Today Reminder - 24 October 2013 (Day 18 - Living in the Kingdom)

A reminder for today

Amaziah asked the man of God, "But what about all that silver I paid to hire the army of Israel?" The man of God replied, "The LORD is able to give you much more than this!" (2 Chronicles 25:9)

I always believe that everything happens with a purpose. This purpose could be one to lead you into a different direction or it will teach you something or maybe prepare you for something else. No matter why it happens, it always has a purpose and a goal. I told you earlier this week that my week will have a few nasty challenges and yesterday I mentioned that our move to our new house seems to hold a number of new challenges.

As the week progresses our challenges progresses as well and at this stage nothing happens as we have planned. We planned to move in this week and that has been changed to next week and we expected to have everything done and instead there are still a number of things outstanding. So it seems as if nothing is going as we planned and everything changes each day. Have you ever had that powerless and not in control feeling where you feel helpless as you can only stand and watch how everything is changed and you can do nothing about it.

Amaziah lost a large number of silver that he paid for the army of Israel and here he stands listening to this man of God knowing that he can do nothing about that. The reply from the man of God is what caught my eye this morning - The LORD is able to give you much more than this!" 

My dear friend, every time we stand and watch as everything seems to go wrong and nothing happens as we planned, the Lord wants us to remember that He is able to give us so much more. The enemy comes with these plans to alter our course and to discourage us, but if we remain focussed on the Lord and we keep on trusting Him, He will give us much more than what the enemy can take away. Whether it is to grow in your relationship with the Lord or learn from your mistakes or even renew your focus, faith and trust in the Lord – there is a purpose and we must trust the Lord for He will guide us through it and give us much more.

Come with me today and let us not try and stare our challenges away, but instead let us trust the Lord and seek His guidance and follow His voice. The Lord loves us so much and He only wants to see us prosper in His kingdom so that other will see that in our difficulties we have unbelievable victories for His glory and this should create a hunger in them to live in the kingdom of God. 

In the Lord we will find much more than we can ever imagine.

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers

Today Reminder - 23 October 2013 (Day 17 - Living in the Kingdom)

A reminder for today

Yet the LORD sent prophets to bring them back to him. The prophets warned them, but still the people would not listen. (2 Chronicles 24:19)

It is Wednesday already! This week is going by way too quick. We are in the proses of moving to a new house and all the challenges that are arising in this proses is just unbelievable. There is still so much to do before we can move and the time is just not enough. Every time I see the project manager I feel like the prophets warning the people and they do not listen. It feels as if he hears me but he does not listen. 

This made me think of people in general. When they hear the Word and they know what to do, but they do not listen. Does this sound familiar? I see it so often. People go to church in Sunday but on Monday they are back on their old ways. Circumstances and friends certainly play a role here and I believe that it is purely because they hear but they don’t understand. Do you remember this? The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don't have deep roots, they don't last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God's word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God's word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!" (Matthew 13:19-23)

I suppose in every kingdom there is revolt and people that disagree with the king and the king’s ways. Most certainly there are people that will enter the kingdom of God but find that it is too hard for them to follow our king and His ways. So they will choose to leave this kingdom and follow another. I guess there is not much we can do, it remains a choice and we could pray that their hearts will change and that their eyes will open, but in the end we cannot force them to live in God’s kingdom.

Come my dear friend and let us take our friends and family who are still blinded by the evil one and carry them to the Lord in prayer so that their eyes will open and their hearts will change. Our time here is short and before you know it we will stand in front of the Lord at judgement day. I want to stand there knowing that I have done all I could to bring as many as possible with me, even if only one changes their ways, it means one less for the kingdom of darkness. So let us continue the battle as we take the kingdom of God with us wherever we go.

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers

Today Reminder - 22 October 2013 (Day 16 - Living in the Kingdom)

A reminder for today

Then Jehoiada and his sons brought out Joash, the king's son, placed the crown on his head, and presented him with a copy of God's laws. They anointed him and proclaimed him king, and everyone shouted, "Long live the king!" (2 Chronicles 23:11)

Mondays, jip they always have a way to start the week with a few surprises. How was your day my dear friend? I do hope that your week started without any difficulties or problems. Living in the kingdom of God certainly has a few up’s and downs. Each day we find new challenges and each day we are given the opportunity to live as Jesus did. Each day we are crowned as princes in God’s kingdom and each day we can lead people to our king or lead them away from our king.

Joash was crowned king as a little boy and this made me think of a little boy who was sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. (Luke 2) This little boy grew up and was captured, tortured and crucified. He then defeated death and rose back to life on the third day just as the scriptures prophesized. He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man's grave. (Isaiah 53:9)  But as for me, God will redeem my life. He will snatch me from the power of the grave. (Psalm 49:15)

This little boy was crowned king and given all authority in heaven and on earth. I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18) This is our king and the one we worship. He is God and there is nothing that can bring us down when we follow Him and keep our eyes and hearts focussed on Him. "You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God's right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Matthew 26:64)

Yesterday my son asked me if a lion would eat a human and naturally my answer was yes. He then said to me that luckily Jesus is in our hearts so we would pick up the lion and throw him to the side. At first I thought it to be a little boy’s imagination that gave him this idea, but as we continued on our way home I realised my son in his little way prophesized. You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet! (Psalm 91:13)

My son is correct; we are following the King of heaven who has authority in heaven and on earth. Why do we fear and why do we have so little faith. I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 18:3-4)

Come with me today as we have faith like little children and worship our king. "Long live the king!" Let is stop to fear what lies ahead and place our hearts and trust in the Lord our King and God so that we can live lives fully dedicated to Him. 

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers

Today Reminder - 21 October 2013 (Day 15 - Living in the Kingdom)

A reminder for today

But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the LORD's victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the LORD is with you!" (2 Chronicles 20:17)

I am sitting here listening to the rain falling softly on the roof. It is amazing how the Lord is blessing us with this wonderful weather. The weekend is over and the week is about to begin. We are often sitting at the start of the week looking at the challenges ahead and I must admit this week in particular has some big ones waiting for me. We can so easily be overwhelmed by the unknown and just the thought of what can go wrong that we tend to forget we are worshipping an almighty God.

My dear friend, as this week kicks of the Lord wants us to remember that just as king Jehoshaphat did not need to fight in this battle against the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, we do not need to fear the battle that awaits us. We must remain faithful and trust the Lord for He will defeat the enemy and drive our worries away.

After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the LORD and praising him for his holy splendour. At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the LORD caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves. The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. After they had destroyed the army of Seir, they began attacking each other. So when the army of Judah arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness, all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground as far as they could see. Not a single one of the enemy had escaped.(verse 21 – 24) 

Come with me today and let us "Give thanks to the LORD; His faithful love endures forever!" Let us stand and sing praises to our Lord for there is no other like Him. He will fight the battle for us and He will not let the enemy defeat us so that we will know He is God.

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers

Today Reminder - 18 October 2013 (Day 14 - Living in the Kingdom)

A reminder for today

These were his instructions to them: "You must always act in the fear of the LORD, with faithfulness and an undivided heart. (2 Chronicles 19:9)

Yes it is Friday. Wow, this week came to an end so quickly. How are you my friend and how are things on your side? I do hope all is well and that you are taking each day step by step. How are you doing in God’s kingdom? Are you struggling or are you succeeding and how are you doing in your personal time with the Lord. I do hope that you are spending more time with the Lord and that your relationship is growing. There is nothing that God desires more than to have a relationship with you and to spend time with you.

I have to share this with you. My oldest son is six and our youngest is two. Yesterday my oldest son told us that he has got a girlfriend and that she is very pretty. Now this caught me off guard because he is only six. So we were off to school and I dropped my oldest at his school and took our youngest to his pre-school. When we walked into his classroom these little girls came running to him, screaming in excitement to see him. I was speechless…

As I drove to work I was thinking about that and I realised that these little kids know something about friendship that we might have forgotten. The excitement to see each other and the genuine love that they display, not only in friendship, but also in acceptance of each other were just an eye opener for me. I realised again that each day we have with each other is a gift and something we should cherish and not do half hearted. We seem to get stuck in this fast passed world and we easily tend to forget about the things that are truly important like friends. 

We fear the wrong things when we should fear God with faithfulness and an undivided heart. So today I just want to remind you that you are my friend and I hold you deep in my heart and I treasure your friendship as I lift you up to the Lord. You know Jesus calls you friend and I believe that we should take this very seriously and understand that the Lord wants a relationship undivided and faithful to Him. This should be our foundation towards our friendship with each other. Thank you for being my friend and living to show the wonder of our Lord to all that you meet. You are just awesome my dear friend and so important. Let us never miss a moment where we can share our friendship and be excited to be friends.

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers