Today’s Journal (Emotions) – 13 July 2023

We are all emotional beings. Emotions is what plays a role in how we feel and how we react and how we deal with the challenges life throws at us. How do you feel today? It is almost weekend, and the week is quickly coming to an end. What is going on in your head? Are you excited for the coming weekend or are you dreading it and to be honest the whole week has been a mess and you can just do with a break.

Do you feel a little depressed and are you just tired of it all. Stress feeds emotions and emotions combined with stress can really get to you. Especially when you come to the point where you just can’t get out of bed anymore and the two days ahead feels like an eternity.

How do we deal with this and how do we fight this battle. There are so many easy answers and yes there are pills for it. Those that kill the emotions and make you a happy robot. It is worth it or is total victory a better choice. A victory that is not substance motivated and surly one that does not end up in a hospital.

Jesus came to this world, and He was ridiculed and hated. He was banished and outlawed yet all He preached was life and how to live it better. He made no excuse in hiding the fact that you will go through tough times. He said that this world hated Him first and so will hate you. Yet despise all of this He just kept following the will of God and finally gave His life for all, even those who persecuted Him.

The victory does not lie in the defeat, but the victory lies in humble persistence. Yes, it is easier said than done but why will the Lord not give you strength and wisdom and direction. This too will pass and yes, it is not easy, but the end and the victory over it is so worth it.

He said “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble in dread before them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not fail you or abandon you (Deuteronomy 31:6)”

God made this promise. All you need to do is to give it all to Him and let Him take control. Stop trying to fix everything on your own but trust Him with it.

I do it in a simple prayer: “Lord, I am at my end, and I have absolutely nothing left to give. I humbly apologize for taking it all on my own and I ask you to forgive me for excluding you from my life. I desperately need your help and openly with a grateful heart give it all over to you. You know my battle and you know my limits. Please guide me through this and help me to overcome it all and finally glorify your name through my victory. In Jesus name.”

Today’s Journal (New beginnings) – 07 July 2023

This blog has always been dedicated to uplift and share and give a bit of advice. At times it has been hard to write because life can be so busy. I decided to change my direction and make it a bit more personal. I guess it has been extremely personal since most of it shares the struggles that life so diligently throws at us.

Today has been an uphill battle with a number of challenges at work but mostly I am trying to build an online business as an additional income, and it seems to be much more difficult and very time consuming. I have always been a go getter and giving up is a phrase that does not exist in my mind. So, yes the battle is tough and my experience is zero to none in this area. Plus, I want it to be working yesterday. Yes, I know patience is a virtue, but life does not wait, and my challenges seem to multiply.

I am sure you can relate and that you might face even more challenges on your side. I read this verse a few days ago and it keeps popping back in my head:

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7)

This is a verse that we can get wrong fairly easily. Put yourself in the shoes of a parent. A child obviously wants things from time to time, yet the parents know what is needed, what is good and what is not so good. Jesus mentions that even sinful people know how to give good gifts to their children.

The challenge is to ask within the will of God, and we sometimes desire what is against His will and this can cause indifference and anger on our side. Jesus goes on and later mentions that when you pray you should ask in His name. Jesus wants us to mimic His life and see that what He did always remained in the will of God.

Surely God will always want the best for you, but the best can be different to our desires. I believe that we can do anything and ask God to bless us in everything we do. Just as I pray for His blessings over my work and my business and my family I always ask if it is His will. I know God will bless hard work, but we should always be thankful for the ability to be able to work and to have opportunities.

My battle remains a reality, but my faith surpasses my struggles. I am not perfect in any way, and I am sure I have a ton more flaws than you, but my faith remains firm even when the road ahead is impossible to see.

Yes, I get upset and yes there is times when I just want to quit and give up. For what, to let the enemy have his way and accept his lies. No, I will fall, and I will fall again, but I need to keep standing up and keep moving forward. I just need to keep my eyes on God and trust His time and His will.

Let see what tomorrow brings.

Today’s Journal (New heart) – 06 June 2023

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51.10).

I love this verse. I feel that it is something I should pray daily. Create in me a clean heart and renew my thoughts. We live in a world that is constantly changing and we face new challenges each day. Where are you on your journey and what are you facing at the moment in your life?

