Bed time stories

I sometimes struggle to get my kitties settled at night, so a little trick I've learned is to just sit quietly in their room and wait for them to come to their baskets. I remember well the soothing feeling of having my mom read us bed time bible stories when we were kids.

So I decided that the time used settling kitties presented a wonderful opportunity to catch up on my bible reading. Being still really helps to focus on the word and get the best benefit out of it.

So if you're a busy parent, struggling to find time for your bible reading, try keeping your bible in the your kids room (out of harms way of course). Then once bed time stories are done, you can be still for a few moments and do your reading while the kids doze off to dream land :-)

Nighty night little dreamers.......Zzzzzz!

Oooops No GPS

Before taking mom back to the station yesterday, we both spent lots of time checking map books for directions. My prefuse statements that I knew how to get there by "following my nose," just weren't any comfort to my 'have to be sure' mom.

After much adoo we'd mapped out our course. Problem was, no amount of good directions helped as the streets were just not marked clearly enough. So in the end sniffing out my way worked once again.

So why does this techno junkie not have a GPS? Because I simply don't need one. In my early years in Joburg, I got lost so many times, that I eventually managed to landmark my way through most of the city.

When we are getting to know the word of God it can be difficult to remember where last we saw a particular scripture. To help with that I would encourage you to use a highlighter and mark these scriptures. No it's not sacrilegious to do that, it will really help.

Pretty soon, you'll learn to sniff your way through the bible without needing a search function. So go for it and happy marking.

Gautrain fun

Wow, wow and wow again! Today mom and I went on our first Gautrain joyride to Pretoria to visit my cousins and their beautiful daughter Zoe.

I can't say it was a totally new experience as my family was fortunate enough to do a European tour some years ago and we had used both the London and Paris underground.

The ease of travel, speed and efficiency made the trip an absolute pleasure. But think about it...... A train can on only run on an existing laid track.

When we live our lives according to he word of God, it is like running on a laid track. All we have to do is stick to it and the destination is guarenteed.

When Jacaranda's bloom

If you're a student you may have heard it said that if you haven't started studying by the time the Jacaranda's bloom then you've left it too late.

There is a season for eveything in life. The problem is that we often build an altar at the point of our success or failure.

We should remember that failure isn't fatal with God. He is able to redeem everything. Success should be celebrated in humility and gratitude to God for his Grace.

In both cases though we need to be able to pause to ponder then move forward into God's destiny for us! Keep on moving!

Caught napping

We all oversleep at some time, some more than others :-) Well this morning was my turn. I thought I'd hit the snooze button but obviously not. Jumping out of bed at 6:15 meant I had to move fast and change my routine to catch up.

Spending time reading the word should be a crucial part of our Christian walk. We all get derailed at some point though and the loss of momentum can leave us feeling lost.

Getting back on track can be easier than you think. There are many tools out there that can assist you with getting going. If you have access to internet, you can google 'Bible reading plan' and you'll be shown a stack of sites.

No internet? Don't stress. I suggest you start with the book of John in the New Testament and continue through the New Testament and then stop with Jude if you're a novice. You can track your progress with a simple spreadsheet or a manual list.

A bit more of a practical post for today, but I hope it helps someone :-)

Cool breeze

One of the greatest joys of a summer evening, is a cooling breeze of the late evening. It refreshes, calms and revives after a long hot day. In our spiritual lives the Holy Spirit is our breeze when we are weary.

The role of the Holy Spirit is not only to be our comforter and standby but to refresh our spirits when when we are weary. When we spend time in his presence he revives and restores us and gives us strength.

Maybe you haven't experienced his presence, if that is the case, all you need is to have a relationship with him. How do you do that? Just say this prayer, “Holy Spirit, I invite you into my heart, come into my heart and refresh my soul. Help me to grow in my relationship with God. Thank you Jesus that I can trust you to send your Spirit to me.” Amen!

Made to move

Recently I've experienced some problems with painful joints and hips. Hestitant to go to gym for fear of making the problem worse, I used that as an excuse not to go.

This week I decided to put excuses behind me and head off to gym. To my surprise getting back to gym brought quite a bit of relief to the problem.

You see our bodies are made to move and when we do we function better. The same is true for our spiritual lives, the less we move in our spiritual life the harder and more painful it is to do.

We have to make a start somewhere and once you do, momentum will follow. If your spiritual joints are a bit tight, I want to encourage you to get moving and ask God to help you to get back on track with him.

M.I.B

I remember the scene right at the end of the first Men in Black movie when they open the locker door only to realize that we are tiny creatures in an Alien Universe..... :-)

We all look at the smallest creatures on our planet and marvel at how small they are. Really though from space our entire planet is really small.

You see it's all about perspective. So often we get wrapped up in our troubles. We all just need to take a step back and see the bigger picture.

When we do this we'll soon be able to focus on our great God and be able to take a deep breath while we seek God for guidance.

From scratch

A few years ago I made some big mistakes. I took my eye off having faith in God and started trying to live life very much in my own strength. Disaster struck and I was forced to make some big corrective changes in the way I managed my life.

