What you put in is what you will get out…
You man, you woman… Pray to stay together – to be held together…
Niks kan ons beter troos nie as die helder wete dat ons, midde-in ons ellende, deur die God van Liefde vasgehou word – Johannes Calvyn.
Practice the presence of God – the Gifts of the Holy Spirit…
We sometimes need to remember that we are only dust…
For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
(Psalms 103:14).
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
(2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.
(1 Corinthians 14:26).
I realised that we do not embrace our humanity. We want to be strong and powerful, but even David said that God remembers that we are only dust. You have to embrace your own humanity and then others… It is that we are frail and limited, not able to carry, performer and give what life demands from us daily. You may be offended and believe that you are able to do all of this, but are you?
Because Jesus experienced temptation when he suffered, he is able to help others when they are tempted.
(Hebrews 2:18).
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
(Mark 1:35).
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
(Matthew 6:6).
We have a God that knows and understands who we truly are. We want to be strong and live this daily living as overcomers, but we will fail if we forget our humanity.
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
(2 Corinthians 5:18).
The Letter to the Philippians gives us a glimpse of the frailty of humanity, the embrace thereof and the knowing that we are utterly depended on a God that knows and understands this even more than we do.
Are you willing to acknowledge your humanity in total dependence on God?
Will you become a vessel filled and overflowing with all of this becoming a carrier thereof? Mankind needs to know the truth – we are not as strong and invincible as we might think we are…
When I worried about many things, your assuring words soothed my soul.
(Psalms 94:19).
A song for going up to worship. O LORD, out of the depths I call to you. O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be open to my pleas for mercy. O LORD, who would be able to stand if you kept a record of sins? But with you there is forgiveness so that you can be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and with hope I wait for his word. My soul waits for the LORD more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, because with the LORD there is mercy and with him there is unlimited forgiveness. He will rescue Israel from all its sins.
(Psalms 130:1-8).
We need to come to the full knowledge and understanding of our humanity – that we are nothing with out God. The fact that we even have a breath is a gift from God for He breathed into the nostrils of man the breath of life and man became a living soul.
Knowing that I am nothing and Jesus is my all in all – my source of life.
It is all about
RELATIONSHIP
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
(John 1:1).
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
(Colossians 3:16).
Know the word of God, memorize verses and make it your own.
Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
(James 1:21).
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
(2 Timothy 3:14-17).
Have I not written for you long ago excellent sayings of counsel and knowledge, to make you know for certain what is right and true, that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?
(Proverbs 22:20-21).
Are we going to take hold of this life we have received, no matter what? The lives we live are tough and we face confrontations and challenges daily. Each and everyone that met with God will still have these confrontations and challenges, but it will seem different, because we look at it through different eyes. This new life is first a dying and secondly a resurrection. We succeed only when we die to live.
Jesus Said:
…If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
(Luke 9:23)
Taking up your cross is the process of dying; it is your walk towards death. Jesus’ words was that we have to die daily, not just carry a heavy load…
Our success lies in the way we die…
No matter what the circumstances are we must die daily to everything else and live for Him, our Lord God and King, our Life-giver. For true life is only found in Him. When we die to everything else the salvation we found in Him becomes our resurrection…
John the Baptist said:
He must increase, but I must decrease.
(John 3:30)
and Paul said:
…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death; if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead.
(Philippians 3:10-11)
We have to begin each day with God, dying if need be. We have some good traditions and habits, but we also have bad traditions and habits. These bad things must be killed daily in order for us to follow Him. Killing these bad habits is hard and at times it feels like we are dying with it, but do not fear for HE is our resurrection!!!
I don’t know about you, but I don’t die easy. Dying is painful and tough. I cling to stuff that I should actually let go of, which only increase the intensity of the whole dying process. Dying to self does not come easy, but it is possible and together we can do it. It is important to know that you cannot do it alone, you need God first and also the support of family or friends that are willing to walk to death with you that you may “attain to the resurrection of the dead”
Met Erkenning ook aan Marlene Steyn.
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