I think finances is a battle that we all face, and I guess we find ourselves in moments where it can really get to you. When the bills pile up and the day-to-day expenses increase because inflation and interest rates keep escalating.

The Holy Spirit just gave me a few ideas around this, and I believe that we miss the truth sometimes when we face mountains of trouble. First let us allow God to create in us a clean heart. This means that He will renew the essence of who we are and clear our minds and thoughts and realign our spirits with Him. This means that we allow God to take these burdens and just remove the fear and the anxiety around them. Let Him renew who you are in Him as we humbly accept His love and grace. Jesus said that His grace is enough. The problem is that we cannot comprehend how huge and massive His grace is.

Everything is God and all comes from Him. His kingdom is way bigger than the financial problems you face or the challenges that lies ahead of you.

Let me pray for you, my friend. Almighty God and Abba Father, we give you our hearts and our burdens as we humbly come before you. I pray and ask you Father to break the grip of evil over us and release your blessings over us. Father, I pray that you open doors to help us in our financial troubles and release your grace on your children. I speak life and power over all our challenges, and I humbly place them in your hands. Father we pray this in Jesus name and we thank you as you start to move in our lives.

Be still and know that He is God.

Have an awesome day.

Cheers

Today’s Journal (Words) – 24 January 2023

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires (Hebrews 4:12).

Do you know the song “Words” from FR David? It was one of my favourites when I was in school. I always thought that that was a lot like me because words did not come easy and today, I am still very much an introvert. I am not a huge fan at to many people in a conversation and I will feel uncomfortable and sometimes out of place. I guess I am a bit difficult in that sense but I have always been one to keep to myself and I love going to the gym on my own and just doing my workout. Sometimes I even miss the people around me.

This is one of my many favourite verses and I believe that with all my heart. The word of God is alive and powerful. If we miss the use of it in our own lives you will find yourself where I am today. Upset at my wife and hard-headedly unmovable in my opinion.

Words have power. We miss the impact words have on people and how and innocent insult can bring down a person and send them straight into the enemies claws. Why do we find it so much easier to break and destroy then to build and repair?

My opinion is that our past has a huge effect on how we handle conflict and comments when we are grown up. In your childhood somewhere someone said something and those emotions comes swirling back when something happens remotely similar. Sometimes it is unforgiveness and sometimes it is purely rejection that left this scar.

The basis is that we need to deal with these issues and break the enemies hold so that we can be free from emotional responses based on an event that we grew up with. You will know when there is a seed. You will over react on the simplest things and they will make you extremely upset and you will feel rejected even though the intention of the argument had nothing to do with those emotions, you just felt them.

The enemy is cunning and he remembers these trigger points much better than we do, so it is quite important that we work to get them out of our systems so that we can live free from an emotion that we should have delt with some time ago.

Jesus is the way and the answer in this. Give Him your pain and let Him heal those old wounds so that you can let go of issues that you do not need anymore.

Life is so short so why do we waste time on anger and unnecessary issues that just creates a void and a place that will keep you empty. Fill those places with the word of God and let His healing words be your foundation when you feel those emotions.

Be still and know that He is God.

Have an awesome day.

Cheers

Today’s Journal (Filled) – 19 January 2023

For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord. (Habakkuk 2:14).

What a couple of weeks we had. It is amazing how quick time passes us and before you know it two weeks are gone. I think we do a lot of that towards God. We walk into church on Sunday, and we hear the message with great intentions to implement time into our lives and by Wednesday it feels like it was a great idea.

I find myself in a place where I truly desire more of my God. I love this verse, and can you imagine how that would be if the world is so filled with the awareness of God. We will never have a time issue.

I believe two of the enemy’s best weapons is time and comfort. He keeps you busy with problems, fear, need and greed and puts you in a comfort place. Now when I say comfort, I mean a way of life that you comfortably do from day to day. It is a lot like trying to lose weight and you hit the gym and you change the diet, but you soon find yourself back in your comfort zone.

Humans are creatures of habit and habit can sometimes be a difficult thing to change especially if a little selfishness finds its way into the equation.

I do not want to make a huge change and become super Christian overnight. I just want to slowly allow the living waters of our Lord to create a new awareness of God. I want to go back to my roots and spend more time humbly before my God and my Saviour.

