Glorify Who?

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Current topic: Introduction to Salt of the Earth – a study worth reading.

Good morning.

In our last message we were encouraged to pray for the Lord to have His name hallowed, His Kingdom come and His will be done in and through our lives (from Matthew 6:9, 10). Have you read it?

Having the Lord’s name hallowed through our lives demands something from us as well, and involves our conduct and actions. We’re going to do some self-examination today.

We’re not of this world (John 15:19), but are ambassadors for the Kingdom of God. How people see us behave determine their impression of God. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven,” (Matthew 5:16). We may speak one thing, but live another or we may be totally sold out to Jesus, but have certain habits that do not glorify His name. Satan loves to amplify our sins in the minds of the unsaved. ‘He claims to be a Christian, but do Christians do things like that? If he’s a Christian, I don’t want to be one.’

Would the Kingdom of God come in the lives of your colleagues based on what they see in you? The Lord once sent a missionary to a tribe with the express instruction to not say a word about Jesus, but to just live among them, which he did. When he had passed on, the Lord sent another one with the instruction to tell them about Jesus. When they heard him, they got all excited. ‘We knew Jesus,’ they said. ‘We’ve buried him right here.’ Do people see Jesus in you? Would your life make people hungry to know more about Jesus? We need, however, to tell about Jesus as well. “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14). We need to do both.

When we do the work of the Lord – whether we teach, encourage, evangelise, serve, lead or whatever we’re gifted for – do people see us or do they see the Lord doing it through us. When a woman once told John Wesley his message was wonderful, he replied: ‘The devil tried to tell me the same’. ‘Hallowed be your name’ means the Lord’s name should be put higher than any other and no name should take its place, especially not ours. We should not glorify man and we should pass any glory on to God. Jesus did it, John the Baptist did it and who was greater than them.

To quietly enjoy the praise of man means we approve of it and accept it and do not pass the glory to God. Whenever we sense that we are praised or even may be praised, we should repeatedly remind our listeners that whatever we do or say comes from God and only He should be praised. In Matthew 6 Jesus told of those who do things in order to be seen and to receive the glory. His response was: “I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”

There is a fine line between being glorified and being encouraged. If we continuously tell people that what we do or say comes from Jesus and not from us, two things happen.

1.   When people then tell us they’ve enjoyed something we’ve said or done, they will do it in a way to encourage us, but the Lord gets glorified.

2.   When people know we do things as ambassadors of the Lord, we will watch our steps, for we won’t want people to stumble because of us and ridicule the Lord’s name (2 Samuel 12:14).

Lord, hallowed be your name through my conduct. Please help me.

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Abba Father, let your...

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Current topic: Introduction to Salt of the Earth – a study worth reading.

Good morning.

I’ve mentioned a number of times in these messages that I personalise scripture passages when I pray. When we pray the Word of God, we pray right into His will and our prayer is much more effective. If we pray the passages that the Holy Spirit gave us (rhema) in the first person i.e. from our own perspective, we commit ourselves.

If we say: ‘I’m going to the cinema tonight, would you like to come with me?’ it depicts a formal approach where you invite a person with whom you have a rather superficial relationship. If you say: ‘Let’s go to the cinema tonight; what do you say!’ it shows intimacy where you know one another well.

“Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father,’” (Galatians 4:6, also see Romans 8:15). “Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him,’” (John 14:23). If we live by the Holy Spirit and obey Jesus, our Father in heaven is not a formal God somewhere out there, far away. He is then our Abba, our Daddy.

The Lord showed me something from the Lord’s Prayer. In this prayer we address our Father. Based on our relationship with Him, this prayer could either be formal and distant or it could be intimate and personal. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” (Matthew 6:9, 10). In the 1953 Afrikaans translation it says ‘let’ your name be hallowed, ‘let’ your kingdom come and ‘let’ your will be done. The Lord asked me: ‘Where should My name be hallowed, My kingdom come and My will be done in the first place?’ It should be in our hearts. If the Lord is holy to you, if His kingdom is reality in your heart and if you’re perfectly in His will, you are a formidable soldier to Him, aren’t you. Who is the best whatever - be it a soldier, a professional or a maidservant? Isn’t it the person who believes in what they’re doing, who are convinced of the cause?

