P 3056 Please don’t postpone participation.

/ DVH

“Learn what it means to do what is good by seeking righteousness and justice! Rescue the oppressed. Uphold the rights of the fatherless and defend the widow’s cause.” Isaiah 1:17 TPT.

It is easy to think some sort of great faith will fall on us if we pray enough. But as Isaiah says here – our faith is something we learn by participation – hence the word “learn.” Participation is more about personal action. Prayer and giving are good, but the church at large seems to avoid confronting difficult issues. We don’t like to mix with people who are ‘not like us.’ We like the theory, but doing something personally is a bridge too far.

I love the following scripture because it knocks the idea that only a certain type of person will be found by Jesus! It also shows how engaged and caring He is. “Then the master said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and urge and constrain [them] to yield and come in, so that my house may be filled.” Luke 14:23. Elsewhere in Isaiah it mentions “…bring the homeless poor into your house…” I’ve found that superficial caring attitudes fall off under pressure. Maybe that’s because the people in the highways and byways won’t always be sweet people!

In some versions that scripture in Luke uses the word: “Compel…” Does that sound like a pretty gold-edge invitation that says something like: “Jesus Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth would like the pleasure of your company on this special occasion blah blah blah…”  Rhubarb. It seems to me a lot more like a couple of bouncers at a nightclub compelling disruptive participants to leave. It sounds like force.

There are people who are employed to take help the poor, infirm and needy, unfortunately most of the time, they are not paid enough to care, on top of helping! But choosing to walk in Jesus’ compassion definitely will improve our spiritual life and attitudes. From my own experience, I know that helping the poor puts my faith under the kind of pressure – where “nice guy” falls off v-e-r-y quickly. Suddenly I can see where all the leaks in my spiritual life are! Most Christians want to look like sweet people – but how much substance do we actually have? What if a homeless person wanted to camp outside your house?

Maybe the reason we like to stay within our comfort zones is that we will quite quickly find out who we really are! However, poor people are so desperate, they couldn’t give two ripe bananas about how other people feel. Instead they will bop you on the head and probably take the ripe bananas!! Hubby once had someone threaten to slice him into bits because he told that person, politely that they couldn’t have what they wanted.

Here’s a fun story from the ark:  Many years ago, we worked with the homeless. It was exhausting, challenging and not a whole lot of happy happy joy joy. BTW, the word fun is not in the bible – JOY is in there though. Joy is supernatural, fun is quite transitory. Anyway … local warehouses and big businesses helped us out occasionally with our outreach, by giving us donated goods. Mostly outside the use-by date.

On this particular day someone had donated a large square pallet full of spray-on cooking oil. I distinctly remember thinking to myself that this stuff was probably not going to be all that useful to people who didn’t own a bed, let alone a frying pan!! Anyway, our lunch guests usually rushed through the doors immediately they were opened, because they were hungry. Most of them never had breakfast. Then our pastor would greet them and they’d line up ready for a hot meal. 

On this day, our guests had to pass a pallet that was chock full of a double layer of cans of spray-on oil. I looked away for a moment … and when I looked back … every single can was gone! Tada!! … And I never even heard a sound. Instead there was just one little plastic lid still wobbling away in the middle of the pallet! I laughed so hard. There was no sign of a can amongst our guests, or peeking out of anyone’s rucksack either.

Compelling people who are this desperate, into the kingdom, is not going to be a walk in the park.“Nice” just won’t cut it – we are going to need His compassion! At that time, we also had a regular guest who didn’t wash. It’s hard to wash when you have no home! I thought he also had Tourette syndrome. Well, between the cursing and swearing and smell, everyone else left him alone. None of our other guests would even sit with him at lunch time. We met that man again, years later at another church. He was in a nice suit, he no longer stank, and his language was fine. He even owned his own car! To top it all off, he was a deacon! 

We don’t know what God will do when we choose to love on people! Please don’t pass by any opportunity to participate with the poor, needy and infirm – you’ll find them on the highways and byways! They will expose your heart and probably break it … all at the same time! But you will definitely end up participating. Bye. 👋

P 3042 The real and the unreal.

/ DVH

As Christians we dare not live our lives in religion. We have been reborn to live permanently in the reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection – together with all He died to give us. This attitude needs to be present, daily. The Holy Spirit will correct us with His eye on us, then we pray and then we yield. Living with a metaphor – a concept, a mere picture of the truth – means that we will find our metaphorical faith is tested a whole lot, because it does not have its roots in the reality of what Jesus already did!

At the same time, we cannot afford to have untested faith. Otherwise, how will we know whether what we believe is real or a theory? When tests come, and they will!…The first thing to do is check with Him that He is giving us an opportunity to practise what we preach. Then we prayerfully accept the Holy Spirit’s guidance and help, and go forward into doing or saying whatever it is from His point of view. If I haven’t got a clue – I make use of His reference book – the bible.

