Monday 30 September 2013

Today Reminder - 30 September 2013 (Day 21 - Victories)



A reminder for today
But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and were now his advisers. (2 Chronicles 10:8)

I do hope that you’ve had a wonderful weekend and that you are well rested. This is day 21 in our victory month and this also brings us to the end of our victory days. We have been doing a series in our church of how the Word of God works and it was called “Working Word”. It has been a great series exploring how the Word of God can be used practically in our lives and how we can use the principles outlined in the Bible in our daily lives. We ended this series yesterday with Word Principles. When I read this verse of Rehoboam that is now the new king and how he looked for advice from young inexperienced friends and finally following their advice instead of the advice of the elder men that was Solomon’s advisers, I realised that we should be very careful of where we look for advice and who we listen to. 

It is interesting how people can have a negative effect on us. One of my colleagues can be extremely negative and I have found how this negativity can turn my positivity also in negativity. This is purely because I allow it to influence me. The one thing that we should take with us in our journey to victory is the fact that we no longer live under rule and influence of the darkness, but when we accepted Jesus as our saviour we were taken from the darkness and placed in the light under the rule and authority of a new king and that king is Jesus Christ. Once you realise that you are a subject to the new king living under His reign, you will also realise that the darkness and the king of darkness no longer has any authority over you and your choices should be aligned with the directions and guidance of the new King that is written in His Word, the Bible. 

With this new knowledge we can enter into today seeking our advice from our King and from His Word. We are no longer inclined to accept advice from the enemy’s misguided ideas but our direction and understanding should come from the Lord. 

My dear friend, your victories will be greater when you seek advice from God. I pray that the Lord will open our minds and our hearts so that we will hear His voice and follow His advice in each and every decision in our lives, so that we will bring glory to His name and that the successes in our lives will become attractive to those around us in such a way that they too will seek the life we have in Jesus Christ.    

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers

Friday 27 September 2013

Today Reminder - 27 September 2013 (Day 20 - Victories)



A reminder for today
Praise the LORD your God, who delights in you and has placed you on the throne as king to rule for him. (2 Chronicles 9:8)

And so another week has come to an end. September is almost over and the end of this year is creeping closer much faster than we think. Time certainly seems to move much faster this time of the year. Even though the end of the year is basically upon us, it does not mean that we can sit back and relax. This is the time of the year when the enemy finds more places to hurt people and more reason to bring people down. This is the season to be jolly and the enemy certainly does not want that.

My dear friend, the Lord delights in you. Wow! How awesome is this verse? God is satisfied in you and you bring Him great joy. The verse continues as the Queen of Sheba tells Solomon that God placed him to rule and she mentions later how privileged the people are that works with him each day. This is something that the Lord wants you to remember. God placed you in your position or your job or your business for a reason. God needs you to show His kingdom to the people you work with every day. Especially now when the year is at its end, we need to bring that joyous feeling to the hearts of people as we show them how great our God is. In the end people will say what a privilege it is to work with you as you bring God’s joy into your place of work and you follow God voice making decisions with God’s wisdom.

God delights in you for he has placed you where you are with the purpose of sharing that with other. Let us be rulers in our places of work so that people can see we rule with God as our King and Jesus as our saviour. Let us shine a light and bring people into this glorious light so that we do not lose them to the darkness that so wants to destroy them.
Come with me today and let us bring more joy to God in the way we live each moment. Live, my dear friend, because life is made to be lived in full.

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers

Thursday 26 September 2013

Today Reminder - 26 September 2013 (Day 19 - Victories)



A reminder for today
At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. (2 Chronicles 7:13-14)

How are you today, my dear friend? How are you doing in your victories? These verses are some of my favourites and in them the Lord are pointing out three very important things that we should do and keep doing on our journey towards victory.

Point number one: Humble yourself and pray – I write to you so often about prayer. How many times do you humble yourself before God, go down on your knees and pray. This is such an important thing and it appears everywhere in the Bible making it clear that we must spend time with God in prayer. Prayer is the vehicle for daily dialog with the One who created us. The importance of daily communication through prayer cannot be overestimated. It is so important that it is mentioned over 250 times in Scripture. So why is daily prayer so important? First, daily prayer gives us an opportunity to share all aspects of our lives with God. Second, daily prayer gives us the chance to express our gratitude for the things He provides. Third, daily prayer provides the platform for confessing our sin and asking for help in overcoming that sin. Fourth, daily prayer is an act of worship and obedience. And finally, daily prayer is a way to acknowledge who is really in control of our lives.( S. Michael Houdmann)

Point number two: Seek my face – one of the things we lack is seeking God’s face. There is a call of God to seek His face through fasting and prayer. In Scripture, we can see that Moses, Jesus, Paul, and the early church lived by a pattern of fasting and prayer. Nowadays, it is very rare to hear or see people fast. We have forgotten that fasting is part a weapon of warfare, and the reason it is not practiced is because we don’t believe it can produce results. God is telling us to humble ourselves through fasting and prayer because we need to remember that everything we have comes from God. Therefore, we are dependent on Him and not in our own strength.