I’ve therefore learned to pray: ‘Father, let your name be hallowed in me and through what I do, let your kingdom come in my heart and through what I do and let your will be done in my life and though my actions. I.e. wherever we go and in whatever we do, the Lord must be visible. Lord, let your name be hallowed, your kingdom come and your will be done in the hearts of those who observe and hear me. Let this happen when I pray for someone, when I witness to people and when they witness your miracles such as healing and deliverance.

Galatians 4:6 above says the Spirit of Jesus in our hearts calls out Abba Father or as Romans 8:15 puts it: “... you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” We need to have the Holy Spirit active and alive, living in us. This happens when we invite Him in and obey the Lord Jesus (John 14:23 above).

We should live and breathe the Kingdom of God. We are only sent to this world as missionaries from the Kingdom – we don’t belong to this world and therefore should not act accordingly. “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you,” (John 15:19).

Lord, please become my Daddy so I could be completely focused on you.

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Peace

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Current topic: Introduction to Intercessory prayer – a study worth reading.

Good morning.

Peace is a state of mind in which the Lord wants His people to be and also the first thing the devil wants to steal from us. Jesus said in John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” He also said in Matthew 10:34: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword,” and the prophetic word in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 states: “While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

So where do we stand? Will there be peace or not? How must we interpret Jesus’ words in John 16:33: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world”? Satan is the master of this world. Adam handed over the power when he was tempted in Eden, which is why the world is in such a mess. But didn’t Jesus say He has overcome the world?

It’s like having a peaceful home to return to. After a day of hard work, challenges and problems, a peaceful haven awaits you - you may put up your feet and rest. As long as Satan is loose, the world will not be at peace. He is God’s enemy and determined to stop people from having peace with God. Jesus, however, is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) and in Him we’ll have peace. I’m reminded of the painting, entitled ‘Peace’, which portrayed a violent storm at sea, but in a hollow high up in a cliff, against which the violent sea battered, a bird slept peacefully. Real peace is peace in Jesus in the midst of the troubles of life.

This is how Jesus overcame the world – He has provided Himself as haven into which we could run, under whose wings we could find cover. It’s like a child who ran away from bullies and hid behind her dad’s legs, peeping around them and sticking her tongue out to the bullies. It’s essential that we be out in the world, winning souls for Jesus and making a difference, but, as Jesus said, it won’t be easy. Life is tough and if we obey the Lord and build at the Kingdom, we will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). To prevent anxiety, we simply do as advised in Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” The solution to fear and anxiety is the peace we find in Jesus – much better than any tablet.

Note it mentions prayer, petition (pleading) and thanksgiving. Prayer is the way we call to the Lord (it’s obvious), petitioning shows to the Lord our earnestness and desperation, and thanksgiving is an indication of our faith. When the Lord sees our heart in this manner, “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 4:7). We may not understand where this peace comes from, but note that it guards our hearts and minds. Guards it against what? Against the bully, since it forms a shield against tormenting fears, condemnation and accusations that try to enter our minds and drive us nuts.

Have you tried this before? I have, and it works instantly. Every time anxiety threatens to overcome me, I just plead God’s protection (Psalm 91:14-16) until this wonderful peace soothes my mind and heart like a warm bath does my body after a hard day.

Lord, teach me to run into your peace.

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What do I Speak?

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Current topic: Introduction to Intercessory prayer. We’re busy resolving a problem to load the audio clip and time is limited. Please be patient.

Good morning.

Many troubles cross the way of someone I know and that of her family, and she constantly talks about it. I know many people who boast about the medical conditions they have and every time I see them, it seems to be worse. I’ve learned that we must watch our tongue for we speak curses over ourselves. We read in James 3:6: “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.” You can read the whole chapter at http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james%203&version=NKJV

Through gossip it can affect society terribly, but today we’re going to look at what the tongue does to us as a person. I often warn such individuals, as mentioned above, about the danger of proclaiming the negative over you all the time.

What do we see in James 3:6 above? The tongue defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature. What we speak determines what is going to happen in our life – our destiny. If we declare sickness and problems over ourselves all the time, we give the devil the mandate to do it, since the tongue is set on fire by hell. Satan tempts us to prophesy negatively over ourselves, which then gives him the mandate to give life to those prophecies, i.e. to make them happen.

What is a prophecy? It’s something someone said he would do in future and it will happen. When the Lord whispers in our ears what is to come, we speak out the prophecy and it will come to pass at the appointed time. When Satan whispers something in our ear and we prophesy it, it will also come to pass. When we proclaim God’s prophecies we exercise faith, i.e. if we believe what the Lord told us and we proclaim it to be so and to become true, we act in faith. Fear is the opposite of faith. Fear is faith in Satan, so to speak. If we fear what Satan whispered in our ear and keep on proclaiming it, we’ll receive it.

In Job 5:15 we read: “He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth.” We really need to watch what we say. If we keep on telling ourselves how tough life is, how unwell we are, how much trouble we have, etc. we’re looking to only receive more of what we proclaim over ourselves. But if we proclaim the promises of God in faith, that’s what we’ll receive. ‘I’m blessed along with Abraham, a man of faith,’ (Galatians 3:9), I’m blessed in my doing because I look “into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts,” (James 1:25), I’m blessed when I remain steadfast (James 5:11), suffer for righteousness' sake (1 Peter 3:14) and when I’m insulted for the name of Christ, (1 Peter 4:14). By his wounds I have been healed, (1 Peter 2:24).

Do you see we have a choice? In times of affliction we can moan and groan, telling everybody how bad life is and receive more afflictions. Proclaiming fear and negativity doesn’t have to be public to bear negative fruit. Even if we groan to ourselves, we show fear to Satan and lack of faith to the Lord. Or we can proclaim faith and God’s promises and be blessed and healed. Even if we’re not healed immediately, God’s blessing will sustain us and protect us from further harm.

Lord, please teach me how to speak well of myself.

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Watch and Pray

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Current topic: Introduction to Intercessory prayer. We’re busy resolving a problem to load the audio clip. Please be patient.

Good morning.

If life as a Christian is easy for us we need to be alarmed, for we then probably are not where the Lord wants us to be. If we were a concern to our enemy, Satan, i.e. if we held a threat to him, he will do something to discourage us. “Be self- controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings,” (1 Peter 5:8, 9). These are words of action.

When Jesus went to the Gethsemane to pray during His time of worst attack, He urged the three disciples that were with Him to pray with Him. However, when He returned He found them sleeping. “‘Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?’ He asked Peter. ‘Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak,’” (Matthew 26:40, 41). We are in a war my friends, a war between darkness and light, and we are approaching the last days. There is no time to play church anymore; we need to fight the good fight of the faith. What percentage of the Christians just go on with life completely unaware that lots of souls go to hell and that they need to work at their own relationship with the Lord? “Therefore, my beloved... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure,” (Philippians 2:12, 13). The Lord wants us ready and serving, being busy bringing in the lost souls.

Why did Jesus so determinedly tell parables such as the wise and foolish virgins (please read Matthew 25:1-13 – link below)?  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025&version=NKJV.This parable ends with the words: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming,” (V13). In Jesus’ conclusion of His end times prophecy, as recorded in Luke 21, He said: “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man,” (Verses 34-36). As Christians we probably do not indulge ourselves in partying and drunkenness as such, but we use a lot of our time doing things that have nothing to do with God’ Kingdom at all.

We should be so in touch with the Lord all the time, that when He comes we won’t even realise He’d come. It should simply be a switchover from Him being spiritually in touch with our hearts to Him being physically present, for we’ve been in His presence all the time.

Watching denotes looking out. When we watch out for the devil, we expect him to hit at some stage. One day at work I suddenly had a few difficult customers in a row. I immediately recognised a spiritual attack aimed at stealing my peace, and went into spiritual warfare, resisting the devil. I watched, saw it coming, prayed and peace returned.

Looking out for Jesus’ return will cause us to make sure we’re ready to go. Remember, not everybody calling themselves Christians will enter the Kingdom of God, even if they appear to do great things for Jesus, but only those who obey His Father with pure motives (Matthew 7:21, 22).