Cultivating a quiet spirit within, is essential. It can be difficult, but it is not impossible. I know the world around us is like a brass band at full volume, but living in the awareness of the stillness of His Presence will help us triumph over everything else that comes our way. Jesus lived this way – He was peaceful inside despite the outside circumstances. The difference between the real and the unreal, is easily diagnosed by its fruit – agitation or acceptance.

Likewise, giving up on people just because they are not responding to us the way we want them to, is self-centred. You and I don’t have the only way – Jesus Himself is the Way! What we need in awkward moments, is a word of knowledge, or a word of wisdom, or a revelation from our King about how we interact with that person. Here’s a helpful hint:  spiritual things don’t always come with a huge angel and a trumpet! His Voice inside us is so discreet, so gentle, we can miss it.  But there is a way to check out your own hearing— love knows how to be quiet and let the other person speak. Many times we are actually dealing with our own fears and insecurities and projecting them onto someone else. 

God loves them.Ask yourself: ‘why would I annoy or hurt someone GOD loves and expect it will be alright?’  He loves the world, remember? Personally, I would not like to have to explain to the Lord, why I thought brow-beating somebody else was a good plan. Jesus didn’t do it, and neither should we. Our aim is to respond with Grace, Love, Kindness and Peace, and those precious things are enough to keep us busy! Positive things can create teachable moments.

In John 20:11-18, it says:“Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put Him.” At this,she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking He was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him. Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”

Human beings can be so distracted and disturbed by our current circumstances, that we miss Him when He speaks to us  As you can see, from this scripture, Mary was absolutely overwhelmed by grief, and consequently she was unable to see the Lord when He was right in front of her! It is good to ask the Holy Spirit to keep us alert to whatever the Lord Jesus wants to say to us.  

The thing about Mary in this scripture, is that her faith was at an all-time low, and she didn’t expect to see Jesus again. He was dead and gone in her mind. And if He wasn’t in the tomb, then where could He possibly be? The unreality of the situation channelled her thoughts in a specific direction — to a human answer. Somebody must have done the unthinkable and stolen His body!

If I get bewildered or I am full of despair, then I stop and I refuse to move. After that I go back to the beginning and start to pray all over again. But if my thoughts are still as clear as mud, then I put everything down at His feet, and ask the Holy Spirit to take care of it – until I am led, by Him, back into clarity again. Hearing from God is our birthright, it is not a test. It takes faith, but every single one of us has been given the ability to hear our Shepherd. After all, we are His sheep, the people of His pasture!  

Let’s not underestimate the value of PAUSING. Pausing gives me a chance to catch up with what He is doing. It steadies my personal human reaction, and takes me into His space – where there is no panic, no timetables … only Him. Our faith has been carefully designed, by the Holy Spirit, to be active and real, every single day. If we find we are mistaken, then we need to prayerfully replace the unreal with the real. Bye. 🙏

P 3028 Yield.

/ DVH

“Let me emphasise this: As you yield to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life. When your self-life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit you hinder Him from living free within you! And the Holy Spirit’s intense cravings hinder your self-life from dominating you! So then, the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self-life of the flesh and the new creation life of the Spirit. But when you yield to the life of the Spirit, you will no longer be living under the law, but soaring above it!” Galatians 5:16-18 TPT.

Father God has a better way to live, instead of being driven around by what I think I need or want. When I follow Him, He takes care of all that stuff along the way. If He doesn’t, then I didn’t need whatever it was in the first place. Meanwhile, that statement comes under the heading of “easier said than done!” My flesh yells at me, “too hard – enough already!!” Being extremely spiritually sharp, that’s when I finally figured out: “Oh! He’s doing something else!” 🙄

The Encyclopaedia Britannica says this:‘Yield’ can mean “to stop trying to resist something” or “to stop trying to fight someone or something.”

Yielding to the Holy Spirit means denying myself – will I have that last word or not? When I yield to the Lord’s processes, that will definitely teach me how much flesh I still have. People have asked me how do you know when you’ve prayed enough and you need to let go of things, or even people? … My answer is this – let go the minute you realise you are holding on! Put the Lord in charge of everything in your life. That’s what Jesus’ blood bought and paid for. He paid to give us access to all His wisdom, His ability to love, be joyful, be patient etc. But we will need to let GO of what we want, or what we think is best, for us. 

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” 1 Corinthians 1:27. I’ve found that I simply need to listen, pay attention to the book and obey the One Who knows everything … and then you can look wa-ay smarter than you really are! “For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 1 Corinthians 1:19. Clever people need to watch out, you may need a big dose of humility any minute. However, that is not an excuse to hide in ignorance either.

I am not talking about rejecting education, by the way. Get some – be that person, go for it! What I am talking about is that you cannot just ‘study out’ or manufacture a relationship with people, or the Lord! It has to be ‘lived out’ minute by minute, both the good bits and bad bits. Learning to trust that other person by being open and honest about who you are. Knowing any subject does not mean you know the writer!

The secret to dying to self is to love Jesus more than you love you! Then any sacrifices become part of the process. However having faith and dying to self does not mean you sell your house and possessions, and go and plonk yourself on the curb somewhere because a voice told you to do it. Check with more mature people and get them praying too, first.

