I am overwhelmed by grief at the tragedy that has befallen another servant of God and I pray that God will clasp Peter and his children tightly in his arms and comfort them.
A tragedy such as this calls for some introspection and I stand guilty as charged that I do not pray more for my pastor and his family.
In the service of God, our pastors and shepherds come under so many attacks continually. Attacks from the evil one when they are doing a good job teaching the Word, winning souls for the Kingdom and sadly also from discontented members in their own congregation. It is a heavy burden to bear and more often than not, our leaders are very isolated.
No wonder then that such deep depression can set in that there seems to be no hope. I cannot even begin to reason or understand the workings of a mind in such a state and have to rely on the Word for comfort and a possible answer:
For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
So since we do not know, let us also obey the Word and no man sit in judgement.
Finally, I beseech each one of you to hold up the arms of your church leaders daily. Bring them before God in prayer and giving thanks for them ask God to protect and shield them against the wiles of the evil one and bestow wisdom, mercy and grace on them for His ultimate Glory.
May God have mercy on us all.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Our Sustainer, Protector, Provider EVERYTHING
How often do we not make mental notes or plan escape routes and imagine emergency plans should we need it. I for one, often think, "well if anything happens, I can call my neighbour", or "if there's an intruder, the dog will bark".
However, this belies our faith in God because we do not trust Him enough. We are making our own plans in case He cannot come though for us.
Just today, 15 May 2008 the headline reads: Kroonstad - "Help! We're here. Just help us! Gina, where are you? Can't you see us?" I read about a couple who burnt to death in their home despite screams to their neighbour to help them. A tragedy indeed. The poor neighbour stood by helpless listening to the heart-rending appeals for help. Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying they should not have asked for help from the neighbour, I'm only saying that there are times when only God can and so we have to always put our full trust and faith in Him alone.
Let us learn from this tragedy so that their deaths are not in vain.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
BLESSINGS FOR ISRAEL
A beautiful, fruitful and peaceful future is my prayer and wish for you, Israel.
May the words of the Psalmist ring true for you on this your 60th anniversary:
Ps 4:8. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Ps 85:8. I will listen to what God the LORD will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints— but let them not return to folly. Ps 85:9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.
May the words of the Psalmist ring true for you on this your 60th anniversary:
Ps 4:8. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Ps 85:8. I will listen to what God the LORD will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints— but let them not return to folly. Ps 85:9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.
HOW I LOVE JESUS
Well, what's new! I received a chain email with religious content.
This spam comes around far too often and employs psychological blackmail to get you to read and forward to others.
Mostly, I mark them as read - so as not offend the sender!!!???!! - then promptly delete without reading. Having opened another one a day or so ago, I took the trouble to scroll down through it and almost at the very end, this one caught my eye: "When the devil knocks, ask : "Jesus will you please get that?" Now how can one be more grounded in Christ than that!
Since Christians are mostly not very good examples, an extremely useful statement to bear in mind is to rather keep your eye on Christ than on Christians! And to my shame, that mostly includes me.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Israel
Now that I am settled and back in routine, I’m able to assimilate my thoughts and experiences of Israel. Perhaps I am now better prepared than I was when I went and will appreciate the trip so much more now. Yes, I will go again as soon as I can.
Quite frankly, my initial overall opinion was the age old one of “read the book, see the movie”, type of disappointment. For me this was not just a tour or visit but rather intended as a pilgrimage and spiritual journey.
Now for some unsolicited travel advice, if it is your intention to go on a pilgrimage - spiritual journey, a tour group is not the way to go!
Being someone who loves God and enjoys reading the Bible, I found that my visualization of most of the sites was diametrically opposed to what the reality is. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that almost every site would be contained within a church building. On the other hand, what would the scenario be today if this had not been the case?
Being one person within one of too many plenty tour groups, out of the window went my nicely prepared ‘anticipate, approach, acknowledge’ plans. It was difficult enough to find the inspiration to say a blessing at a site and planned sacred moments were suddenly reduced to seconds of silent lightning prayers. Oh, what craziness!