“But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God,” (1 Peter 4:7-10).

Lord, I need to watch and pray. Please show me how.

If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter or forward the e-mail reminder to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please pray as well for its distribution to those who need it and feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts. 

Can You Imagine?

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Current topic: Introduction to this prayer blog. First audio clip to be posted tonight.

Good morning.

What do you dream about? What is your vision? Where do you imagine yourself to be? What do you imagine for God’s Kingdom? When you pray, what do you see in your imagination?

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” (Ephesians 3:20).

This passage came into my heart a few days ago. When I read it, the revelation from the Lord, His rhema Word on this passage, unfolded to me. When we pray for someone, when we minister into somebody’s life, and when we pray for our own needs or those of the church either locally or international; what do we see in our imagination and what do we expect to happen? God is able to do immeasurably more that we could even imagine, but if we do not imagine or expect to see, there is nothing He can match up with. If, however, we imagine the results of our prayers, He can match it and give us immeasurably more.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” (Hebrews 11:1). Hope is a glad expectation, an imagination. If we continuously pray and then continuously imagine the results, we exercise faith which pleases the Lord (Hebrews 11:6) and He will gladly do exceedingly more; Him being “God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did,” (Romans 4:17).

Jesus said in Mark 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Imagine it, see it, and hope it.

During the past three months I’ve been ministering to- and praying earnestly for a friend of mine and his family, who has been struggling in their faith for the last few years. When I discovered this rhema, I started to see him and his family in my imagination with hands in the air, free from the bondages of sin, worshiping the Lord. They’re not there yet, but are surely getting there if it’s up to the Lord.

Whenever I now pray about anything, whether personal of regarding the Kingdom, I make a point to envision the results in my imagination. I’ve also found that when I pray continuously in tongues, pictures of how things could be come into my heart. I would for instance pray for the church to become more active in evangelism or for more people to become active in their gifting and when I then continue in tongues, images of what I desire flash though my imagination. Obviously these desires are given to me by the Holy Spirit. “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart,” (Psalm 37:4).

What desires did the Lord put in your heart? What is it you pray for, or have been praying for for a long time? Picture it in your imagination, expect it to become reality, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

When you pray with us as the Salt of the Earth, you should pray with expectation to see a difference and to see answers to our prayers. Let us as a church globally imagine as big as we can, and God will do exceedingly or immeasurably more that we imagine.

Lord, please put your desires in my heart and help me to imagine what could be.

Our weekly blessing to you:

^“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it,” (1Thessalonians 5:16-24).

If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter or forward the e-mail reminder to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please pray as well for its distribution to those who need it and feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts. 

Where’s Your Heart?

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Current topic: Introductory information – a useful study.

Good morning.

We’ve found out in the previous two messages what options we have in terms of treasures. Have you read it?

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” (Matthew 6:21).

If your heart is into something, you will give it your all. I do my day job to the best of my ability, but my heart’s not really in it. I have no great ambitions for my career, but I do have great aspiration for my contribution to the Kingdom of God. I think, pray and dream about it, and make every effort to release more time for it. My heart’s in it.

Where’s your heart? Do you “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” (Mark 12:30)? How do you do it? Where’s your treasure?

Do you live with all your heart for a nice house, a good financial future for both you and your kids, an exciting holiday each year – maybe somewhere abroad, a good education for your kids, the latest in gadgets and an acceptable social status in your community?

Or do you live with all your heart to see; your fellow man saved, your kids worshiping and serving the Lord with all their hearts – not so much interested in gadgets as in pleasing the Lord, and opportunities to change the world? Do you pray with all your heart for your fellow man, for those who suffer under the power of Satan, and for the Lord’s will to be done and His Kingdom to come? Are you actively involved in using your gift to help this world find Jesus and Christians to grow in the Lord?

It’s never too late for a heart transplant. If we desire it, the Lord promised in Ezekiel 36:25-27: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

In Romans 12:1, 2 we are encouraged: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

The deception through the ages has been very subtle. Mammon (money) has taken up much power in the lives of the Christians (Matthew 6:24). Whereas the church has begun as follows in Acts 2:42-47; “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved,” where do we as church stand today?