Point number three: Turn from wicked ways – We need to turn away from all evil. We need to flee from temptation and turn our backs on sin. We should ask God for help, strength and guidance in this aspect so that we can defeat the enemy at the gates. If you still carry a burden of old sin with you, you need to take it to God and ask for forgiveness and forgive yourself also. In resistance lies incredible strength and spiritual growth. God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12)

Come my dear friend and let us humble ourselves and pray, seek God all the time and turn (run) from evil.

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers

Wednesday 25 September 2013

Today Reminder - 25 September 2013 (Day 18 - Victories)



A reminder for today
"But will God really live on earth among people? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built! Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you. May you watch over this Temple day and night, this place where you have said you would put your name. May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place. (2 Chronicles 6:18-20)

My dear friend, on our journey towards victory it is important that we spend time in prayer as we establish our relationship with the Lord as we ask God to watch over our temples and always hear our prayers.

Just as Solomon build temple for the Lord and asking the Lord to hear the prayers of his people when they visit this place, we must also remember that the Lord hears our prayers that we make from our “body” temples.
There are two things that I want to make part of us in this specific scripture:

Firstly - Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you – The Lord will hear your prayer that you make as a servant. I chose servant specifically, because a servant is loyal and humble to his master as we should be completely loyal and humble before our Lord.

Secondly - May you watch over this Temple day and night, this place where you have said you would put your name – The Lord watched over us, but what I want you to see is that the Lord will place His name on your temple. If your heart belongs to Jesus and you love the Lord with all you heart and all your mind and all your soul, the name of the Lord is written on you and that means that the enemy has absolutely no hold on you no matter what your past looked like. Jesus washed you with His precious blood placing His name on you and that makes you a child of God.

My dear and wonderful friend let us continue of journey as we live to be victorious in all the battles that awaits us.

You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever. (Psalm 16:11)

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers

Tuesday 24 September 2013

Today Reminder - 24 September 2013 (Day 17 - Victories)



A reminder for today
"This must be a magnificent Temple because our God is greater than all other gods. But who can really build him a worthy home? Not even the highest heavens can contain him! So who am I to consider building a Temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices to him? (2 Chronicles 2:5-6)

Wow and it is Tuesday again! How are you my friend, I pray that you are more victorious with each day. Solomon is about to build a temple for the Lord and as I read this scripture it stood out, because for a moment I see myself making my body a temple for the Lord. Solomon clearly says that no one can really build the Lord a temple, because not even the heavens can contain Him. Two very important statements here: One our temples must be magnificent for our God is greater than any other and secondly the heavens cannot contain Him placing the emphasis on the fact that God is not like me and you. God is far greater than we can imagine. It is important that in this verse we must place God in His rightful place within our lives and within our temples.

The past few months I have been burdened with a health issues and in the last week it just escalated to a position where I started to feel it breaking my hope and bringing me down. I could feel how the continuous pain started to overwhelm me and how I had to give up on things I enjoyed, because I just could not do it anymore. It influenced my whole being and you could see it in my body as I started to lose a lot of weight. I felt fear and disappointment take hold of me and I felt lost for a moment. After I returned from the doctor it seemed to get worse and I did not know what to do anymore. All that was left for me was to place it in God’s hands and all I could say is that whatever happens let His will be done. And on Sunday my health started to turn around and I started to feel better. I could see how the enemy’s foul attempts to destroy me suddenly had no more effect on me as the Lord freed me from this terrible time. God intervened, because I did not turn against Him, but instead I accepted and remained faithful even when I felt that I could not go on anymore. So the Lord restored my temple and renewed my strength so that I can continue the fight and tell you about His remarkable grace.

My dear friend, God is far greater than we know and everything has a purpose in this life. We must remain faithful and trust Him. Each victory that we have every day is so important even the little ones, because each victory destroys the attempts of the enemy and build on our hope and faith and shows God’s love and grace in our lives.

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:26-28)

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers

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