The learning curve was hard and painful, but I have learnt so much through it all. I have learned afresh God's grace and forgiveness. The other thing that I have had to learn from scratch is how to live by faith.

Psalm 37:4 reads, "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." As I have drawn closer and closer to God he has once again taught me how to live by faith.

I'm seeing now again that as I commit my desires to him, wait on his guidance and act in faith how he provides. God desires for us to have joy in him and to celebrate life.

If you have given up on faith, why don't you draw near to God and allow him to care for you!

It was a couch affair

Ever since I bought my town house in 2004 I have wanted to buy a good sleeper couch. I made up my mind as to what amount I wanted to spend and searched. I just never have been able to find something I liked at a price I was happy with.

A short while ago I saw a couch I really liked at House & Home on 14^th avenue going for R4000. I kept it in the back of my mind but carried on looking. On the Sunday after my wardrobes arrived, I took some time out for coffee and cake at one of the shopping centres close to me. I had forgotten that there was a House & Home there too and when I went inside there was the couch I wanted..... marked “Was R4000 now R2500”.

I had to act quick because the sale was about to end....but I got it! When we learn to wait for God's timing he brings the best blessings into our lives. The trick is that God's timing is not our timing. Learning to wait on God is hard but the rewards are amazing.

Wag n bietjie (Wait a bit)

In life we are often in such a rush for a solution to a situation that we make hasty decisions. The Afrikaans term "wag n bietjie" (wait a bit) is usually used to calm someone down when they are rushing you.

Psalm 27:14 says "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." We need to learn to be patient with our dreams. God's timing is perfect and when we rest in that fact we allow God the opportunity to exercise his sovereignty in our lives and bring about the perfect result.

When the heart is ready the solution will appear, so trust God today and let him fulfill your hearts desires as only he can :-)

That's Joburg for you!

In the past I've wasted much time and energy stressing about bad traffic. This often lead to feelings of depression, thinking life's not worth it.

Last week from two different sources God gave me Jeremiah 29:11 (when God does that it's time to listen), "For I know the thoughts I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future ".

It would seem from this that small things like bad traffic don't change God's plans for us, so why do we let it bother us? I think God is telling us that we are on track with his plans and we need to rest in that assurance.

Sure I'll have to work the time back but that's a minor problem. I'm not saying I'll never get annoyed by bad traffic again, but I think I'm gaining some new perspective.

Satan will use any ploy he can to throw us off track with our future, remember God's word and cleave to that truth.

Have you got your key?

Friday morning as I left home, I arrived at my front door, handbag over my shoulder and realized that I had left my keys on the kitchen counter. I said to myself, "You're not going to get far without your keys."

This really got me thinking. We require keys for so many facets of life; driving cars, locking houses, suite cases, post boxes and many more. We use these keys to specify our ownership over an object, provide security and seperate our possessions. What is our greatest spiritual key and how do we use it? Faith!

It is by faith that we are saved (ownership) and call ourselves children of God (seperation). The word says, "the just shall live by faith!" Surely that should be our security that we know that by faith we have power to live.

Well I took my keys from the counter and toodled off to work. Do you have your keys?

DNA

Tell any young child that you knew his/her mommy before they were born and the concept just won't register. I think this has something to do with the fact that they are fresh out of the womb and their bodies are still infused with creation DNA.

They always say that out of the mouth of babes comes forth truth, so maybe we should be thinking twice before we dismiss their enthusiastic spirit as they eagerly argue that they have been in existence forever.

2 Corinthians 5 tells us that in Christ we are a new creation. Our old spirit dies and we are reborn with with a new spirit that is embeded with the eternal DNA of God.

The only thing standing in the way between us and eternal life is our acceptance of Christ as saviour.

Blocked remote

This evening I had to go to Clearwater mall on my way home from work. As I was about to leave my car I pressed the remote, but this time my car didn't lock. I tried it a number of times but it just would not lock.

The media has beed full of reports of remote blocking, so following my instincts, I locked my car manually. Sure enough when I got home, my remote worked fine.

We would like to forget that we live in a fallen world, but the hard truth is that this earth is currently ruled by Satan. When we least expect it, he blocks our spiritual signal connection to God.

Wisdom from God is our greatest strength. When we feed our spirits with the word of God we deposit power to guide is when the lights go out. If our spiritual batteries are not charged, we may loose precious time as we try to recover from an attack.

Let's heed the spiritual warnings and charge our batteries with the word of God daily.

What’s up with Nineveh?

We are all very familiar with the book of Jonah, but most of us miss the connection with the book of Nahum. Why did God have two books dedicated solely to declaring Nineveh's fate and why did he send his prophet Jonah there in the first place? Why did God want to destroy it? 

 

Firstly, as a central trade district would mean that it could act as a catalyst for spreading of the gospel. Secondly, this area is in the vicinity where we believe the Garden of Eden lay. I believe this land held great value to God and seeing this area transformed into an idol worshipping center would have enraged him. 

 

How does this apply to our lives now? We cannot live one in church and one in the world. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to change us so that we can live focused on our jobs and also treat our work and colleagues in a way that shows God’s love, grace and mercy. 