Now in thankful acknowledgement, my afterthoughts occur at my own pace and I am able to mentally revisit each site, fill in the sounds and more fully realize the meaning and significance of each.
My most treasured memories at this time, are of the Sea of Galilee, visit to the Golan Heights, Kibbutz Kfar Blum, Yad Vashem; the Kotel and Kotel tunnel.
My most lasting impression of the new Israeli Jew, the Sabra, is having witnessed their care and respect towards the sites of both the other two mainstream religions. For this I honour them. Thanks, Dror, Gili and Hanan.
Quite frankly, my initial overall opinion was the age old one of “read the book, see the movie”, type of disappointment. For me this was not just a tour or visit but rather intended as a pilgrimage and spiritual journey.
Now for some unsolicited travel advice, if it is your intention to go on a pilgrimage - spiritual journey, a tour group is not the way to go!
Being someone who loves God and enjoys reading the Bible, I found that my visualization of most of the sites was diametrically opposed to what the reality is. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that almost every site would be contained within a church building. On the other hand, what would the scenario be today if this had not been the case?
Being one person within one of too many plenty tour groups, out of the window went my nicely prepared ‘anticipate, approach, acknowledge’ plans. It was difficult enough to find the inspiration to say a blessing at a site and planned sacred moments were suddenly reduced to seconds of silent lightning prayers. Oh, what craziness!
Now in thankful acknowledgement, my afterthoughts occur at my own pace and I am able to mentally revisit each site, fill in the sounds and more fully realize the meaning and significance of each.
My most treasured memories at this time, are of the Sea of Galilee, visit to the Golan Heights, Kibbutz Kfar Blum, Yad Vashem; the Kotel and Kotel tunnel.
My most lasting impression of the new Israeli Jew, the Sabra, is having witnessed their care and respect towards the sites of both the other two mainstream religions. For this I honour them. Thanks, Dror, Gili and Hanan.
Despite any disappointment, again I humbly thank Hashem, our God, Creator and Sustainer of the Universe for the wonderful privilege of having been enabled to visit the Land of His chosen people in whom we are rooted through Christ. How marvelous to have seen the Land of the Bible and I pray for the Peace of Jerusalem and forever hold the Land and its people in my thoughts.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Israel
The anticipation heightens as the time draws closer to my first visit to Israel. It has been said, “you can visit Israel many times in your lifetime but you can only visit Israel once, the first time”. Oh, to delight in the sacrosanct.
I have read manuals and guides; studied sections of the Bible that refer to the land of Israel and goggled virtual tours, blogs by other pilgrims who went before me. Still somehow I know that the very first time I set foot on the soil belonging to the land of Israel, will be a special moment - an indescribable emotional God-filled moment. Oh, how I love God!
I have read manuals and guides; studied sections of the Bible that refer to the land of Israel and goggled virtual tours, blogs by other pilgrims who went before me. Still somehow I know that the very first time I set foot on the soil belonging to the land of Israel, will be a special moment - an indescribable emotional God-filled moment. Oh, how I love God!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Keeping the Sabbath
Sunday the teaching was about the Sabbath and the fact that the keeping of the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments. According to our Reverend Rob, we may as well call it the 9 Commandments because this one has definitely fallen by the wayside. Even Christians get offended if you tell them they are not supposed to go shopping or play Golf on a Sunday. Nowadays, some people – unbelievers – refer to it as the 10 Offences.
A parent teaches the child the way to go in life and in just the same way God has laid the teaching foundation for us. The Creator of the Universe and beyond, could have created the World in six seconds, nano seconds, whatever; but he chose to create the earth use a seven day cycle. On the 7th day, He saw that everything was very good and ….. “BLESSED the day and made it HOLY …”
That is just how important God deemed the 7th day of rest to be and he already then, commanded that this day be a day of rest. Ja, well, no fine…. We tell our kids that it’s for their own good but do they listen?