Our flesh does not like to go without what it wants. In the West, we are quite addicted to comfort, safety and the opportunity to do what we want, whenever we want to. In other places in this world those things do not even enter someone’s agenda for a minute. Those dear people are too busy avoiding death, prison, disease, starvation, and active opposition, while they are trying to find somewhere to sleep! 

The most important word in the whole scripture I’ve chosen today is YIELD. We can hinder the Lord from doing what He wants simply by indulging ourselves. It is so easy to let the flesh tell us:“It’s too hard, God wouldn’t want me to do something hard, He loves me. Life has been terrible lately, surely He doesn’t want me to continue to suffer!” BTW, knowledge, or acknowledgement of our faults is not enough, action is always required.

Father God loves us so much that He willingly gave His only Son to die in our place … did you get that? Jesus died, and the Precious Trinity agreed that it was the only way to save YOU and ME!  Ya might want to stop and think about that. God has a much different value system than we do! 

Fear can be a huge hindrance, so can pride. But yielding to God is a great way to get rid of those things. Face the fear head on and do it anyway. Some of the time pride is just a ‘front’ we put on to hide fear of failure. 

But the most important thing we need to remember is in those above verses — whatever we yield to will dominate us! Remember, we have been reborn to live above earthly things, Now we have a brand new life waiting for us to claim it, using our faith, and we aim to walk with Jesus day by day. We simply need to practice doing things His Way and remember to yield. Bye👋.

P 3025 The three “C’s.”

/ DVH

“So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good, for we are His lovers who have been called to fulfil His designed purpose.” Romans 8:28 TPT. 

Paul was convinced about what he says here. He looked at his life – including the floggings, beating with sticks,  shipwrecks, and physical violence. The imprisonment, as well as the persecution by various groups of people – some of them supposedly Christian. Plus the people who ignored his good advice because they had a better idea…  and he came to a conclusion. His conclusion was that “everything works together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”

God wants to transform the difficulties we experience into something meaningful and good, for His kingdom’s sake. We simply need to hang on in there believing in His goodness.‘The trying of our faith produces patience but we have to LET patience have her perfect work in us.’James 1:3-4. There’s that little word that gives everyone the pip! LET. Allow. Permit…Yield! Allow patience to do a number on you. Permit it to stretch you, let it teach you, and allow it to transform the way you think and act. That is what yielding looks like. WE are the boss of our thoughts  … and just like we won’t permit pornographic thoughts to occupy our minds – we refuse to LET impatience take over. We ask for the Holy Spirit’s help and hang on.. to Him.!!!

The Apostle Paul was not only convinced, he was convinced continually! That is actually the only way we can be changed. We choose to hold onto the fact that God will work our present circumstances out for our good. Continually! This spiritual stand happens over and over and over again! Christianity is a progressive pushing forward into more of what we already have been given. And sometimes there is no ‘exit’ to be seen — there is only the minute by minute pushing through how we feel, to grab hold of what God has said. This creates trust in Who He is. We lean on Him, persevering with the situation, waiting for His patience, and seeking after the love that never alters.

Stuff happened to Paul over and over again. There was a whole lot of ugly stuff in 40+ years of ministry. That’s an average of 6 rotten testing events a year! He paid a high price to evangelise, as well as minister what God told him to write … Paul once wrote that he “despaired of life itself.” Well you would, wouldn’t you? His life was no picnic, but I bet he has never given it another thought since he arrived in heaven!!

“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us,..” 2 Corinthians 1:8-10.

Paul knew how to suffer, but he did not do it lying down. He grabbed hold of the hope that God had what He needed and wanted to give it to Him. He believed in the goodness of God Himself. If we take the time to consult our feelings about this scripture in Romans, it might seem inaccurate, utterly impossible. Nobody feels like pushing against a seemingly immovable object. But what if I told you that if you press in just one more time that object will move? I think you’d convince yourself to take a big breath and push one more time! It’s just like birthing babies, but, with His help, we are birthing and raising good fruit!

That’s what continually convincing yourself of God’s supreme power and goodness does – it draws you into a conclusion! Almighty God can’t fail us, His goodness always wins! There are some unresolved things in my life that I may not see this month, or this year, but I know that He will do them – whether I am still here or not. I do not believe those things simply because I prayed —I believe it because HE SAID SO in the book. I’m always convinced of His goodness as I continually read His book. We ain’t seen nothing yet! The best place to be in a battle is on the front line. WHY? You get to be the first to see the enemy turn tail and run… that’s why!

 Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:12: “This is why I suffer as I do. Still, I am not ashamed; for I know Him [and I am personally acquainted with Him] whom I have believed [with absolute trust and confidence in Him and in the truth of His deity], and I am persuaded [beyond any doubt] that He is able to guard that which I have entrusted to Him until that day [when I stand before Him].”

I am learning to be convinced continually, and that exercise led me to this conclusion – the Lord is worth it all. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18. In order to be convinced, I need to continually revise my belief in His goodness every single time something unexpected occurs, and then I keep reinforcing my belief that God cannot fail me. That’s the best conclusion! Life surely does happen but God has a plan!! Bye. 👋

P 2985 Learning to soar.