Lord, search my heart and help me not to conform to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of my mind.

Our weekly blessing to you:

^“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it,” (1Thessalonians 5:16-24).

If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter or forward the e-mail reminder to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please pray as well for its distribution to those who need it and feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts. 

What’s in Your Treasure Chest? (Part Two)

Good morning.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal,” (Matthew 6:19, 20).

Store up for you treasures in heaven. I think another word we can use for treasure is legacy. What do we live for? What do we want to see at the end of our life? What do we want to be remembered by? Non-Christians usually want to leave a legacy such as memories of how good they were, how much money they’d left behind and what difference they’d made to their world. Believe it or not, some think it good to leave a legacy of crime and hatred.

Jesus said in John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” What does this ‘life to the full’ or ‘life abundantly’ mean? Which of the two treasures does it involve? As Christians our legacy is not on earth. We live for heaven. We want to be remembered in heaven. Our actions are recorded in the book of life and we will be rewarded accordingly.

What we do on earth determine our heavenly life. There’s the story of the rich man and the poor man who went to heaven. The angel took them to their homes – a big one and a shack. The rich man, being used to his earthly comfort, assumed the big one was his. When the angel, however, assigned him the shack he disgustedly wanted to know why. The angel shrugged and said: “We could only build with the material you’ve sent us.”

Yesterday I was able to list earthly treasures we’ll find in our chest. We unfortunately don’t know what our heavenly rewards are going to be. All we know it’s going to be forever, so I’d rather live life to the full forever, than having lots of fun on earth, pleasing myself and be disappointed in heaven. Often when I minister like this, the flesh asks: ‘Why do you sacrifice all this time? You could have had...’ and then it lists all the comforts I could have had. Then I simply remember that one day in heaven I’ll be rewarded according to God’s promises. What we sacrifice on earth for Jesus’ sake, we’ll have in abundance in heaven. The Lord is just and those who sacrificed their lives for Jesus, such as those missionaries I’ve mentioned in my posting entitled ‘The Defender’, will have a much better resurrection than those who lived a comfortable, self-indulgent and religious life. “There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection,” (Hebrews 11:35).

We need to live for heaven and be conscious of our heavenly treasure chest. It’s natural for a human being to accumulate. We accumulate things to aid comfortable living, money for a nest egg, friends to support us and contacts we can fall back on. As intelligent beings it’s wise to have something in the ‘bank’. But what do we have in our heavenly bank? Are we taking souls with us, people who would have been lost if it was not for our faithfulness? Do we give sacrificially to help others to reach where we can’t reach? Do we obey the Lord on a daily basis by exercising the gift we received from Him and multiplying the talents He gave us for the Kingdom’s sake?

Lord, I need to begin filling my heavenly treasure chest. Please guide me and give me the courage to sacrifice my earthly comforts.

Our weekly blessing to you:

^“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it,” (1Thessalonians 5:16-24).

If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter or forward the e-mail reminder to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please pray as well for its distribution to those who need it and feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts.

What’s in Your Treasure Chest? (Part One)

Good morning.

In the light of yesterday’s message, before I start today’s message, I’d like to distinguish between exalting someone and encouraging a person. When we exalt someone, we think it’s the person that’s great and in our talking we glorify the person. It’s, however, not the person that’s great, but the anointing of the Holy Spirit on them. The glory therefore belongs to the Lord and we should declare His glory in our talking.

When we, however, tell someone e.g.: “I think what you’ve written/preached is great, praise the Lord”, we encourage the person, but give the glory to God. On the one hand we need to help one another to stay humble, and on the other we need to encourage one another, for the devil works hard at discouraging productive Christians.

Today’s message:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal,” (Matthew 6:19, 20).

What would we find in our earthly treasure chest? It’s now time to test yourself.

1.     Lots of money and things. Maybe people don’t necessary own all that money, because there are many financially average to poor people that still have money as their treasure, since their minds are constantly on money. They desire money – ‘if only I had this and that’ – they play the lottery, envy the Jones’, live above their means, etc.