Come with me today, my friend as we journey on into this amazing life seeking more time with our Father and giving Him all our worries and fears. When we manage that small shift, we will see massive changes into our daily life and our time.

Be still and know that He is God.

I love you my friend in Jesus.

Have an awesome day.

Cheers

Today’s Journal (Light) – 09 January 2023

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).

It is a new year with new ideas and new resolutions. Every year we start afresh, and we look to change the things we did not like or struggled with in year behind us. Jesus stood before a huge crowd as He gave them what we now know as the Beatitudes.

Jesus says here that we should be a light to the world like a city on a hill. He said you do not put a candle under a bushel (The bushel was at the time a container for measuring dry goods such as grain or peas). I other words do not let the world hide your light but let it shine so that people can see it. Let your life exalt the glory of our Father and let His presence in your life be visible all around. The job description of a Christian is not only to maintain personal holiness, but also to touch the lives of everyone around us.

This is easier said that done. Believe me I stand in this situation daily. Do you let your emotions control your thoughts or do you allow the Holy Spirit to guide your thoughts. Is your day-to-day life uplifting other or are you missing the opportunity. I personally feel like a candle under a bushel, but as Jesus continues to touch my life and slowly changing my perspective, I can see how my normal now turns into a Jesus like attitude. Where I would lose my temper, I now see deeper and have more empathy. Jesus loves everyone equally, yes, and even the taxi driver that cut you off and parked in the middle of nowhere. It is our perspective that needs adjusting and our way of life to be less selfish and more Jesus like. The Holy Spirit is a huge driver in this, and I honestly can hear Him guide me daily. Mostly I would say sorry, but I find myself giving more good words toward the issues and the challenges I face than negative words.

So, I humbly ask you to join me as we slowly change the world around us with Jesus-like love as we let our lights shine as we become that salt of the earth God infused mind altering person in a world that so badly needs to see His light.

I love you my friend in Jesus.

Have an awesome day.

Cheers

Today’s Journal (Delight) – 23 December 2022

 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4).

Sarah Martin from iBelieve shares, “The concept of delighting in God is closely intertwined with intimacy with God. A desire for more of His presence. A depth of relationship where we want to know more, feel more, experience more, worship Him more, converse with Him more, and find more freedom from sin.”

Isaiah 61:10 says so beautifully, “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

Not only do we delight in God, but He also delights in us. One of the greatest blessings is to discover the joy of a relationship with the Lord. We can do this by making time for Him in His Word, worshiping with praise music, staying in communication with Him throughout our days, admiring who He is in nature, using creativity to glorify Him, and having a heart of thankfulness.

So simply put we need to spend more time with our Lord and give Him more than just a now and then quick prayer. God wants a relationship with you where you delight (please (someone) greatly) in Him and He will do the same. When God returns His delight in you it is in blessings and love beyond our understanding.

Today I want you to walk with me as we create a daily desire to delight in the Lord. Let us take this moment and just reflect on the greatness of our Lord and His amazing life-giving gift in His own sacrifice. In this crazy time of the year, we get so many chances to show Jesus to a world in need of salvation and restoration. Do not let the opportunity slip by when you could have shared the Gospel and delight in the Lord.

I love you my friend in Jesus.

Have an awesome day.

Cheers

Today’s Journal (Fear) – 22 December 2022

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:33).

Fear is a liar! I think we fail so many times in our journeys due to fear. Fear is a method that the enemy moulded to perfection to create a gap in your relationship with God. From the very beginning in the garden of Eden God created us to live in a relationship with Him. If that relationship is not sound your world will fall apart despite what you think. I fail at this miserably on a weekly basis. When the storms around us blinds us and we move away from God, and we try to fix it on our own we fail. I am guilty of that in so many ways so I can speak from experience. The minute I quiet down, and I listen, and I just give it all back to our Father, you see an immediate change.

Jesus made a huge promise here and personally I love this verse, but do I get it right? Now there is a question. Jesus said seek the kingdom of God above all else, now what is that?

Before we can answer how to seek first the kingdom of God, we must understand what the kingdom of God is. The kingdom was so important to Jesus that He mentions it 126 times in the gospels. Jesus clearly wanted to get our attention and focus our gaze on the kingdom.