/ DVH

Anything that talks about soaring above the difficult things in this life will grab my attention. So today I want to read Paul’s idea of soaring above the cares of this world —- from Galatians 5:16-18 TPT. “Let me emphasise this: As you yield to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life. When your self-life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit you hinder Him from living free within you! And the Holy Spirit’s intense cravings hinder your self-life from dominating you! So then, the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self-life of the flesh and the new creation life of the Spirit. But when you yield to the life of the Spirit, you will no longer be living under the law, but soaring above it!”

Eagles soar. Have you ever noticed that chickens are always looking down, kicking up dust, looking for worms, scratching and pecking …  But eagles!! They fly higher and higher above this world’s activities, enjoying the warmer air that helps them fly. They see this world from a different vantage point.

I think this is part of Paul’s point today. We can face this life one of two ways. After the dust of trouble and strife has settled, we can choose to mount up on eagle’s wings. Thank you Isaiah 40! Or we can go on scratching about in this world’s ideas and clever trends, and miss seeing the vastness and incredible plans of God Himself. But we will need to choose to rise up and see what’s going on from His point of view. 

Sometimes, I end up being a chicken! Life can seem like one ghastly event is followed rapidly by another and then another — and I end up thinking “If I could only just get a moment to catch my breath!’  But the waves of life’s difficulties keep coming … and coming … and coming! Suddenly you have the horrid thought that you may be stuck in an endless sea of trouble, and it seems like you’ve been there for months! In the end I asked the Lord “Jesus, what is going on?”

Yeah! Have you ever had one of those moments when you wish you hadn’t even thought to ask a question…because you were pretty sure the answer was not going to be all that great?? I hear ya! This is what the Lord said to me, and I have to be honest – because I promised I would be honest on this blog …I was not over-the-moon thrilled with His answer. He talked to me about pruning. You know that stuff you have to do when you have a garden and the rose bush is heading for another state and your trees are hanging over into your neighbour’s yard? “I’m pruning you,” He said.

That’s when I realised I’d asked a question that I didn’t really want an answer to because I had already decided what kind of answer I would like! Which is an incredibly dumb idea. What I really wanted to say was: “Lemme outta here, I’m drowning. I need a happier times fix!” Eventually I sat and read the book. So far I’ve read John 15 about six times because it talks about pruning. Spiritual pruning didn’t sound all that much fun. The first thing I noticed is that if a branch in my life is fruitless … then a-pruning He will go! That pretty much emphasised the fact that being fruitful is extremely important to the Lord, even though I believe being fruitless can happen to all of us..

The secret to being fruitful is to stay in Him and His ways. This is what came up for me, as I was meditating on it. Remaining in Him, means I live this life aware of what I have been given by Him, but it is not just a happy thought I visit every now and then. Everything I am now, comes from that place of grateful recollection of Him saving me, plus everything He died to give me. I need to live my life, my very ordinary life, aware of the incredible exchange Jesus Himself provided for me. His eternal life for my death to self. His righteousness for my sinfulness. His perfect love for my own natural human affection …His peace for my irritability etc.

At the same time, I will have to actively cultivate and deliberately let what He says in His book remain in me – in my life and my thoughts. So now His Word becomes my reference point for everyone I relate to, everything that happens to me, and everything I do. It becomes my new conscious-thought pattern. Which sounds remarkably like “renew your mind” to me! The Lord cannot be an add-on —. He, and His life in me, are to be my focus. Living like this will lift me up above life’s difficulties and give me an eagle’s view instead!

We all want to be productive for His kingdom. We may be daily growing in knowledge, but if we are not bearing fruit, then we will eventually need to be pruned. Not because He is mad at us, but because pruning produces … fruit! Maybe we have all lived in the natural for so long, we’ve turned into chickens and the things of His kingdom seem hard to scratch out and find. We will have everything we need for whatever comes our way, if we let Him teach us how to soar, and cutting off the old dead wood is a good start. Bye. 👋

P 2980 How to be really blessed!

/ DVH

“Let me emphasise this: As you yield to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life. When your self-life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit you hinder Him from living free within you! And the Holy Spirit’s intense cravings hinder your self-life from dominating you! So then, the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self-life of the flesh and the new creation life of the Spirit. But when you yield to the life of the Spirit, you will no longer be living under the law, but soaring above it!”Galatians 5:16-18 TPT. 

The verses above are probably one of the best explanations of how our life in the Spirit works. What I see when I read the above scripture is that we are in a war, right here, right now. Every morning we wake up to war, and war even disturbs our sleep at night. We are not warring against flesh and blood … His book tells us that. No! We are in the battle of our lives to fight apathy, disinterest and disengagement. All those things that are thriving all around us. The ugly stuff that has now become humanity’s way of life. In order to escape it, we must break away from the somnambulism that surrounds us, and take God’s ways seriously.

