Thursday 23 November 2017

November - a month for a fresh NEW start

Israel's Restoration

Amos 9:11-15

"In that day I will restore
David's fallen tent.
I will repair its broken places,
restore its ruins,
and build it as it used to be,
so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that bear my name, "
declares the LORD, who will do these things.

"The days are coming," declares the LORD,
"when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
and the planter by the one treading grapes.

New wine will drip from the mountains
and flow from all the hills.
I will bring back my exiled [g] people Israel;
they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
I will plant Israel in their own land,
never again to be uprooted
from the land I have given them,"
says the LORD your God.

Tuesday 14 November 2017

Burn baby burn

I recently saw an episode of a series I am quite fond of and in one of the scenes the bride-to-be, busy planning finer details of their wedding, asks her fiance 'what is our song'?

And it made me think about a song I often sing to/share with Jesus.
I love to sing the chorus of a particular song over and over to Him, the one I adore. The One I love.

It's a way of me connecting with Jesus. In the world that I live in, where I constantly have to focus on my relationship with Jesus, where the things of the world often try to pull me away from my commitment and dedication to Jesus, I'll try to do things that will keep my flame burning. Sometimes it ain't even burning high. In days like these, I will rehearse lyrics over and over and over until I have ignited the flames again. Until I feel the warmth again.

Someone told me a long time ago that your relationship with Jesus is like a burning fire. If you take a coal from the pit, it will get cold and eventually die.

What do you do to keep the Fire Burning?

the next best thing vs contentment

Ons leef in ’n advertensie-aangedrewe wêreld wat ons leer dat ons nuwe dinge moet hê om gelukkig te wees.
 
Mark Buchanan beskryf hierdie siekte waaraan baie mense ly as: “The cult of the next thing!” Dit maak dat ons nooit tevrede is met wat ons tans het nie; dit gaan oor daardie volgende nuwe ding wat ons moet hê. Nimmereindigende behoeftes dryf ons dan om nog en nog te wil inpalm.
 
Wat is die genesing vir hierdie selfsugtige behoefte-aangedrewe lewenswyse? Psalm 23! Ja, jy het reg gelees! Ons moet weer Psalm 23:1 van harte glo: “Die Here is my herder.” Ons beaam dit graag.
 
Hoor egter wat skryf Dawid direk hierna: “Ek kom niks kort nie.” Saam met Dawid moet ons ophou om gedurige tekort-kommers te wees. Dit vernietig ons lewens. Ons moet leer ons het genoeg as die Here ons herder is.
Hy is meer as genoeg!
 
~ ekerk

Monday 7 August 2017

8 Characteristics of Believers Who Don’t Give Up in the Battle


Living for Christ is hard—sometimes so hard that we’re tempted to wonder if it’s worth the sacrifice. It is, of course, but difficulties sometimes cloud that truth. Based on my years of studying spiritual warfare, here are characteristics of believers who don’t give up in the battle:
  1. They’re solidly connected to a local church. That is, they don’t just attend a church; they participate in it. They’re involved in a small group, and they serve in some capacity. They’re living for something other than themselves.
  2. They have a devotional life, even if it’s not perfect. They might be struggling with consistency, but they’re working at it. They make time to read the Bible and pray.
  3. They have somebody to walk with them. They don’t fight the battle alone, because they have a Christian brother or sister who stands with them. They share their burdens and their struggles—which always lightens the load a bit.
  4. They choose to believe what the Bible says. Even when they may not “feel” like it’s true, they make the choice to trust Bible truths like “I will not leave you or forsake you” (Heb. 13:5) and “greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
  5. They rehearse God’s care in the past. It’s easy to forget yesterday’s blessings when today’s hard, but those who don’t give up fight hard to avoid that error. They continually remind themselves, “God has never let me down in the past. He won’t now, either.”
  6. They trust that when they are weak, God is their strength (2 Cor. 12:10). They may not like the battle, but they learn from the apostle Paul’s prior experience. Weakness doesn’t bother them, for they know God’s power is most evident when they are weakest.
  7. They understand the witness of faithfulness in the battle. They recognize that somebody’s always watching them—and that their witness is most potent when life is hard and their faith is stretched. Their faithfulness in the valley catches the attention of the watching world.
  8. They cry out to God. There’s no pretense in their praying. They sugarcoat none of their words, and they follow no formula in their prayers. They know God’s big enough to handle their questions and their pain. He is, you know…
 
 

Friday 4 August 2017

to believe or not to believe

Know this...