God made us and the designer knows what is good for us and what is bad. The Bible is our manual and if we love God, we read the manual and as a further act of love, we should obey its instructions. When God speaks, the Angels obey instantly and without question, they know that this is the Holy and Only God speaking and because they love him, they do not hesitate for a moment to do his bidding
However, man has a desperately wicked heart and definitely thinks he can do it better. It is said that ….. that was OK in the old days, now in this modern time things are different. Oh, really! So now we have Human Rights, Animal Rights, all kinds of rights only God has no more say nor any rights.
To not obey a law, is to be in rebellion and if you are in rebellion concerning the Sabbath, you must examine your heart and repent. The one promise made in the Bible, is that God will judge those who do not keep his commands and bless those who do.
We often say or hear it said that we simply do not have any time left to do all the things we need to do and we wonder what happened? Well, this morning, during the Sermon it dawned on me that we have broken the Commandment concerning the Sabbath and that is why we no longer have enough time! Just as God promises in Malachi that if he is not honoured, he will send a curse – He also promises in his Word:
Isaiah 58:13 If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honourable, and if you honour it …….14 then you will find your joy in the Lord and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land ……..
So now in my book it follows that if God promises to honour his Word and pour out his blessings on those who keep his Commandments – concerning time …. We will suddenly find that we have enough time and energy to do all we need to so, plus with some to spare since we keep the Sabbath!!
And we think laws were made to be broken? Ever tried to break the law of gravity? Just so, God’s laws are good for us and if we break them, judgement will come.
Of course, we really should know that we are extremely privileged to have the freedom to go to Church, to read the Bible, fellowship openly and worship God. Many, many others in most nations of the World do not have this privilege and as Rob said recently, visiting Chinese Christians remarked about the empty churches and promised to pray for us for persecution so that we may appreciate and worship God more!
They recently opened a new casino quite near to us and the parking lot is very full both day and night including on Sundays. The way Rob sees it, and I found this eerily apt, is that there are more cars in the casino parking lot on a Sunday night than there are cars in the parking lot of all the local churches – he suggests that “losers pay for casinos.”
The motivating force behind most everything in life is ……. Wait for it …… surprise, surprise ….. MONEY. That is why it is okay, we live in modern times, to have shopping centres open on Sundays. God’s Commandment : Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days ……. not do any work, neither you, nor ……” In fact God says, NO ONE is to work on the Sabbath. So then who is running and serving in the shops and what about caddy’s and such likes at the golf course?
Well, that does it for me! Definitely no more shopping on the Sabbath – not even if I run out of bread or anything else.
Now of course many defend breaking the Sabbath by saying that it is not commanded in the New Testament and quoting Jesus from Mark 2:27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
Absolutely true, God made it for man to rest, recharge batteries and to honour and worship him.
Now that brings us to Church. It is said “I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.” Well, Rob says, “I don’t have to drive a bus to be a bus-driver?”
It really is a simply matter, when you have really been saved and you are not in rebellion which you must address, you will actually want to go to church, read the Bible, fellowship with others and talk to God (pray).
Psalm 116:12-19 : ….in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord ….
A parent teaches the child the way to go in life and in just the same way God has laid the teaching foundation for us. The Creator of the Universe and beyond, could have created the World in six seconds, nano seconds, whatever; but he chose to create the earth use a seven day cycle. On the 7th day, He saw that everything was very good and ….. “BLESSED the day and made it HOLY …”
That is just how important God deemed the 7th day of rest to be and he already then, commanded that this day be a day of rest. Ja, well, no fine…. We tell our kids that it’s for their own good but do they listen?
God made us and the designer knows what is good for us and what is bad. The Bible is our manual and if we love God, we read the manual and as a further act of love, we should obey its instructions. When God speaks, the Angels obey instantly and without question, they know that this is the Holy and Only God speaking and because they love him, they do not hesitate for a moment to do his bidding
However, man has a desperately wicked heart and definitely thinks he can do it better. It is said that ….. that was OK in the old days, now in this modern time things are different. Oh, really! So now we have Human Rights, Animal Rights, all kinds of rights only God has no more say nor any rights.
