“Precious Friendship”

1 Corinthians 1: 4 (NIV)

⁴ I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that friends are important to our personal lives.  Sometimes our families live.  Friends could be someone that lives right next door, someone really special and great.

I have a really great and precious friend, she is much older than me and she sometimes reminds me of my own mom.  She is fun, outgoing and enjoys all kinds of arts and crafts.  Her name is Elma Le Roux, she is a great friend and someone that I feel I can trust and always count on.  God truly blessed me with a special and precious friend. 

My other friend lives far away and she is just so special to me.  She is Lynette van Rensburg, a great friend, confidant and has always been there for me.  I really miss my friend. 

My life would be boring without her friendship.

Let’s keep our friends close and look after the precious friends in our lives.

Prayer

Abba Father, today I want to pray for my precious friends Elma and Lynette, Lord I dedicate them into Your hands asking the Lord, You will keep Your hands of protection over them as well as their husband.  In Jesus Name.  Amen

# Future

Isaiah 3:10Living Bible (TLB)

¹⁰ But all is well for the godly man. Tell him, “What a reward you are going to get!”

Today it is my privilege to come to you with this wonderful news, ‘What a reward you are going to get!’

This year is going to be your year of great and wonderful opportunities, God is going to open doors for you that has always been closed.  You are going start that book you always thought of writing, you are going to take control over your eating habits, you are going to save the money to take that trip you have always dreamed about.

You only have ‘Future’ ahead of you.  I want to encourage you today to grab hold of this one word ‘Future’ and think of the possibilities it has for you.  Nothing, but nothing can come before you and the Lord your God.  God said in Isaiah ‘Tell him, “What a reward you are going to get!”

Godly woman or man – your future is bright and waiting for you. 

Prayer

Abba Father, as godly women and men we come before You today asking humbly give us the wisdom and understanding to grab hold of Your Word today.  Lord let this word come alive within our souls so that we may enjoy the abundance You have in store for us.  We thank You Lord in Jesus Christ’s name, Amen!

My Bucket list [so far]

New York City

I would like to visit the Empire State Building; eat a Hot Dog at one of the street stalls. Check out the Statue of Liberty; make my way to Ellis Island Immigration Museum; the go to the American Museum of Natural History; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Guggenheim Museum and 9/11 Memorial.  To think of a view place in New York and of course the Brooklyn area.

When in Ireland would love to go to Dublin’s Barney Castle, then to the cliffs of Moher

When in Australia; Brisbane and visit with my brother and his family.  Something I would love to do; my entire family has been overseas except me, I think I should also travel my goodness.

You cannot hurt me! [Protected by the Blood]

Isaiah 57: 17 (NIV)

¹⁷ No weapon will be able to hurt you; you will have an answer for all who accuse you.

Something my friend told me, made me think of how the people that acted in this way towards her really feel about her.

A second marriage, children from the previous marriage and friends invited for a stayover.  The children go out to purchase pizza for the family and on their return they bring pizza. On the distribution of the pizza’s a joke was made that the step-mom needed to settle for the small size pizza and the rest received large pizzas; they forgot to actually order one for her and besides their cash ran out.

Wow

Seems there are really interesting people in this world. The fact is actions speak louder than words, theirs were screaming at her. 

Prayer

Abba Father, thank You that we may humble ourselves in your presence and that we may pray about everything.  Thank You for the knowledge that ‘no weapon will be able to hurt us, we will have an answer for all who accuse us.’  Glory and Honour we bring to You.  In the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen

‘Times of trouble.’

Psalm 37: 39 ‘The Lord saves righteous men and protects them in times of trouble.’

This year started off with a bang, a number of things started on the wrong foot.  It started with trouble at home, trouble with finances, trouble with mom, and trouble with children – trouble – trouble.

It’s difficult to explain all these strange happenings, but as a child of God, I speak and invoke God’s blessing into my own life.  The Lord saves me, for I am the righteousness of God in Christ and now in the face of my trouble I call on His name for help.

Prayer

O Lord, humbly I commit my life into Your hands, please understand my heart and see my concerns.  You know my biggest fear I face and I bring this matter to You, please Lord help me.  In the name of the Lord Jesus.  Amen

“Taking every thought and purpose captive …” [Jesus Christ]

2 Corinthians 10:5 Amplified Bible

⁵ We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ,

Something I need to share today is that it is much easier to say ‘take every thought and purpose captive’.  My own experiences have taught me that yes, sometimes I have the ability to check myself, watch my words and thoughts.  Then sometimes I lose control and I fail dismally. 

That is why I believe God has given each one of us the ability to read and understand His word (Bible).  The discipline is to read our Bibles each and every day, getting out of bed and making some time to spend in the Word of God. We need that time to learn and grow spiritually.