However, the kingdom is not a palace like the Windsor Castle, floating around in the heavenly realm. The kingdom of God, in the Bible, is simply God’s redemptive rule and reign. The word kingdom points directly to God’s kingship, or His rule, action, and sovereign governance over all created things.

Jesus is the kingdom personified. So, we must seek Him in all we do. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If your focus and your journey is all with and by Jesus, then you are placing Him above all else.

“Seek first God’s kingdom.” In other words, when you think about your life or your food or your clothes or your spouse or your job or your mission, don’t fret about them. Instead, make God the king in that affair and in that moment, and hand over the situation to his kingly power and do his righteous will with the confidence that he will work for you and meet all your needs.

To seek the kingship of God first in every affair and every moment of life is a thrilling way to live. It’s full of freedom and peace and joy and adventure — and hardship, and it’s worth it all. If you believe in the kingship of your heavenly Father, you do not need to be anxious about anything.

I love you my friend in Jesus.

Have an awesome day.

Cheers

Today’s Journal (Strength) – 20 December 2022

I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! (Psalm 121:1-2).

How are you, my friend? As we enter the last days before Christmas the world around us seems to go into a spending frenzy. People rush to get the last gifts, and some are preparing to go on leave, and some are stuck at work. No matter your circumstances or where you find yourself in this buzz it can be a very lonely time for some and a very hectic time for other.

When you are all by yourself and the world calms down around you, where do you find yourself. Are you happy? Are you content or are you broken and sad and in need of a rest that sleep just does not give you. Do you feel the excitement of this time of year or are you hurt and broken after a year of thousands of ups and downs that got the better of you?

Jesus came into this world, and He said that He came for the broken and the lost and worst of us. Paul went on an wrote the no one is good not even one.

The Lord just laid it on my heart to share one of my favourite verses. I have been in this place so many times before and believe me I am no upstanding Christian. I feel just like Paul did so many times when he said that the things he does not want to do, he did, and he also struggled with challenges on a daily basis. Yet when this man was in jail bound by chains, hurting, hungry and cold he sang praises to the Lord. In his most broken moment, he sang and praised our Lord. And then the angel came and opened the doors to the jail and Paul saved a man and his family.

Today I want you to look up at those mountains and ask this: Where does my help come from? My help comes from a star breathing, life giving, sin consuming living God. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

With Him all things are possible. Come today and just give it all to Him. Your challenges, your hurt, your blessing, your struggles, your hopes, your dreams and all your praise. Let Him hear your heart and let Him fill you today with His amazing love and presence. You are not alone, and you are surely not fighting alone. Let us praise Him today and just give Him all our love and faith. He gave His life for you and believe me He will not let you fall.

I love you my friend in Jesus.

Have an awesome day.

Cheers

Today Journal (Back) – 19 December 2022

Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honoured by every nation. I will be honoured throughout the world (Psalm 46.10).

It has been a while since I wrote on my blog. I have been contemplating about this for a while. I think the enemy had me in a bad place cornered in fear and bound by insecurities for a while. It took a huge battle and an amazing God to pull me out of this pit and back into reality. I think sometimes the enemy blinds us so badly with his lies that we find ourselves shipwrecked on our own little island lost and afraid to return to the fight.

Today I make a new stand against the enemy and his lies, and I will rise with my God to face the battles and journey with you once again. I got this amazing word this Sunday in church, and I think that just fired me up again.

So, today is simple. I want you to know that you are not alone, and that God is far greater than what our concept or thinking will allow. I am reminded by Louie Giglio’s “How great is our God” sermon and how small our entire galaxy is in comparison to the universe and what lies out there. I am reminded again that our God created the heavens and the earth by mere words and that He took His time to form each of us in His likeness.

You are special way beyond any lie the enemy can muster up and you are far more precious than any mistake you have ever made. This is the silly season, but it is also a time that we are reminded that a saviour was born, and He gave His life to free us from this world and its misery.

 Today I am reminding you that God is great, and He wants us to trust Him and spend more time with Him. Anything is possible with Him, and no mountain is to high. Just see it from His perspective. Therefore, I leave you with this thought – If God can pull me out of my pit back into His path with a simple word, how much more can He do through me when I am all into the fight. How much more can you do when you put all your hope and faith in Him. Let’s take on the storms, my friend. You are in for a big change and a massive year ahead.

I love you my friend in Jesus.

Have an awesome day.

Cheers