This world has taught us, day by day, that those things we don’t like are either too hard, not fair, too energetic or just plain boring. We have become incredibly used to being pacified and entertained. If we do not take the bible to heart, we can end up conforming to some advertisers’ fantastic image of who we could be and forget what we already ARE! Human beings are brilliant creatures, created in His image. Yet we sit passively inside our our little boxes, made of ticky-tacky and we’ve all come out the same! (Malvina Reynolds 1962) Let’s not waste this life we have been given simply learning about how to die to self — let’s be brave and jump in! Almighty God will catch us.

Do you know what is incredibly sad? Unredeemed people are currently setting the pace for the church and they are making a huge profit doing it. It seems like we’ve decided there are things that we simply cannot live without!! The unsaved living around us have chosen the cadence, plus the speed of this march toward death we are all on,  and off we go … following the greedy Pied Piper down funny little predesigned rabbit holes into oblivion. We simply must begin to contribute more into the society around us. Lost people need a guide, and God picked you and I. And I am just as inadequate as you feel!

Sadly, our children have become so used to being pacified and entertained that they simply must have the latest … whatever it is! Some of the most potentially brilliant minds in this world have been lulled off to sleep with ghastly music, false gamer finishing lines, bright flashing lights and lots of …loud. Many people are scared of silence, and they are seeking peace in all the wrong places. This is exactly what Paul is talking about in Galatians. Our flesh is wasting away the most important war of our lifetime—the time we have been given by God to be fruitful for His Kingdom. 

That time is being frittered and whittled away by all the useless stuff that has now become part of our everyday lives. The future of everyone around us is at stake, yet we are widely inactive — watching fictional human beings get swished down the drains in movies about death and destruction. We’ve become totally desensitised to the idea of human life as precious and important, because hedonism is being portrayed as great fun, a harmless goal. We seem to have forgotten how much we are loved, how much it cost Him to save every one of us. 

I still maintain that we can’t afford to sit about and wait for the ‘right’ feelings to fall on us. Actually, I think it is going to hurt for each one of us to abandon the cravings of these superficial life-styles we have all embraced. We’ve told ourselves we were “just fitting in.” But the real truth is we were scared of our God-given mandate—and fear won! All the other human beings all around us don’t know any better, mainly because we’ve been so inactive waiting for the pastor or the evangelist to do all the work. Maybe we decided that Christianity’s not all that palatable in this world — after all people could get offended with us. Who wants to hear about – denying yourself, every single day, and dying to self?

Hmmm … … Do I hear the sound of a drain gurgling away somewhere in the background, and millions of voices crying out: “please, somebody save me,” as they circle that awful drain one last time? Don’t worry …  it’s OK. Just turn the TV up a little, and tell little Andy to “please take that dreadful noisy game up to your room, I’m trying to relax here.” … Well, thank goodness that desperate sound is fading even now …because so many people are giving up waiting for help to come …  Bye. 👋 

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season…” Psalm 1:1-3a. 

P 2944 Storms come and go …… just be willing to let Jesus into your boat!

/ DVH

John 6:16-21 states:“When evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, and they got into a boat and started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It was already dark, and Jesus had still not come [back] to them. The sea was getting rough and rising high because a strong wind was blowing. Then, when they had rowed three or four miles [and were near the centre of the sea], they saw Jesus walking on the sea and approaching the boat; and they were [terribly] frightened. But Jesus said to them, “It is I (I Am); do not be afraid.” Then they were willing to take Him on board the boat, and immediately the boat reached the [shore of the] land to which they were going.”

The Lord’s disciples were terribly frightened, initially – but as soon as they knew it was the Lord …they asked Him into the boat. This teaches me that all we need to do is to recognise Him in any and every scary situation. I don’t know about you, but our personal tiny little boat has been going up and down on the huge financial waves in this latest world-wide storm. However, asking Him into that violently rocking boat means our eyes are now on Him. When HE gets in the boat the storm disappears – and you can’t see anything but Him.

Meanwhile, I’ve found that becomes very easy to get mad at the person we think caused the latest problem, and we inwardly hold them responsible for our own fear and bad feelings. That’s actually a lack of faith searching for a way out – we want someone to blame. Our response to any situation is our still our own personal reaction, and it is our responsibility to deal with it. Glory to God, we are so blessed – we don’t have to deal with this difficult stuff alone! Just don’t try to organise the Lord into fixing your problem, your way, and instead – yield. Those poor schmucks who don’t know the Lord, are trapped by their feelings – but we AREN”T!  Because of what Jesus has done for us, we don’t have to go there. We have been given the power to choose to use our faith.

Christians are not powerless! When we make a choice to use our faith, heaven backs us up! You know I can almost hear a chorus of ‘buts’ from where I am! … “But I don’t feel like I have a choice.” I hear ya! However,  living in our feelings is a fatal mistake. Whatever we repeatedly practice, dominates us. The more we practice using our faith, yielding and leaning on Him, and His understanding — the more it becomes a way of life. Like I said previously, if you want to see the power of God at work – start with your own life. 