Prayer

Lord our God, today I commit my life into Your hands and humble myself asking that through the Holy Spirit, Lord You will help me learn more about whom You really are, taking each and every thought and purpose captive in my own life.  Lord guiding me in the direction You have planned for me, in Jesus Name.  Amen

What is the greatest hindrance to revival in our Churches?

Matthew 5:23-24 (NLT)

²³ “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, ²⁴ leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

        Thinking of the characteristic and traits the Lord Jesus showed the disciple and made them apostles was the Lord’s focus.  Jesus Christ our Lord focused on the other cities (Luke 4: 43); He was concerned about the lost souls and unsaved people (Matthew 27: 42) and he worried about the lost sheep (Joh 10: 16).  

Tell me am I, wrong but we are more concerned about ourselves.  The self-opinionated person, you know the three put together “Me, Myself and I”.  Once we drop all the “Self” and ask the Lord Jesus to come into our lives; change is upon us and we will see a revival.

Prayer

O Lord, as we think of all the wrongs we have done, forgive us and help us to make a change for the better.  Dropping our self-opinioned personalities and trusting in You to change our lives.  Amen

Daylight, even at night-time!

Zechariah 14: 7 “There will always be daylight, even at night-time.”

It may be night-time here in South Africa but I realize that the daylight is now in America.  I actual fact daylight is a given, we know that there are 24 hours in one day, and we know it is split into daylight and night-time.  We are being reminded that God is still in control and that even when it seems dark the daylight is not far away.

Looking for positive things in my life, I have decided to stay on the daylight; I want to be like sunshine, happy and warm.  I feel miserable in cold weather.  I cannot function, my joints freeze up and I become stiff and cannot move.  When the sun is out I can do almost anything I put my mind to.  I must be a sunshine kid. 

God know when He placed me in South Africa, this is the right climate for me.  Cold weather and I just don’t go so well.

I pray you have a wonderful and great awesome and fantastic day, I pray that all the right people will come into your life and that only goodness and mercy will follow you everywhere you go.  Let your light shine, and smile, it makes everybody happy, me too. 

God Bless you!

Today what can we do to hear the voice of God? [God’s Voice]

Today what can meditate on hearing the voice of God?

As I focus and mediate on God’s Word I am reminded that Jeremiah was talking to the Israelites about False Religion and that at the end of the day this religion was worthless.  Making a mental note of what is taking up all my time, keeping me so busy that I cannot get to what is important to me I have come to realise I have not been hearing the voice of God.

Why?  Well, I am cooking, cleaning house, washing clothes and not for getting to iron the clothes.  It has become so overwhelming and time consuming I have not taken 5 minutes from my busy schedule to pray.  Shamefully that has been true over the past couple of weeks.  Then I get frustrated and it overwhelms me because I feel I have lost touch with God.

Of all the people I know, that I am the stubborn one, and because of my stubbornness I fall very often.  The children are going back to school and my husband is back to work.  I seem to have some free time.

I don’t know how perfect your spiritual life is and do you also face the same difficulties I do, but in repentance and humbling myself before the Lord my God I pray for forgiveness of sin.

Jeremiah 7: 13 [NIV] ‘While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer.’ I am so humbled by these words today, God spoke to me again and again, He called me and I did not answer.  Shamefully, I kept myself too busy to listen for the voice of God. 

Jeremiah 7: 24 [NIV] ‘But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts.  They went backward and not forward.’ So now that I know the state of my relationship with the living God, the God of lights, I have to submit my life anew into His hands.  Retentive and asking that by His grace He would forgive me.

As I focus and study these words today I humble myself before the Living God, my God in the Holy Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Asking please Lord, forgive me, I have sinned against You.  Keeping myself so busy that I cannot get to where I was supposed to be.

It is clear to many people that I am not perfect and I am at fault.  In the next couple of day’s I want to learn anew how to connect and listen to the Lord my God.  I am making myself available to His word and trusting that I am forgiven based on the Word, I am redeemed through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you for reading, perhaps you have so sound advice for someone like me?

God bless you.

2017! Happy New Year! [God Bless you]

I want to take this opportunity in wishing each and every one of you a blessed and happy New Year.  2017 is a year my daughter is praying for restoration, in my life as well as in the lives of my friends and family.   I want to pray that you will also find restoration.  I pray that where you need finances, health, relationships or whatever your needs is that it will be restored.

God is awesome and has blessed both you and me with a New Year.  We have no idea as to what it holds; each day is like a blank page, waiting for us to write our story.  My second day and I cannot wait to see how awesome my God is.

It is my heart’s desire to listen to God and hear His voice.

May we draw closer to the Lord our God and may our hearts and minds be centered on Him, building our relationship with Him, listening to His voice and obeying it.

You are precious and God loves you, thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and hopes and dreams. 

Bless you!

Whooooooo Ohoooooo [Daily Devotional]

I completed the writing of my book.  Please pray for me to find the right publisher to publish and I pray the Lord will bless this book and bless the lives of the people who read it.  Holy Spirit please guide me