....to believe is a decision


[to forgive is an instruction, not an emotion - you decide to be obedient and forgive. Dealing with the bitterness, the pain and rejection is a journey on its own.

Same with having faith... God said He gave us enough faith... its up to you whether you believe it or not...]

hoe lyk jou getuienis

Hoe goed, hoe mooi is dit as broers eensgesind saam woon! Dit is soos reukolie wat van die kop af in die baard afloop, die baard van Aäron, af tot by die soom van sy klere. Psalm 133:1-2 NAV
 
Die Skrif gebruik die beelde van die Heilige Gees om die seën en salwing op sulke verhoudings te beskryf: dis soos die wydingsolie wat oor Aäron uitgegiet is, om hom vir die Here af te sonder, soos die dou van Hermonberg wat op Sion val. So ‘n salwing – en die eenheid en vrede wat daaruit spruit – is egter ook ‘n gevolg van ons eie Geesvervuldheid: ons liefde, geduld, vriendelikheid, vergifnis, ons begrip.
 
 **As die olie van die Heilige Gees ons gedagtes verander het, vloei dit af oor ons hart en verander ons gevoelens; dit gaan sit in ons klere en word deel van ons gedrag en benat dan die grond om ons as ons getuienis**
 
Dis my en jou taak om só onder die Heilige Gees se invloed te wees! Dan sal ons verhoudings ook mooi wees…
Here, vul my met U Gees! Seën ons met U eenheid en vrede, met U liefde. Amen.

Friday 21 July 2017

oh how He loves us


I recently meditated on Genesis 3.21 - and once again realised how much God must have love His Adam and Eve.

When they sinned against their Creator God did not turn His back on them - not at all. In fact He went looking for them, even in their wrong. When they heard God walking in the garden they hid from Him. How silly....He called them and asked them why they were hiding...As if God did not know what they did and why they were hiding.

What struck me about this was He still went looking for them. He did not ignore them for a week, giving them a cold shoulder, nor did He had a tit-4-tat attitude... no. God wants to have fellowship with us and knowing thát I think God wanted to restore the uneasiness and tension, He wanted them to feel save again - even in their wrong, to restore peace.

God must have been disappointed that they did what He specifically asked them not to do. Surely He was must have been upset that they disobeyed Him. Yet God chose to show mercy and kindness and love and forgiveness. 

When God asked them 'where are you' --- this question might as well be why are you hiding?

God loves us unconditionally - He is not going to love us less when we did something wrong - maybe it’s because we love conditionally, behave and forgive conditionally...

I will forgive you.... if you promise never to steal again
I will take you back....if you promise never to cheat on me again
I will wash the dishes....if you make the bed
I will give you a star on your chore chart....if you make your bed every morning

Will we ever get it that God wants us to run to HIM when we did something we weren't supposed to?

I remember when I was a little girl I would hide from my father when I did something that would upset him knowing that he was going to spank me. I was terrified of him.

I know today that the hiding was the consequence of the act/me being naughty...but at the time I hated him for it because he was often unfair and very cruel in his methods of punishment.

As I grew closer to the Lord and began to [try] understand His love for me, His thoughts, plans and sacrifices He made for me, only then did I start letting go of the 'fear that God would react as my earthly father did'. I had yet to learn that God is not going to give me time out, or make me stand in the corner of the room, or sit in the bathroom for hours - He wants to me to make it right with Him, right away so I can go on with my day without living it in fear, without feeling imprisoned by guilt and shame.

We need to adopt an attitude of asking for forgiveness, apologise to God for our stubborn and rebelliousness immediately after we have sinned; so that the sin cannot get a hold on us ....."Sin is lying outside your door ready to attack. It wants to control you, but you must master it" (Gen 4.7)




 

Thursday 25 May 2017

Wat beteken die kruis vir my en jou?


