The day with dianne Louise

Heaven and earth will pass away but My words will not pass away. Matthew 24:35 Do you know anyone, anyone at all who keeps every word they say? No? Neither do I! Each one of us will, even with best intent say something with a determined assurace that it will happen but then circumstances will change and so our word. Jesus gives us insight and tells us not to swear by heaven or earth as we are not in charge of heaven or earth. He merely tells us to let our yes be yes and no be be no. I am always amused, in American movies, especially, when something drastice is happening and the father promises the child that everything will be alright and that the father will not let anything bad happen to the child. We are not able to control the weather, others or God. We have enough trouble controlling our own behaviour. However, God is above all this and He promises and keeps His promises. I can trust that when He says something it will be done. Our prayer must be 'may Your Kingdom ...

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:30,31 What is the sign of the son of Man? Perhaps verse 27 tells us; for as the lightening comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Sounds pretty awesome, you will definitely not miss it. Well folks what if He really is real and is coming just as the scripture says? What will you do? Where can you run to? Where can you hide when you discover that eternity is real, where will you spend it? If Jesus is real then all He said is real. What is the alternative? What is prepared for those who chose to ignore? Can you now dictate what your eternity looks like? If Jesus is real then so i...

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14 Jesus had just been asked when the end will come and He had warned that there would be many false Christ's, there would be earthquakes and famines, wars and rumours of wars but the end would only come when all men had heard the gospel. Jesus also said that as lawlessness increased so would the love of many grow cold. I am watching this happen. People in their 60-80 are forsaking truth for doctrines of demons. If they, who are the keepers of truth, fail in their duty then I pity the ensuing generations. 'It's all about me' seems to be the catch cry. Children are being raised to be heathens. Does this mean that Jesus will not come back until they are told? As someone who is nearing her 60's I am mindful that I must stay close to truth and not wander away. My grandchildren need to see truth and know that it is still r...

First clean the inside of the cup and plate that the outside may also be clean. Matthew 23:26 I can pretend that I am good and clean, I can do acts of righteousness but still be full of judgement, arrogance, all manner of sin. What makes me clean? Accepting the gift of forgiveness that Christ gives. First I have to admit that I have a need, that I am a sinner in need of salvation. Before I had such an encounter I did the religious thing. I went to church and confession, participated in the religious dogma but knew deep inside I lacked life. Now that I have Christ I must continually go to Him and not again try to be righteous and start to judge others. I cannot pretend to be righteous and be full of rottenness as it will show. Jesus was giving the Pharisees a tongue lashing in the verses around the above scripture. Because they were leaders they were abusing their position and pretending to be right with God. The cleansing of forgiveness is pure and peaceable. Forgiveness can onl...

the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Matthew 23:23 I am in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia having Christmas with my son and his family. This included my ex-husband and his wife and his brother, his wife and two daughters. In divorce there are vows broken, hurt dispensed and a lot of bad feeling. However, I came with a clean slate and continue to maintain a clean slate and being pleasantly surprised. My Ex-husband and his wife invited me over for Christmas dinner and I must say I enjoyed myself. Yesterday we all went out on the surf ski and had a lovely day. All that has gone before is permanently gone and I am happy for my ex-husband and his wife. I actually like his wife and have compassion on her. She has been nothing but gracious and I appreciate her efforts. Now had I come with the law and maintained offense because of the broken law I would have caused a lot of unpleasantness, been miserable and been rejected. I had to ask myself, What is my Go...

The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew 23:11-12  Do you understand this? How do I become great? Be a servant! It really does not make sense to the human mind. What is servanthood? It is definitely not showiness in servitude. Jesus had just remonstrated with the Pharisees for their showy piety. Jesus indicated that true servanthood is unseen, it is a matter of the heart. Yet Jesus demonstrated servanthood and it was seen, so what does He mean? He means genuine heartfelt service that is not done to have a hand clap but done irregardless of who is watching to earn the Father's praise. There has been a lot of giving over Christmas, the best giving is that which was motivated by the spirit of God and done without an audience or need for a crowd. We find God's projects when we find Him. What is He saying? What is on His heart? Where is He? He says in the Old Testament that when we...

Jesus asked them a question, saying, "what do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He? Matthew 22:41 Jesus had a way of digging deep. Today the same question is being asked. Today when we celebrate Christmas, not all believe He was or is the Christ. It is convenient to label Him according to our own opinions so then we do not have to lay down all before Him and confess Him as Lord. Only a few days ago I had my youngest brother declare, on Facebook, that he believed. He made a bold declaration. I have a sister who had told me she does not believe. Each one of us must come to that place of confession. What do we believe? We can easily accept, the holiday, without the acknowledgement. There are those who say they are His who have made Him saviour but not Lord. I am constantly amazed, after I have been set free, how I had not been able to allow my God to be Lord. Whenever a fight would ensue a blanket of hopelessness would descend over me and all I could see was the worst, un...