When things don’t go the way you hoped they would, just remember that the other guy will be right by your elbow reminding you of all the other times you may have been disappointed. The temptation to yield to unbelief will be huge. he won’t remind you about how things actually turned out better than you expected in the long run — or how the Lord turned stuff around, or how you experienced great growth when your faith in Jesus’ character and His Word held you up.

It is normal to pray for healing etc. when you need it … but I’m guessing most people need patience, faithfulness and self-control, equally as much as healing. We have all turned our sights and hopes toward seeing the big miracles, and ignored the miracle of one totally transformed life… OURS. The Pharisees said this to Jesus: “The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus, wanting to trick Him. So they asked Him to show them a miracle from God.”  Miracles aren’t necessarily the answer, but faith in His goodness is! Meanwhile if our hearts remain unchanged, we will continually expect God to come walking on the water to bail us out. Think about this … on another similar stormy night Jesus said this to His disciples: “Where’s YOUR FAITH??”

It takes spiritual insight and courage to see the Lord in the middle of a force 4 gale! Daily in this life it seems that there is a new wave smashing against the side of our seemingly frail little boats. We need to look through the driving rain of adverse circumstances to see Jesus coming toward us in the middle of that storm. Don’t look at the wind, waves, lightning or pay attention to the thunder. Look in His book! He has promised to be with us in trouble. 

The guys in that scripture from John were in trouble … and Jesus came walking on the water to be with them. He keeps His promises! Not only that but they ended up where they were going —miraculously! I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen God turn up miraculously. But God was not entertaining us – HE WAS PROVIDING for us in our need. Storms come and go. I exhort you, don’t get complacent when the sea is quiet. Live ready to face any storm because Jesus Himself is already in your little boat. Bye.👋

John 6:26:“Jesus answered, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, you have been searching for Me, not because you saw the signs (attesting miracles), but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures [and leads] to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you; for God the Father has authorised Him and put His seal on Him.” Then they asked Him, “What are we to do, so that we may HABITUALLY be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered, “This is the work of God: that you believe [adhere to, trust in, rely on, and have faith] in the One Whom He has sent.”

P 2926 Compromise.

/ DVH

To die or not to die — that is the REAL question! One of the saddest deceptions that has gone vastly unchallenged today, is the idea that if we don’t want to die to self, then that will be OK. The logic behind that thought is this – after all Father God loves us, and He understands how hard it is for us – so we don’t have to be like … totally sold out to Him. He understands that we are only human! 

Yeah, that’s right, Jesus gets it. After all He took on our form and walked through this world, sinless. BUT! Jesus got His power to live an overcoming life, from His ongoing obedience and connection with the Holy Spirit. We always retain the power of choice, but the reality is, God knows the right way for us to go,so why the heck would you want to go any other way?? Obedience shows trust. Jesus obeyed His Heavenly Father – to the death!!  The bible says: “There is a way that seems right to a man but at the end of it is death!” Proverbs 14:12. Dying to self is not the same as losing the life of God in us to deliberate sin.

Everything about my natural man will try to protect ME, myself and I – and from personal observation, we are blooming good at it too! Not only that, but I can protect me, and make you look like a ruffian and then go on to prove you are dead wrong from the book! But the bible is not a club it is an implement of freedom.  And our inward, and often unseen choices, can undermine our spiritual life. We can’t afford to lose the Holy Spirit for a minute. We need Him daily – all the time. Temptation is waiting around every corner. When we choose to hide, or pretend, that’s when the precious Holy Spirit leaves us, quietly, unobtrusively. Sadly we won’t even know He has gone. Then our own vain imagination takes over …and boy! …  Is that a scary thought!

Jesus offered us a new way of life, not an alternative lifestyle. He said ‘this is the way walk ye in it.’It is extremely dangerous to try to walk, and/or balance our lives between those two worlds of total surrender and commitment … and living like Christianity is an optional extra – something I take part in when it suits me!  We cannot look after me and serve Jesus. We must leave looking after me to Him!

So the answer is simple – give up the power of choice, stop being double-minded and live this life like God is bigger than you are, and He knows what is best. We have a big book full of examples of what He can do with people who obey Him. Simply follow Jesus and see everything else as a distraction from that chosen path. Living like that is how we will learn to be in this world the way He was, because He was here to do His Father’s will. The Lord Jesus was always about His Father‘s business and that’s our mandate too. 

He told a lot of parables about people who went off and did their own thing. Stories about when the master of the vineyard etc. was busy or went missing. Those were not good stories for the people who chose to do their own thing, and they did not have happy endings. The safest way to choose is to choose to follow Him unreservedly. And because He is humble in His heart, that road will lead us down. Lower still. Less recognition for us, and more recognition for HIM.  

We will probably fall over and mess up a bit while we are learning these things, but the reality is the choice to remain on His road leads to life – and more life. That’s the abundant life that Jesus talked about. The Lord is so sweet, He will be very patient with us while we are learning. He will correct things “…and teach and guide us with His eye upon us.” But we simply can’t live this new life without HIM, because we will fail, get discouraged and fail again … just from sheer disappointment! There is no middle ground – that’s just something someone made up so they could live with a foot in each world! 