2.      Fame. People like to feel important, to have their opinion heard, to be surrounded by people so they can enjoy their attention. Some do it by being popular, compromising on standards, doing attention catching activities i.e. acting like celebrities. Others do it by sulking and complaining - seeking sympathy, whilst others talk incessantly about themselves.

3.     Power. Some like to control, to manipulate and to be ‘invincible’. They like to be independent and unattached – don’t tell me what I should do.

4.     Entertainment. People like to entertain and be entertained – they enjoy pleasure such as shows, movies, having fun together in various forms, etc.

Do you fit in anywhere?

Our passage states that earthly treasures have no eternal value. When we pass on the money we have has no value to us. I’m reminded of the joke of the rich man who turned up in heaven with loads of gold bars and the angel wanted to know why he would bring paving bricks with him. Fame is short lived and even if people remember us, we won’t know about it. All the power and the glory belongs to the Lord God and no matter how much power we desired on earth, in heaven we’ll lay on our faces before Him, so we could just as well practice here on earth.

Storing up treasure on earth demands time and energy. We use time to think about it, to plan it, to execute it and all this time could have been used to store up an eternal treasure in heaven. When our focus is on earthly rewards – the attention of man - we’re losing heavenly rewards. “¹ ‘Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven... ^2b Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full,’” (see Matthew 6:1-5).

Shall we think about ourselves – what’s in our hearts, what we do daily, what motivates us to do what we do? Eternity is a very long time and earthly treasures are short lived.

Lord, please show me my heart.

Tomorrow we’ll look at heavenly treasures.

Our weekly blessing to you:

^“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it,” (1Thessalonians 5:16-24).

If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter or forward the e-mail reminder to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please pray as well for its distribution to those who need it and feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts. 

An Incredible Man of God

Good morning.

What did the people think of Jesus? Most who knew Him and followed Him obviously thought He was wonderful because of all the good He has done for them. Others didn’t like Him, such as the Pharisees and Sadducees because He wasn’t in their league. According to their probable thinking He didn’t have their blood line of class, didn’t fit into their social status and He thought He was from God. The worst to them was the fact that he wasn’t ordained in their religious structure to do what He did.

What did Jesus think of himself? He knew who He was – the Son of God who needed His Father. “Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does,’” (John 5:19).

“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’

¹⁸ ‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone,’” (Mark 10:17, 18).

“The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted,” (Matthew 23:11, 12).

This was the secret of Jesus’ greatness. It was not because He was the Son of God or that He had a more special anointing than others. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin,” (Hebrews 4:15). He had two advantages that caused Him to be great. He did not sin and he humbled Himself before His Father. He acknowledged that He needed Him every moment of the day and He never thought of Himself higher than He ought to. “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you,” (Romans 12:3).

The Lord tests the heart. What we appear to be, may fool people, but we do not fool the Lord. If Jesus, the sinless Son of God, considered it important to die to self and have His complete focus on His Father, how much more don’t we need to humble ourselves, especially in our thought life, and pass the glory and honour to the Lord?

We don’t need to feel ourselves to be inferior and rubbish, but we do need to acknowledge our dependence on the Lord and realise that without Him we’re nothing. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing,” (John 15:5).

We also need to be careful not to lift other people up and worship them – using expressions such as ‘what an incredible man/woman of God’. We then subject them to possible temptation to exalt themselves. Have you noted how Jesus handled the situation when a follower tried to exalt Him in Mark 10:18 above? He referred the glory immediately to His Father. Let’s do likewise! Honour the anointing and not the person.

In God’s eyes we can be great (e.g. Matthew 18:4) and He would gladly whisper in the hearts of our listeners as He said about Jesus in Matthew 17:5: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” We just need to acknowledge that it’s not us being great.

Lord, help me realise it’s all about you.

Our blessing to you:

^“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it,” (1Thessalonians 5:16-24).

If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter or forward the e-mail reminder to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please pray as well for its distribution to those who need it and feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts. 

Let’s Demolish

Good morning.