" Teacher. which is the great commandment?" And Jesus said to Him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all  your soul and with all your mind. This is the great commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 22:36-40 How do I do this? As I live life I am not always conscious of putting the Lord first and therefore I will walk outside these parameters. The challenges to love are also constant especially when the behaviour of others smack of all sorts of attitude that are not mine. I know there is one who never loses concentration, never sleeps, never sins and I can trust Him to fill me with His grace. As I visit family and grandchildren there is always grace needed. We raise our children how we would raise them but when they are adults they travel their own way, for a time. I have to allow my children to raise their children how they ...

The Sadducees came to Jesus and were testing Him, they said, “In the Resurrection whose wife is she “(supposing a woman had been married 7 times and the husbands all died). Jesus replied, “You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of   God”.Matthew 22:28,29 Over the last several weeks there has been a show on Sunday nights on SBS (Australia) about the bible. There has been a lot of opinions put forth by those interviewed. Many were not worth listening to as they were mere carnal opinions, but occasionally a true friend of God was interviewed. To give an opinion we must know the One about whom we speak. We can’t just know Him because we have read about Him. We must know Him intimately. If I interview anyone at all and ask them about their mother, depending on the relationship they had with her would be the level of insight they gave into the character of their mother. To take an opinion of someone who had been given up at birth, would not be accurate,...

"Tell us, then, what do you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "why put me to the test, you hypocrites?" show me the coin for the tax." and they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said Caesar's." Then He said to them. "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." Matthew 22:17-21 We mix things up, He sees through! The Pharisees had sent their disciples to test Jesus, He knew their hearts and where they came from. Jesus, the Son of God, had no problem with paying taxes, in another place he had sent Peter to fish and inside the fish was a coin to pay tax, for both of them. Do you, christian, mix up what you pay to the Lord and what the government gets? The tithe belongs to the Lord, it is our first fruit. Taxes, although taken before we see our pay, do go to ...

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in His words. Matthew 22:15 You  ever been a part of a plot? I remember, as a child, plotting with one of my brothers to sort out our troublesome middle brother, I was over him. Fortunately my second brother spoke up and said to me: "You can't do that Di he is your brother and you cannot treat your brother like that." The Pharisees needed a brother to speak up and say: "You can't do that, what if He really is who He says He is? What does eternity look like for those who get it wrong?" Last night I took that same 'troublesome' brother and his wife to see 'Mission Impossible'. That same 'troublesome' brother has been there for me through some of my darkest times. There are moments in life when, for whatever reason, someone in our lives are driving us to distraction. Does that mean they are wrong? Or does it mean we need to stop and take stock of what is really going on? As chi...

But when the king came to view the guests, he saw a man there was not dresses for a wedding. So he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?" The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, "tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are invited, but few are chosen." Matt22:11-14 I never understood the above for a long time. I had thought wow! no one wanted to come so the king had to bring in all the rejects and then he was not grateful that they came but tossed them out for not having the right clothes. How many rejects of society do you know that would have the right clothes to go to a wedding? But God has a meaning. Not only were the 'sons of Israel' unwilling to come to the banquet causing the Lord to go to us, the Gentiles, He has a protocol. Perhaps the clothes were handed out at the entrance, this would explain the reason. In th...

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent out slaves to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn't want to come. Again, he sent out other slaves and said, "Tell those who are invited: 'Look, I've prepared my dinner, my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.' But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the others seized his slaves and treated them outrageously and killed them. The king was enraged, so he sent out his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned down their city. Then he told his slaves, "The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet". Matthew 22:1-9 Have you ever been ignored? You send messages but receive no a...

" Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. He leased it to tenants and farmers and went away. When the grape harvest drew near he sent his slaves to the farmers to collect his fruit. But the farmers took his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned the third. Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first group, and they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'this is the heir, come let us kill him and take his inheritance!' So they seized him and threw out of the vineyard, and killed him. Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?" "He will completely destroy those terrible men, " they told Him, "and lease his vineyard to other farmers who will give Him his produce at th...