In today’s permissive climate this is definitely not the time to go skipping through the daisies doing whatever we like, and expecting the blood of Jesus to cover it! The blood of Jesus is incredibly precious, so we must not ever misuse it. We can’t afford to misunderstand and mistake God’s incredible Love for us as permissiveness. We dare not tell people that they simply need to be saved – without telling them they need to be changed – by His Grace and their own obedience! 

We need His wisdom to negotiate our way through all the things that will come against us. Personally I have found in the face of difficulties, it is best to immediately, verbally, yield. Tell Him you want His will, His way – no matter what. We are never alone, praise God, we have an Advocate Who understand what it is like to be human! Jesus prays for us all the time. After I do that stuff, I hand everything over to Him and I do nothing until I get further instructions, mostly from His book. Otherwise it is way too easy to be dragged about by the wind of this doctrine, and that clever theory/idea. 

At the same time we need to remember our aim is love, so when we fall short of love, we are falling short of what Christ would do. But when I am dead to self, and I have no agendas anymore, who I love is no longer up to me – it’s up to Him. Dying to self is not an optional extra … it’s the point! He died so we can have the power to live this life His Way. That’s what disciples do, they represent their Master’s wishes. Anything else is compromise. Bless you, 👋

P 2920 Faith only.

/ DVH

“My beloved brothers and sisters, the passionate desire of my heart and constant prayer to God is for my fellow Israelites to experience salvation. For I know that although they are deeply devoted to God, they are unenlightened.And since they’ve ignored the righteousness God gives, wanting instead to be acceptable to God because of their own works, they’ve refused to submit to God’s faith-righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law. And because of Him, God has transferred His perfect righteousness to all who believe.”Romans 10:1-4 TPT

It is, unfortunately, a difficulty we all face, we can be deeply devoted to Jesus and still be living under the law and works. It is sadly quite easy to switch over from faith to works and not know you have done it. Engaging with works means you can almost immediately see something for your efforts, and it also gives us, as human beings, validation, because we want to take part in whatever the Lord is doing.

Engaging in works also means we can dismiss ‘spiritual-things’ as done for the day  — like when we tick off, prayer, bible reading and church. Actually that simply means we did what we ought to do. But is that all there is? Are we listening to, and paying attention to whatever the Lord is saying as we go through our day? Did we obey? Can we hear Him over this life’s cacophony of activities?? Have we wandered off into our own understanding?

Here’s an illustration from my life. When hubby and I go on the road, people financially support us, so we want to have results to show for the money they’ve generously donated. It becomes really easy to start counting things. Things like: we’ve had this many great conversations, or given away that many bibles, and bookmarks. It’s a very real temptation to try to account for spending other people’s money, whether they ask you about it, or not.

And to be utterly truthful, it is also a temptation to exaggerate what goes on out here … because sometimes, there ain’t nuthin’ happening here! Results don’t matter bupkis to the Lord. He simply loves to go on our journeys with us –  to work, or school, or on the road talking to people – that’s what matters to Him.

Jesus’ death paid the entire price for our sinful nature, and now we can talk to Him and we know we will be heard. Those are the things that need to matter more than anything else, to us too, if we want to walk with Him in the righteousness He died to give us. Enlightenment comes from trusting in what He did at Calvary, using our FAITH,  nothing more, nothing less. Automatic responses reduce Almighty God to a chore, a task, or yet another thing we need to remember. When all He wants is for us to be obedient to His ongoing instructions. As we keep acting in faith, He can and will correct and direct our course. He’s just that gracious.

Our minute by minute attitudes, are a whole other ballgame – those things are under our own personal control. That’s the place we learn to yield. We will all wrestle with walking in faith, because it is so much easier to dot the ‘i’s and cross the ’t’s and get validity from our actions and intentions instead. However, a truly authentic life rests on Him, and what He did, not on our actions. We are validated because what He did for us validated us! So on the road, we rest in the fact that He told us to do what we are doing, whether we see anything or not.  And sometimes, despite our best efforts … it’s …OR NOT! 

In that situation, hubby and I remind ourselves that planting seeds is a slow business. You gotta wait to see whether what you planted pops up after a while, plus harvest time can be a little while coming!! Even the disciples travelled all over the known world to spread the Gospel of God’s kingdom – and as they did it, they lived by faith, they were trusting Him to guide them.

At one time, Jesus Himself walked about 70kms, up and down tall mountains, for about 5 hours. He was going from one place to another. In this process the Lord met a Samaritan lady. Just in case you forgot, Jews don’t like Samaritans very much, but at the other end of the Lord’s enormous trek, HE FOUND A HARVEST. A whole bunch of Samaritans got saved. Whether the Lord knew what was going to happen or not, He perfectly illustrated what we have seen out here on the road. Unforeseen things happen! Stuff you could not possibly have planned.

Sadly, all of us can easily get lost in the every day ordinary things that need to be done. If you have a family then plenty of boring repetitive stuff daily has to happen. How do you do that kind of stuff in faith? I can only speak for myself – I GIVE UP a lot. When I find myself planning and using my own ideas, I repent and go back to trusting Him. Repentance is not just about moving away from sin – we also need to repent when we go back into works again. This truth has been the biggest blessing to us as we travel all over this country. We’ve put aside what we can do, and made it our priority to follow Him. We want His Presence more than we want results.

Continual enlightenment comes as we walk in what He already has done for us – it flows from our surrender, not from our own efforts. That’s what Paul is saying here. We don’t want our own righteousness, or our works, or our cleverly thought out activities – instead we want to live under, and give away to others the righteousness Jesus Himself totally paid for – for all of us. He voluntarily did what He did, to cover, direct, and comfort us. Every single bit of our lives needs to be lived in faith — waking, sleeping, walking, doing the washing up, servicing the car, playing with our kids…not legalistically … instead we simply include HIM in all things. 

 And if, or when, we run out of instructions, then we need to prayerfully go back to His book. Bye👋

P 2912 Great bible advice.

/ DVH

“Surrender your anxiety. Be still and realize that I am God. I am God above all the nations, and I am exalted throughout the whole earth.”Psalms 46:10 TPT. Well this verse in the Passion version gives us a lot to think about! I love the order in it. First we voluntarily give up anxiety, and then after we’ve surrendered everything, we are to be still and remember Who He is, and all He has done. I’m a fan of clear instructions, they make this life easier. BTW it doesn’t say you will feel differently! The bible is full of those kinds of faith things – it endlessly blesses me.

Living this way actually provides us with opportunities to plant, water and fertilise the fruit of the Spirit. Self-control, for instance. We need that particular fruit badly today. In our homes, in our relationships, in our countries  – we ALL need this fruit. The fruit of self-control actually germinates through recognising opportunities, and following His instructions, pray, and then application. It’s what I call an obedience fruit. It is like love, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, more fruit that begin to develop in the heat of obedience.

Self-control is actually more than just not saying or doing stuff, it is resting in what Jesus did so thoroughly we allow God to bring His peace in the place of worry and anxiety.  Hand everything over to Him, piece by untenable piece. And then, make a decision and take the time to be still, and simply think about what HE is like …what Jesus did for us. 

There are so many things the Holy Spirit does, and most of the time, we don’t even see Him working. When things go crazy inside our hearts and minds, and outside in the world around us, we need His perspective.

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”2 Corinthians 4:17-18.

When I am upset and anxious, I read a Psalm. I need to say at this juncture that I’ve found reading great chunks of the bible just causes further confusion and angst for me. However, music helps me too. But I try to spend time reflecting on Who He is and what He has done for all of us. I’ve learnt you can’t BAM the truth into place, but you can settle your heart, so you can YIELD and He can put His beauty in there. It is a battle, not a walk in the park! Battles like these don’t make us sinful – they show us our weaknesses and our need for His comfort.

Jesus is speaking in these verses in Luke to His disciples about the turbulent times ahead of them: “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of My Name.  And so you will bear testimony to Me. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.” Luke 20:12-15.

Even in extreme circumstances, we are exhorted not to worry! Imagine that … easily said … not easily done! It is a fight against our own carefully cultivated instincts and it takes practice and trust. It can seem weird when you just let go. Strangely, worry can make us feel like we are doing something – if we can just find the right answer! That’s a lie. We can’t add one minute to our lives with worry and anxiety.  

Instead of having to give their testimonies in hard places – those men mentioned in Luke are going to be imprisoned. Kings and governors, are going to demand an explanation for what they believe and the One they serve. And the Lord virtually says to them: ‘Don’t worry about it! I’ll be there!! I promised to be with you so I will be there! I’ll tell you what to say and when to say it. What you say will be so amazing and full of wisdom your enemies won’t be able to say a thing.’ Imagine the fruit on that path. And we think our lives are hard. 

I’m comforted by the fact that Jesus once said this:  “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless you repent [that is, change your inner self—your old way of thinking, live changed lives] and become like children [trusting, humble, and forgiving], you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3. AMP.

Children trust and that is to be our response too. Let go, and look up at Jesus, and let Him take care of it. Do what you can see, plus the things He tells you to and then …let go.Unfortunately in these moments, the voice of personal experience is very loud and it can be a huge distraction. We need to become humble enough to lay our own personal experiences to one side, and believe the bible is truer than what we’ve known and experienced. 

We have to deliberately throw off our old ways of thinking and make a decision that Jesus is able to do what He said He will do, and He will do it for ME! Now the winds of chance, challenge and change cannot blow us around any more. Instead we are gently blown, by the Spirit of the Living God, onto His pathways. We learn His ways, and we start to experience Him for ourselves. 

The bible offers us all kinds of good advice, when it is treated with reverence, and applied into our lives. It shifts our focus off the things of this earth and pulls us into seeing what is happening in His kingdom. The things we cannot see. Bye. 👋