Worrying thoughts - pondering about unproductive concerns - often keep us busy. These thoughts keep us awake at night, occupy our minds during the day and take up time we could have used to pray and worship. The devil specialises in irritating us and keeping us so occupied that we don’t find time to worship the Lord and think of others.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:5: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” We need to do this in the spiritual realm and in our thought life. When thoughts and fears take control of our mind we need to talk to those thoughts, shut them up and cast them out. We need to proclaim passages such as Philippians 4:6, 7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” As usual I personalise this passage and make it a prayer: “I will not be anxious about anything, but...”

The battlefield of the spiritual realm is our minds. If the enemy can manage control of your mind, he can manipulate the destiny of your soul. If he can manage to bring fear, depression or even just worldliness to occupy our mind, we won’t have time to think about the Lord, intercede for others, plan exploits for the Kingdom or even look for opportunities to share the gospel. We will only be occupied with ourselves and our concerns.

During the wars of old, if you were in a fortress you were safe. Out on the battlefield you were at risk. “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold,” (Psalm 18:2). If we stay in the Lord, we’re safe. How do we stay in the Lord? We stay in constant communication with the Lord, thinking about Him, what He says to us, praying for others, being busy with Kingdom activities “and do not give the devil a foothold,” (Ephesians 4:27). Giving the devil a foothold means to allow a gap in your fellowship with the Lord where he could enter your mind. It could be a moment of focussing on self and doing or thinking something sinful. Psalm 91 says: “¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. ⁴ He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.” It’s up to us to get in there and stay there.

The lovely part is that we can be in the fortress and on the battlefield all at once, since the battle is the Lord’s and we just fight with Him. If we therefore stay in our fortress; wherever He goes, we go and whatever He wants to accomplish, we accomplish. We’re not invited to only hide in the fortress; we’re called to be soldiers from within the fortress.

^“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it,” (1Thessalonians 5:16-24).

Lord, I want to stay in you, fighting the good fight of the faith.

If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter or forward the e-mail reminder to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please pray as well for its distribution to those who need it and feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts. 

The Defender

Good morning.

In the wake of our last teaching I want us to look at Jesus’ defence system. Did He fight back and defended Himself? “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth,” (Isaiah 53:7). This is Isaiah’s prophecy of what was to happen during Jesus crucifixion.

“Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

¹² When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. ¹³ Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” ¹⁴ But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor,” (Matthew 27:11-14).

Why didn’t Jesus defend Himself? Wasn’t He innocently accused of many things and didn’t He know He only did good on earth? If we were in His position, what would our immediate reaction have been? Jesus never focused on Himself. He only defended His Father’s interests and those of the ordinary people. How about us?

Jesus trusted His Father and knew He would defend and protect Him when necessary and even if He didn’t protect Him, He knew He would have the grace to go through with it. Like with the example we used yesterday of Elijah and Paul, Jesus also stood His ground during His ministry for the sake of the Kingdom, but never to save His own skin. Paul stood his ground only because the Holy Spirit led him to, since it glorified God and put him in a position to preach to King Agrippa and Festus. Standing his ground with the latter opened the door for him to end up in Rome and reach those people.

This is what it means to walk in the Spirit. We need to do what the Lord guides us to do. We don’t know where it’s leading to and what the future holds, but if we trust the Lord He’ll accomplish His purposes with our lives and will look after us. There’s no need to defend ourselves, which is why we read in Mark 13:11: “Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.” The same applies when we have hard times elsewhere in life. We just need to be quiet, trusting the Lord to defend us and then He gets the glory. In fact we are tested and trained with small issues brought against us, for if we can learn to trust the Lord in them and not defend ourselves, we’ll be ready for the greater issues when they come.

I'm reminded of five missionaries linked to Mission Aviation Fellowship who had to die so that their wives could get access into the Indian tribe that actually killed them. They had guns to defend themselves at the time, but felt they had places in heaven, but the Indians not. Afterwards some of the wives lived among the killers of their husbands and the killers all got saved and became church leaders. The daughter of the missionary pilot flew all the way to the Amazon as a teenager to be baptised by one Indian who killed her dad. Who could have fathomed these results at the time when the men in their youth were killed? ‘They could still have meant so much for the Kingdom’, we would have reasoned. But God had other plans.

Lord, help me not to be concerned about myself, but to rest in you.

If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter or forward the e-mail reminder to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please pray as well for its distribution to those who need it and feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts.