2025-11-14
Proverbs 18:21 NKJV
Make sure your words agree with God’s Word and then proclaim it over your life. What are you speaking about your future? Your family? Your finances? Your health? When what you say lines up with what God says, you give life to your faith. So, start saying, “I can do all things through Christ. I am blessed. I am strong. I am healthy.” When you talk that way, you have just blessed your life. This is not some glib, mind-over-matter philosophy, it is Bible truth!
Instead of complaining and saying, “Well, what did I expect? I never win,” your declaration should be, “I realize that when one door closes, God opens another. And what was meant for my harm, God will use for my good (See Genesis 50:20). I will come out of this better off than I was before” (See Romans 8:28).
What you say about yourself is more important than what anybody else says. The words that go out of your mouth come right back into your own ears, and eventually they create the same image on the inside. So, begin to speak God’s Word over your situation. In other words, speak “life.”
Soul food: 2 Chr 12-15; John 11:28-37; Ps 50; Prov 26:27-28
2025-11-13
2 Korintiërs 4:8 NLV
Die Brooklyn-brug, wat Brooklyn met die eiland Manhattan verbind, is een van die bekendste brûe ter wêreld. Toe dit vir die eerste keer in 1867 bedink is, het brugboukundiges regoor die wêreld vir die ontwerper, ‘n kreatiewe ingenieur met die naam van John Roebling, gesê dat sy idee nie sou werk nie. Roebling het sy seun Washington, wat ook ‘n ingenieur was, oortuig dat sy idee meriete het. Hulle twee het ‘n konsep ontwikkel, die probleme opgelos wat ander voorspel het en entoesiasties ‘n span gehuur om die brug te bou.
Na slegs ‘n paar maande van bou, het ‘n tragiese ongeluk op die terrein John se lewe geneem en ‘n ander voorval het Washington later ernstig beseer, sodat hy nie meer kon praat of loop nie. Almal het gedink dat die projek laat vaar sou word, aangesien die Roeblings die enigstes was wat die dinamika van die brug geken en verstaan het. Washington kon egter nog dink en hy het ‘n brandende begeerte gehad om die voltooide brug te sien.
Terwyl hy in sy hospitaalbed gelê het, het hy ‘n idee gekry. Hy sou met die ingenieurs kommunikeer deur een vinger te gebruik om in kode op sy vrou se arm te tik wat hy wou hê sy vir hulle moes sê. Washington het sy instruksies vir dertien jaar lank op sy vrou se arm getik, totdat die brug voltooi is! Dít is ‘n oorwinnende gees.
Die apostel Paulus beskryf dit as volg: ‘Op elke manier word ons onder druk geplaas, maar ons is nie verpletter nie; ons is verward, maar nie wanhopig nie; ons word vervolg, maar nie in die steek gelaat nie; platgeslaan, maar nie vernietig nie’ (verse 8-9 NLV). Hierdie woorde beskryf ‘n oorwinnende gees – die tipe gees wat God ook vir jou kan gee.
Sielskos: 2 Kro 8-11; Joh 11:17-27; Ps 8; Spr 26:23-26
2 Corinthians 4:8 NCV
The Brooklyn Bridge, which links Brooklyn to Manhattan Island, is one of the most famous bridges in the world. When it was first conceived in 1867, bridge-building experts throughout the world told the designer, a creative engineer by the name of John Roebling, that his idea wouldn’t work. Roebling convinced his son Washington, who was also an engineer, that his idea had merit. The two of them developed a concept, resolved the problems others had forecast, and enthusiastically hired a crew to build the bridge.
After only a few months of building, a tragic on-site accident took John’s life, and another event months later severely injured Washington, who became unable to talk or walk. Everyone thought the project would be abandoned, since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew the dynamics of building the bridge. Washington, however, could still think, and he had a burning desire to see the bridge finished.
As he lay in his hospital bed, he had an idea. He would communicate with the engineers by using one finger to tap out in code on his wife’s arm what he wanted her to tell them. Washington tapped out his instructions for thirteen years until the bridge was built! That’s the conquering spirit.
The apostle Paul talks about it this way: “We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed” (vv. 8-9 NCV). Those words constitute the conquering spirit – the spirit God can give you.
Soul food: 2 Chr 8-11; John 11:17-27; Ps 8; Prov 26:23-26
2025-11-12
Ephesians 2:10 NLT
A minister writes: “To the average eye, it was a mutilated piece of marble. The aborted sculpture had been abandoned a half century earlier… but a young artist named Michelangelo saw something in that stone others did not. Chiseling the eighteen-foot block of marble would consume nearly four years of his life, but that seemingly worthless stone was destined to become what many consider the greatest statue ever sculpted… Michelangelo resurrected a dead stone and, breathing his artistry into it, brought David into existence.
As he chiseled… he believed the masterpiece was already inside the stone. All he had to do was remove the excess stone so David could escape. He didn’t see what was. He saw what could be… He didn’t see the imperfections in the stone. He saw a masterpiece of unparalleled beauty.
And that is precisely how the Artist [God] sees you. ‘We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.’ Every work of art originates in the imagination of the artist. And so you originated in the imagination of God. You were conceived by God long before you were conceived by your parents. You took shape in the imagination of the Almighty before you took shape in your mother’s womb.”
Regardless of what others think of you, or what you think of yourself, God sees you as a potential masterpiece. To see yourself as anything other than that is to devalue and alter your true identity. And it’s in discovering your true identity that you discover God has a plan for your life.
Soul food: 2 Chr 5-7; John 11:1-16; Ps 83:9-18; Prov 26:17-22
Efesiërs 2:10 ABA
‘n Dominee skryf: ‘Vir die gemiddelde oog was dit net ‘n stuk gekapte marmer. ‘n Jong kunstenaar genaamd Michelangelo het egter iets in hierdie klip gesien wat niemand anders kon nie. Om die agtien voet blok marmer te beitel, sou byna vier jaar van sy lewe in beslag neem. Hierdie oënskynlik waardelose klip was bestem om, wat baie mense beskou as die beste standbeeld wat nog ooit gebeeldhou is, te word. Michelangelo het ‘n dooie klip weer lewe gegee en deur sy kunssinnigheid daarin te blaas, het hy die Dawidbeeld tot stand gebring.
Terwyl hy gebeitel het, het hy geglo dat die meesterstuk reeds binne-in die klip was. Al wat hy moes doen, was om die oortollige klip te verwyder sodat die beeld van Dawid kon ontsnap. Hy het nie gesien wat was nie, hy het gesien wat kan wees. Hy het nie die onvolmaakthede in die klip gesien nie, hy het ‘n meesterstuk van ongeëwenaarde skoonheid gesien.
Dit is presies hoe die Kunstenaar [God] jou sien. ‘want dit is God wat ons gemaak het wat ons is… God het hierdie goeie dinge wat ons moet doen, lank gelede gereedgemaak.’ Elke kunswerk ontstaan in die kunstenaar se verbeelding. So het jy in die verbeelding van God ontstaan. Jy het gestalte in die verbeelding van die Almagtige gekry voordat jy gestalte in jou moeder se skoot gekry het.’
Maak nie saak wat ander van jou dink of hoe jy oor jouself dink nie, God sien jou as ‘n potensiële meesterstuk. Om jouself as enigiets anders as dit te sien, is om jou ware identiteit te devalueer en te verander. Jy ontdek ook dat God ‘n plan met jou lewe het, wanneer jy jou ware identiteit ontdek.
Sielskos: 2 Kro 5-7; Joh 11:1-16; Ps 83:9-18; Spr 26:17-22