"But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'My son go, work in the vineyards today.' He answered, "I don't want to! Yet later he changed his mind and went. Then the man went to the other and said the same thing. "I will sir' he answered But he didn't go. Which of the two did his father's will?" "The first" they said. Jesus said to them, "I assure you; Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you!" Matthew 21: 28-31  Jesus was showing the Pharisees and Scribes that the wayward, the tax collectors and prostitutes were accepting the truth and being saved when these 'righteous ones' were missing the boat. Self-righteousness stinks, is Pharisaical, rigid and causes the one who has it to miss freedom offered. How do we know we are self-righteous? We are judgemental, we spend a lot of time in self-satisfaction, we have walls that keep grace out. In fact we do...

When He entered the temple complex , the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him and said, "by what authority are You doing these things? Who gave you this authority? Matthew 21:23 What a hide! I can see the faces. Voices of condemnation, voices of those who thought they had authority. There are so many with opinions. Jesus answered them with a question which showed their guile. "Where did John's baptism come from? From heaven or from men?" Then they began to argue among themselves. A good outcome. Arrogance needs to turn on itself. Jesus warned his followers 'if they persecute me they will persecute you.' You try and change things, do things differently, be different, then along come the voices, "You can't do that". What is the Lord calling us to? Conformity or follow Him. Herd mentality destroys creativity, robs you of life, makes you sick. What is He saying? 'He makes all things new'. A song by Brooke Fraser says: ...

Early in the morning, as He was returning to the city, He was hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. and He said, "May no fruit ever come from you again". At once the fig tree withered. Matthew 21:18,19 Jesus passed through Bethpage, meaning the house of unripe figs. It is believed that the fig tree represented the barren Israel which was about to be destroyed. Jesus used many parables about vines, fruit, wheat fields, and fig trees. In all the importance was the harvest. Lacking fruit could be liked to those who said they knew Jesus and did great works but He told them He never knew them. After all is a whole lot of activity important or results. The fig tree had a lot of leaves but no fruit. What am I here for? What is the 'sole purpose test'. I have to deal with this in my work but as a Christian is still applies. I don't want to be cast off by my Lord, I want to live in His house, in the same ro...

The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple complex, and He healed them. When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that He did and the children shouting in the temple complex, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" "Yes" Jesus told them, "Have you never read: "You have prepared praise from the mouths of children and nursing infants?" Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there. Matthew 21:14-16 Go Jesus! He was bringing the very thing they wanted and they were too proud to receive. Our Lord comes to us in ways that He chooses, we are not in charge. Fortunately there are those who recognise the truth, our little people, the children. The longer we are established in a thing the more set we are in our ways. In church this can be the same. 'This is how we do things around here', we think, in fact we enjoy ...

"It is written 'My house will be called a house of prayer' but you are making it a den of thieves." Matthew 21:13 When we push the relationship down and out of the way it is amazing what compromises we come up with. Sin sneakily seduces our carnal minds so that we are doing wrong and justifying it. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and yet we don things to it and in it that desecrate the temple. Pollution comes from every angle. The eyes see and the heart lusts. The ear hears and the heart goes there. The mouth speaks things it should not, all because the heart is wrong. How does this affect the Holy Spirit dwelling within? He becomes quieter and quieter and we miss out on beautiful fellowship. The temple, in the beginning, was God in the midst of the people but could never satisfy. Rare was the person who recognised the importance and wanted a relationship. David was one such man, Moses was another and so was Joshua. Just a few in so many. As a christia...

Then the crowds who went ahead of Him and those that followed kept shouting: "Hosanna to the Son of David! He who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed one! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"Matthew 21:9 Ah! the fickle crowd. Jesus would not put much stock in this adulation because in a few days they would crucify Him. Crowds are untrustworthy beasts. Yes we can be sure they will shout and make a commotion but they are dangerous. It is dangerous to think any crowd is for us and to build on that because they can change. My bible says 'if God be for us who can be against us.' I would rather put myself in His hands any day and stay there. I feel safe with the Lord and not with man. No I don't have issues with men or women but like Jesus I know their hearts and I know His heart and I know who I would rather have. King David also knew this. He knew that even family can turn and in their lust for power, determine to kill. He knew who he trusted and he knew he co...

 Are you jealous because I am generous? So the last will be first and the first will be last. Matthew 20 14b, 15 This comes at the end of a parable about a landowner who had a vineyard and went out at various times in the day to employ people. Jesus liked it to the kingdom of heaven. Jesus was saying it is the Father's prerogative to do what He likes with what is His. He has called out to many different people over the ages and those He chooses will be first, it will not be according to our way of measuring things. I hear you say, "That's not fair!" The workers in the vineyard said the same thing but the landowner said, "Friend I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me on a denarius? Take what is yours and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my business?" The Kingdom of Heaven does not run according to our petty little rules and regulations. What is 'fair' does not c...

 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26 Jesus had been talking about the rich young ruler who had come to Him and wanted to know what more he must do to receive eternal life. Ultimately the more was to give away all his possessions and follow Christ. According to my study bible Jesus was showing the young man that 1) His covetousness defied the spirit of the 10th commandment and 2) his neglect of the poor defied the commandment to love his neighbour, and possible 3) his love for his possessions surpassed his love for God, thus breaking the commandment against idolatry. However, as Jesus stated above, 'with man this is impossible but with God all things are possible'. The spirit gives life and power, He enables all hardened hearts to melt. Have you ever heard it said, 'that person will never come to the Lord they are so hard, it would take a miracle'. Our God is in the business of miracles...

Then Come Follow Me.Matthew 19:21b I am a lover of God yet last night I sat at my piano and played an old song: 'to God be the Glory' as I played it I felt drawn and again this morning I played it on my ukelele and it compels me to more. The above scripture is a part of Jesus' invitation to the rich young ruler to leave all and follow Him. Today I am compelled to lay aside all and follow Him, spend time in His heart and to enter His heart I need to worship Him. As I spend time in His heart I am washed, sanctified by Him and His thoughts become my thoughts, and His ways my ways. I have been away and not had fellowship for three weeks, I need to be in church and worship my God. Reading my bible and writing my blog does not constitute fellowship, it is peripheral stuff, it is the bare minimum to keep me going until I can spend time before Him, and with Him, with others. Fellowship is important, we are not meant to be lone rangers. I cannot imagine each cell in my bod...

Just then, someone came up and asked Him, "teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?" Jesus replied, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only One who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." Which ones?" he asked Him. Jesus replied: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honour your father and mother; and love your neighbour as yourself." I have kept all these, the young man told Him, "what do I still lack?" "If you want to be perfect", Jesus said to him, "go sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Matthew 19:16-21 This young man was serious, he was a keeper of the law and still felt hollow, there was something missing. He was searching for perfection in this life and eternal life in the next. He had kept the law but still lacked. The young man asked "what good must I do?...

Then the children were brought to Him so He might put His hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them. Then Jesus said, "leave the children alone, and don't try to keep them from coming to Me, because the kingdom of heaven is made up of people like this." Matthew 19:13,14 The disciples are getting it wrong again. They had just misunderstood marriage and now they are assuming children are unimportant. Jesus had previously told them, in chapter 18 that to experience the kingdom of God they must become as little children and here are the little children and they have no time for them. How quickly we forget the lessons in a society which behaves in ignorance to deeper truth. In our busy world the little people can be seen as a chore rather than a blessing, a source of frustration rather than a lesson in humility. Children are a blessing from God and can be used by Him to teach us His ways. It is our role to foster that humility and retain that purity and give ro...

"and I tell you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery." His disciples said to Him, "if the relationship of a man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry." Matthew 19:9,10 Jesus had been asked if a man could divorce his wife on any grounds and He showed them the 'deeper truth'. In the beginning God's plan was for marriage to last forever. Jesus explained the concept of leaving parents and being joined to the spouse, as 'one flesh'. The disciples comment shows their hardness of heart. They had grown used to the idea that a man could divorce his wife, they were comfortable with it. They liked the idea that they owned the power. Jesus was taking that power away. Our society has again come to the place when a man and woman can divorce for any reason, even the church is comfortable with it. This is an example of how, in our lives, we like to rule. So that we can rule we change ...

"For this reason , the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began to settle accounts, one who owed him 10.000 talents was brought before him. Since he had no way to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt. At this the slave fell face down before him and said, "be patient with me, and I will pay you everything." Then the master of that slave had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan. But the slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, "pay what you owe." At this his fellow slave fell down and began begging him, "be patient with me, and I will pay you back." But he wasn't willing. On the contrary he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what he owed. When the other slaves saw what had taken place, they were deeply ...

Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord how many times could my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" "I tell you not as many as seven," Jesus said to him, "but 70 times seven." Matthew 18:21,22 I have just spent 9 days in a tent with my sister as we participated in the Great Victorian Bike Ride. We lived in close proximity to each other and at times tested each other, we had to forgive each other and make room for each other's differences. My sister is very individualistic and not prone to lay down her life easily for me who she considers should make my own way. I went along hoping to spend time riding together but my sister liked to take off and do her own thing. On day one I had a puncture and a stranger came to my aid, my sister had the pump. Day two I had a fall, another stranger helped me, not my sister. I was being challenged with my attitude. Day three my shoes went missing and my sister was keen to have me sit t...