Yvette's Whispers of Faith

 by Yvette van Niekerk Mark 10: 21 "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." I multitask all the time and lately, I find that I am dropping things, not being as focused as I would like to be. I find that my thoughts are captured and taken somewhere else leaving me to be distracted. It's important to stay focused and concentrate on one thing at a time. I have been spreading myself thin lately, and this has a negative impact on my life. I am exhausted and irritated, not focusing on one thing but being double-minded. I seem to fight to gain control over everything and everyone around me. The last couple of weeks I have decided to become more focused, keep my attention on one specific thing. This has resulted in my problems starting to free me for specific things. In the course of a conversation with Jesus, a certain man explained to the Lord all the great things he accomplished and...

 by Yvette van Niekerk Genesis 2: 8 "The LORD God planted a garden and there He put the man whom He had formed." We see the LORD God starts off with a garden and then He made a man and a woman. I read that this is the law of location. I realised something the other day you will succeed when you are where God wants you to be. About two weeks ago I hurt my wrist and I was in agony, my hand was constantly in pain. I wonder if this would be the same for us if we are not in a place where God wants us. It will be a constant pain. We will not succeed and things will be wearing us down. I want to do God's will for my life, not my own. One person I think brings me back to my roots is Jonah, boy was he stubborn, he received an assignment from God. God said Jonah go to Nineveh and preach to the people. He didn't want to do that, he wanted harm to come to them. What happened afterwards makes me think. Jonah ran away from God, jumped onto a ship and tried to go into anothe...

  by Yvette van Niekerk Jeremiah 31: 3 - 4 "Long ago the Lord said to Israel: 'I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love, I have drawn you to myself. I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel. You will again be happy and dance merrily with your tambourines.' I used to work in the corporate world and I love every minute of it. Something went wrong I beat myself up black and blue and even spoke to the person I thought could help. The mistake was made I cannot fix it, I started something new. In doing this I have been really repetitive and acted accordingly, my life isn't a bed of roses and people do keep me on my toes. My company isn't big, it consists of me, my oven and all my gadgets. I bake the cake for a living and I take care of two little children. It's a full-time job, the cakes take up a lot of my time and the two small kids too. I believe God is rebuilding me from scratch, its hard and I am struggling. When God corrects ...

by Yvette van Niekerk Psalm 139 verse 14 “ I praise you because I am wonderfully made.” Dealing with the fear of rejection, I realize I must firmly believe that God designed me physically, intellectually, and temperamentally. God has an assignment specifically that I need to carry out. So this pity party I seem to entertain regularly, seems so humbling but actually, I am insulting God’s design and plan for my life. Therefore today I emphatically declare with the psalmist “thank you for making me, Yvette, so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvellous – how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, Yvette, O God.” Psalm 139 verse 14 to 17. I realized I have allowed other peoples opinion of me, be “less than.”  I know and realis...

 by Yvette van Niekerk Isaiah 43: 4 "You are precious and honoured in my sight." Reading this passage, make me feel accepted and loved. I do not have to continue down the road of feeling left out or not valuable. John 1 verse 11 describes how Jesus Christ was rejected: "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." What did Jesus do? Did He sit down and cry and feel sorry for himself? No, he didn't worry about their attitudes he moved on to where people gladly accepted Him. He said to the disciples: "whoever will not receive you nor hear your words when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet." Matthew 10 verse 14. Constant and repeated rejection tends to validate our fear that we are inadequate. Especially when the opinions of our loved one, people we place value on effects our thinking. Ironically, our fear of rejection ultimately results in us being rejected because people feed off our emotions. The funny ...

  by Yvette van Niekerk Matthew 26: 41 "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." I only realized that when I am exhausted, I start fighting, I really pick fights and am very angry. I just couldn't put this verse into perspective until I realised that when I feel exhausted to the point of becoming angry, I fall into the temptation of starting quarrels and picking fights. When I start focusing on my own strength, and not turn my focus and prayers to the Lord, I fall into the trap of doing more and more, taking on more responsibilities and then I become overwhelmed. The Lord Jesus knows that without the indwelling Holy Spirit in my life and yours, we are only flesh and cannot avoid the temptation of any kind. Without the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit, I will never be exempted from temptation, but I really don't have to allow it in my life. It's clear the devil really wants to control my life and somet...

by Yvette van Niekerk Proverbs 23 verse 7 "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." I realised something last night, the devil is sly and constantly bombarding my mind with negative thoughts. Yet, I was focusing on the verse above, Yvette as you think in your heart, so are you. That was what I was focusing on so that I did not listen to the babbling of the devil in my ears. I was distraught for a while, I couldn't change my thinking immediately. I had to remind myself a couple of time as I think so I am. I have come to realise that I am struggling with negative thinking.   So what should I do? Well, I know the minute I start focusing my attention on the Lord, my feelings change and I feel better. I know studying Philippians 4 verse 8 that I should be focusing my attention on "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable ... if anything is excellent or praiseworthy ... think about such things....

  by Yvette van Niekerk Smile because you want to, there are 5 different smiles to light up your face.  When someone looks at you and a shy smile covers your face.    When looking at your baby. A warm smile lights your face and seeing someone you know you smile a warmly acknowledging them.  You can have funny smile lighting up your face or a wide smile to show your teeth. Feeling a little off and sad and you have to smile, you feel you have to smile to let the other person feel better this is your sacrificial smile.  Meeting someone you haven't seen in a while, you smile courtesy.  The one I struggle with my fake smile gives me away every time. Come on lets smile, today, have a lovely Friday and enjoy your weekend. Smiling lights up your face and is always so beautiful. John 13 verse 34 "God has given me one new command that I should love others just as He has loved me. " Follow me: Kellan Publishing ; Facebook ; Twitter ; LinkedIn ; Instagra...

by Yvette van Niekerk Ephesians 4: 26 NIV “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,” Why am I struggling with sleeplessness these days? I do fall asleep instantly but wake up any time of the night; it could be between 01:00 am to 3:00 am. It struck me this morning that I am really frustrated and so angry. How do I deal with these angry thoughts, mulling through me? It’s clear when I am so angry I just have no peace of mind. I toss and turn the whole night. Because of my angry thoughts, I have to come to realise it is spilling over into every other area in my life. I need to confront my anger and stop focussing on it, I think I have internalised it to the extent I get upset and frustrated immediately with people who tell lies, try and pull the wool over my eyes and pretend they know it all. The negativity of this anger I am carrying around with me, cause me to be cranky and irritable, not dealing with issues the right way. Because I real...

by Yvette van Niekerk Matthew 23: 11 - 12 MSG "Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty." As a mother, wife and grandmother I think that I have no choice in the matter of serving my family. To tell you the truth serving others does not come naturally to me. Why? I feel that I am a self-centered kind of person. I like things to go my way. I do feel ashamed about my self-centered ways and I am really working hard not to be so self-centered at time. I wonder whether you struggle with being  #self-centered ? If you ask me, I believe we are selfish by nature. Looking at the two little kids I am looking after, I can tell you, the oldest is very  #self-centered . When reading my Bible, it is clear according to the Lord Jesus, life isnt all about me, and still everyting in this world revolves around "me"...