Wat beteken die kruis vir my en jou...
 
·         Genade?
·         Liefde?
·         Vergifnis?
 
Ons weet almal min of meer/het al baie vrae geantwoord en verstaan in hul hart dat dit al die bg. kan wees en nog meer – vir elke mens is dit anders
 
Maar wat verwag die Here van ons, nou, vandag? Wat moet die kruis daagliks vir ons beteken?
 
Dink hieraan....ons leefwyse...
 
·       Ons manier van praat:
Skinder, vloek, negatief, murmureer, kritiseer
·        Handel en wandel:
Eerlik wees met claims, tydstate, getrou aan jou huweliksmaat, deernis, oggend en aandpraatjies moet dieselfde wees
·       Ons gesindheid:
Samaritaan, vrygewig,
·        Ons harts-toestand:
moenie onheil broei nie
moenie wraaksugtig wees nie

Ascension day / Hemelvaart-dag

 
Die graf is leeg vir jou en my..
dit beteken ons het oorwinning oor al ons issues en probleme op aarde
ons is vrygekoop van die sonde-las waaronder ons gepaard gaan

Ons het toegang tot die Vader en kan in verhouding met die 3-enige God wees
Die keuse is joune...





 

Wednesday 1 March 2017

Begin with ME Father

Abba Father, please help me to be the woman I need to be... the kind of woman that pleases You...
 
1 Peter 3:1-6
This scripture reveals how a changed woman can be a powerful instrument for change in her husband’s life.
The real adventure isn’t what God wants to do in your husband’s life; the jolts will come when you realize what He’s doing in your life!

The changed woman is submissive to her husband. “Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husband.” 1 Peter 3:1 The Greek word for submissive, hupotassõ, means to be subject or subordinate, to literally place under.

The best illustration of submission comes from traffic. When you see the “merge” sign, you know that someone has to go first and someone has to go behind. Too often the I’m-going-to-go first battle causes frustration. Everyone knows that soon or later there is only going to be room for a single file of cars.

Submission has nothing to do with equality. The Son is not pouting around heaven going, “Why can’t I be the Father?” The Son is in submission to the Father and the Spirit to the Father and the Son. Yet Scripture teaches they are equal. Headship has nothing to do with equality. Men and women are equal under God in every way.

Submission also has nothing to do with worth. I love Proverbs 31:10, “Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.” It’s not about gifts. In certain areas, my wife has gifts that far exceed mine. It’s about God’s design for the order in the home. Changed women help God change husbands by being submissive to their own husband.

The changed woman is chaste in her conduct. Your husband is going to be “impacted when he observes your chaste conduct accompanied by fear” v. 2. This describes the effect of what you do in the kitchen, the car, the backyard, and in the bedroom—every activity in every place. Chaste means holy, righteous, or pure. Chaste means having godly responses to conflict, being pure in your dress, your language, your choices of entertainment and being righteous in decisions. Chaste does not mean self-righteous or judgmental; not uppity or prudish—just pure. A wife’s purity is a powerful tool God uses for change in the life of her husband.

The changed woman has a gentle and quiet spirit (see 1 Peter 3:4). Her attitude is gentle—that is, she’s considerate, unassuming, not pushy or demanding, not unnecessarily rigorous. The opposite of gentle spirit would be combative. She’s quiet—not loud-mouthed or known for speaking her mind. She’s not overpowering or blunt in her words or actions. She is soft-spoken and calm. She bears the disturbances created by others and does not cause or contribute to disturbances. She trusts God with her home and entrusts her husband to God. We all know from experience and from observation, that there is a woman who stirs the pot and there is a woman who stills the storm. A wife’s gentle and quiet spirit focuses God’s work on her husband.

A wife might insist, “Well, God didn’t make me like that.” Then like her husband, she needs to be changed. God is not trying to give her a different personality. He loves the one that He gave her, but He wants godliness to be expressed through it. As for her husband, no matter how clearly she sees how she can “fix” him, God has a better plan. A godly woman uses each impulse to “improve” her husband as a reminder to pray, “Lord, change me into the person You want me to be.” Next week, we’ll look at the other potential best-seller: How a Husband Can Change His Wife!


Walk in the Word