To not obey a law, is to be in rebellion and if you are in rebellion concerning the Sabbath, you must examine your heart and repent. The one promise made in the Bible, is that God will judge those who do not keep his commands and bless those who do.
We often say or hear it said that we simply do not have any time left to do all the things we need to do and we wonder what happened? Well, this morning, during the Sermon it dawned on me that we have broken the Commandment concerning the Sabbath and that is why we no longer have enough time! Just as God promises in Malachi that if he is not honoured, he will send a curse – He also promises in his Word:
Isaiah 58:13 If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honourable, and if you honour it …….14 then you will find your joy in the Lord and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land ……..
So now in my book it follows that if God promises to honour his Word and pour out his blessings on those who keep his Commandments – concerning time …. We will suddenly find that we have enough time and energy to do all we need to so, plus with some to spare since we keep the Sabbath!!
And we think laws were made to be broken? Ever tried to break the law of gravity? Just so, God’s laws are good for us and if we break them, judgement will come.
Of course, we really should know that we are extremely privileged to have the freedom to go to Church, to read the Bible, fellowship openly and worship God. Many, many others in most nations of the World do not have this privilege and as Rob said recently, visiting Chinese Christians remarked about the empty churches and promised to pray for us for persecution so that we may appreciate and worship God more!
They recently opened a new casino quite near to us and the parking lot is very full both day and night including on Sundays. The way Rob sees it, and I found this eerily apt, is that there are more cars in the casino parking lot on a Sunday night than there are cars in the parking lot of all the local churches – he suggests that “losers pay for casinos.”
The motivating force behind most everything in life is ……. Wait for it …… surprise, surprise ….. MONEY. That is why it is okay, we live in modern times, to have shopping centres open on Sundays. God’s Commandment : Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days ……. not do any work, neither you, nor ……” In fact God says, NO ONE is to work on the Sabbath. So then who is running and serving in the shops and what about caddy’s and such likes at the golf course?
Well, that does it for me! Definitely no more shopping on the Sabbath – not even if I run out of bread or anything else.
Now of course many defend breaking the Sabbath by saying that it is not commanded in the New Testament and quoting Jesus from Mark 2:27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
Absolutely true, God made it for man to rest, recharge batteries and to honour and worship him.
Now that brings us to Church. It is said “I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.” Well, Rob says, “I don’t have to drive a bus to be a bus-driver?”
It really is a simply matter, when you have really been saved and you are not in rebellion which you must address, you will actually want to go to church, read the Bible, fellowship with others and talk to God (pray).
Psalm 116:12-19 : ….in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord ….
Thursday, February 14, 2008
WELCOME TO OUR WORLD, BAILEY
WELCOME TO OUR WORLD, BAILEY…and I say to myself, what a wonderful world. Today my first grandchild was born. A bonny baby girl, named Bailey.I have been told that ‘today God has given me a blessing of another kind, a blessing that will change my life forever’.When I received the glad tidings just after 2 am this morning, I was overjoyed and excited for the very first time. Having thanked God for his blessings and for keeping his hand of protection over my entire family and for blessing me with this new addition, I went to the mirror and stared at myself.I needed to see if I had changed in any way because I was now a granny! No, no change there, same old wrinkles, same old face. Welcome to our world little Bailey, 14 February 2008.Labels: New life
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
END OF THE ROAD
END OF THE ROAD
A journey’s length is not determined by the distance you travel but by your attitude and anticipation of what awaits you at the destination. Oh the excitement or journeying to a holiday or to see someone you love. The anticipation makes for such a pleasant journey.
However, when it is a journey of obligation, the road becomes oh so extremely long. Since no one knows the length of our journey from here to eternity, best we adjust our attitude and prepare in anticipation for what waits us at our destination.
Labels: Journey
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