 

Worship is not just the singing part of a church service. Worship requires us falling in love Jesus and having our hearts drawn to him in a deep and meaningful way. If we don’t allow the words to impact our hearts and attitudes, we may as well be singing secular songs instead.

God’s desire is that we would be able to live our lives with our faith and worship centered in him and that his life permeates every area of our existence.

Shaving cream

I once had a youth pastor named Bo Nielson. Youth camps with Bo became legenday for one thing, shaving cream fights. Of course when my family moved from Nelspruit to Empangeni, I was determined to continue the tradition at my next youth group.

One youth camp in particular turned into a duzzie for an all out war of the battle of the sexes. Somehow a mole leacked my plans for an attack on the boys and the guys schemed a plan to manufacture a "stink potion".

Naturally...... Myself and a few co-horts raided the boys bungallow and stole the potion and all their stock of shaving cream while they were out on a game drive. Need I say more... War followed :-)

I say all this to remind us that as adults we take life all to seriously. We need to unwind and have some fun and let the kid in us come out. God has a great sense of humour and delights in seeing us enjoy life!

Mmmm, maybe it's time for a little mischief!

Music and lyrics

Having a musical background myself, I often listen to songs on the radio and find myself humming along.

Most good songs have catchy melody's, but ironically the music itself has a short lifespan, but the words can last thousands of years. We see this with David's Psalms that have immortalized in scripture.

Our lives are like music and lyrics. When our bodies die, our music ends, but our lyrics (our soul and spirt) go on for eternity.

What are people going to remember about you when they read the lyrics of your life? I'm hoping that I'll be remembered for having a heart after God!

Pendulum

I'll admit that I'm the type of person that can get quickly flustered.  Small problems can often trigger feelings of anger or anxiety.  Unfortunately life finds a way to bring situations like that across our paths regularly.  At times like that it can be difficult to get centered, calm and able to focus again. 

A pendulum very simply works on a principle that a suspended weight bob can swing back and forth until gravities force brings it back into the equilibrium position (still).  So how do we get to a point of emotional and spiritual equilibrium?

What works for me is to have easy access to either scripture or a devotional that can bring my wandering thoughts back to God.  As I read and meditate on God, I find my soul is gently calmed and I can more quickly find peace and continue to focus on other activities that require my attention. 

Will you try it for yourself and find peace in our hectic world?

The voice

The program “The Voice” has just launched in SA. What I find inspiring about it is that contestants are judged on nothing else except the quality of their voice. Nothing stands in their way, not first impressions, weight, height, race, gender.... just raw talent.

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells of the parable of servants who are given differing values of talents (money). Two use them to make make more money, but one buries his talent. Each of the servants who multiplied their talents are given more, but the one who hid his, has it taken away and given to the servant to earned the most.

This may seem unfair, but God doesn't mince his intentions as to what he wants us to do with the gifts he has given us. Romans 11:29 tells us that the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable, meaning that God will never take back a gift he has given us. He does not regret any gift that he has bestowed on us and wants us to use them to the full.

Are you using your gifts and talents for God?

Vat hom fluffy

Yes there are times in life when we go down to a hefty tackle by our enemy Satan. We may sustain major injury in the process. Luckily we can recover.

We have two things to look forward too. First there are times when we will get turnover ball. It's called Romans 8:28 - All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. Bad things will happen but when we give them to God, he will make something good come out of it!

Then there is the final score. You see even if we get to 78 minutes and the score is against us, God has already scripted the end. We WILL win this game because no weapon formed against us can withhold us from our glorious victory of an eternity with God!

So when you get on the field (wake up in the morning), look at yourself in the mirror and say, "Vat hom fluffy" (go get him tiger), because God is already winning the battle for you!

Ankle tap tackle

Picture it... you've got the ball, an apparent clear space ahead, you set off in a sprint. Then out of the blue, from behind, a hand grabs your ankle and kaduf....down you go!

A few well trained rugby players have a keen sense of balance and can either roll and bounce up or with a quick adjustment can avoid going down and overcome the tackle.

Well our spiritual game is similar to a ball game in some aspects. There are times when our path is clearer allowing us an opportunity to gather speed. Satan hates this and sometimes all he can manage is an ankle tap tackle.

We have a choice. These tackles are relatively unimportant obstacles, like a missed bus, too much time in traffic, a que when you are in a hurry. Nothing that on a better day would have little effect on you.

You can choose to maintain your cool and recover quickly or you an allow it to blow your fuse. Learning to overcome these challenges will be an important part of your spiritual growth.

Spoeg and polish

Well my wardrobes I've been waiting for finally arrived yesterday, bringing with them lots of memories and weird emotions. Getting them into the house and settled in required a lot of hard work. They needed lots of cleaning and polish before they would be useful.

This makes me think about a spiritual state of being run down. God calls this backsliding. It is the state our spirits get to when we neglect our relationship with God and church and we allow ourselves to be filled with dust and junk.

In Jeremiah 3:22, God calls us to return to him and he promises that he will heal our backsliding. This means that he will restore us to our full spiritual state of being close to him and also means that he will cleans us and heal any areas of our lives that need restoration.

Do you need a little spoeg (spit) and polish? Heed God's call and return to him and he will heal you.