Do I have to lose hope?

Sometimes when we go through difficult periods in our life, we ask:  "why me?", "why is God letting this happen?"  The answer to these questions is that we are created to honour God and not the other way around.  Whilst we go through tough times, He wants us to learn certain lessons from it.  The question should rather be:  "am I willing to learn what God wants to teach me or am I going to rebel against what is happening in my life and miss out on the lesson?"  The purpose of difficult periods in our lives is created by God to force us to leave the things of the flesh behind and rather to proceed in the things of the Spirit.  Let's see what we need to do during these difficult times:

Col. 4:2-6 (not quoted).  Be earnest towards such periods, persevere in prayer and be diligent in a continuous manner.  Pray for grace to help you to submit to the lesson which God wants you to learn and for grace to overcome this problem.  Walk in wisdom and continually give thanks to God by giving your time to Him (e.g. doing bible study on your own, even if it is 10 min.)  The seasoning used for answering others should be based in that that opposes sin and preserve from corruption thereof.

Totally new

When Jesus died on the cross for us, all our sins were nailed on the cross with Him.  Jesus took man's place to save him in order to restore the relationship with God the Father.  His blood was shed to wash us clean from our sins. 

It is our choice to choose between right and wrong, being obedient or being disobedient to the guidelines of His Word, to sin or not to sin, etc.  He gave us the freedom of choice but with that the responsibility to make the correct choice or to live with the consequences of our bad choices.  God tells us in His Word that we are a new creature when we are born in the Spirit and this happens only through believing in Jesus Christ.  However this "rebirth" is not out of blood, nor the will of man or the will of the flesh.  You are seen for who you are now (today), not what you did or who you were.  Jesus wants to set you free from your past, all you have to do is to repent your sins before Him.  Remember He didn't come for the righteous but for those who have not received Him as their Lord and Saviour, you are precious to Him. 

Gal. 5:1:  "It was for freedom that Christ set us free"

Are you on your way to your own funeral?

Luke 7:11 tells us the story of a widow whose son passed away and they were busy carring the courpse in a coffin to the funeral.  Jesus and His disciples were on their way to this city (Nain) and as He entered saw this sad scene.  His timing was perfect

He  was moved with pity for her and walked in the direction of the coffin.  When He was next to the coffin, He touched it and command the dead body of the boy to sit up.  The dead boy then sat up and began to talk.  He gave life in death to this boy.

After reading this, are you sure that you may not be on your way to your own funeral? Being in bitterness, be hateful towards others, be angry at someone, unforgiving towards someone, maybe you are engaged in a relationship which is wrong in the eyes of God, maybe lust or dissipation, always seek the acceptance of men instead of God, or maybe you value your possessions and money more than God.  I want to tell you that it is never too late, His heart is crying for you and He want to tell you to stop now and make the correct choice.  Leave behind whatever it is that you are busy with, renounce your sins and be free in Him.  Can you see that you are already in that coffin, Jesus is telling you to get up and to live.  It is never too late, His timing is always perfect. 

The presence of evil in this world

Sin and death are direct consequences of the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  We inherited the consequences of their sin as the earth is a sinful place as a result of their disobedience. 

The Greek word for plans is inner intentions/inner thoughts.  What Satan does is he wants us to believe the lies of his inner intention/inner thoughts.  He came to mislead, create lies, to keep people in ignorance and to dominate, manipulate and intimidate God's people.  By choosing to live in ignorance and denial God's people are being destroyed by Satan as he infiltrates their lives unknowingly.  Satan wants to create doubt in your mind as he is the enemy of peace.  It is his intention to confuse you.  He runs his campaign by first starting to tempt you.  When he accomplishes that, the next step for his is to deceit you.  Once he deceived you he will start accusing you.  What you need to do is to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and the Holy Spirit of God that indwells you, will guide you into the truth.  Ownership is never at stake but your daily victory is.

Eph. 6:12 "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood (people), but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

PS:  Please pray for Sandy to be set free on Friday the 10th of February 2012.

What is my responsibility?

The issue last week was "who am I?"  (Please refer to the posting of 25/01/2012 in this regard).  Our responsibility is to take up our authority in Christ and to stand firmly in faith in your position as a saint.  Further it is our responsibility to confess and repent our sin before God on a daily basis and to believe in His truth which will set you free.  Your relationship with God have is the most important relationship you will ever have.  You also need to forgive others who have wronged you as Christ has forgiven your sin and He expects us to do the same for our fellow human beings.  Unfortunately nobody can do that for you, you have to do it for yourself.



According to Eph. 1:18-19 we are to persue truth because we already have all the power we need in Christ.  We can't do what He has already done for us.

Who am I?

As Christians, we are in Christ and His Holy Spirit resides in us.  Our body is a holy temple of God and we should treat it as holy.  We must feed our body with good nutrition, we have to look after our health and maintain a healthy lifestyle and we have to maintain our relationship with God.  What Jesus already did for us is He died for our sins and for healing of sickness.  The sheading of His blood was a sign that both our sin has been forgiven and healing of illnesses will take place once we trust in Jesus. 

That is not all:  Jesus triumphed over and disarmed the rulers and authorities of the kingdom of darkness (Satan).  All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him.  He defeated Satan, in other words, Satan is a defeated foe.  He (Satan) has no authority over those who are in Christ.  Remember Christ now is seated in heavenly places and those who are in Him are also seated with Him (Eph. 2:5-6).

Thus you are alive in Christ and seated with Him.  As long as we are alive in Him, we can stand in authority against anything and any situation.  God has provided all for us to live a victorious life in Christ.  Now it is up to you to assume your responsibility.


Revelations 12:10 "... now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ, for the accuser of our brethren (Christians) is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

How strong am I?

Welcome back after the summer holidays in SA, may you be inspired in Christ this year and I want to thank you for your visit.  I appoligise for two automatic postings that didn't published towards the end of 2011.  May you have had a wonderful Christmas and New Year period and I trust that 2012 will be a year showered by blessing for you. 

Are you a strong person?  Does the word strong refer to the fact that I can pick up 10kg of groceries or does it refer to my soul/spirit?  The answer to this is quite simple, yes you are physically strong when you can pick up that amount of groceries but with regards to our spirit/soul we are not.  We are not able to do anything; in fact we can't do anything as it is the Holy Spirit of God that provides us with the strength to carry on.  Without God we amount to nothing, we will be dead. 

We are born physically alive but spiritually we are dead as a result of the consequences of the sin Adam and Eve committed in the Garden of Eden.  We become spiritually alive the moment we invite the Holy Spirit of God into our life.  It's not a feeling or a sign or anything else, it is a choice you make to invite and accept the Holy Spirit into your life and He resides inside you from that moment.

Nehemiah 8:10 b "... for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

Revelations 3:8 "I know thy works:  behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it:  for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name."