2024-09-27
Psalm 23:2 AMPC
When you find yourself saying, “I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up,” you may need to change some of your priorities and adjust your lifestyle.
The psalmist said, “I am… wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14 KJV). God designed your body to give you warnings when you’re pushing too hard, like an ache here or a pain there. But we ignore these warnings until we become too sick to ignore them any longer. And because we live in the most medicated generation in history, we take prescriptions, pills, and potions hoping that’s the answer. But it’s a short-term cure.
We can’t ignore God’s direction to take time to rest and not pay a price for it. Nobody had a greater purpose or a more important mission than Jesus and His disciples. Yet He instructed them to take time out for rest and relaxation (See Mark 6:31). Pastor, is this an area of discipleship you need to practice and teach your people? The church should not keep people so busy that it negatively affects their health and hurts their family relationships.
If you are living an unsustainable life today, stop putting off making the changes you need to make. Don’t wait until something happens, like a health problem or a family problem. Make changes now to live the kind of life God wants you to live. When you live God’s way, you will discover a new level of peace in your life. “He makes me lie down in [fresh, tender] green pastures; He leads me beside still and restful waters.”
Soul food: 1 Cor 4-6; Luke 23:44-56; Ps 13; Prov 25:4-8
2024-09-26
Prediker 9:9 NLV
Dis interessant om te sien hoeveel van ons gewillig is om in ons opvoeding, loopbaan en finansiële toekoms te belê, maar nie in ons huwelik nie. Een van die hoofoorsake van egskeiding is verveling.
Een dominee verduidelik: ‘Eggenote verloor hulle fokus, dwaal af en pleeg egbreuk, raak aan pornografie verslaaf of stel ander vernietigende gedrag ten toon. Die geheim tot ‘n sterk huwelik is om aan te hou om maniere te vind om jouself te verbeter en met mekaar te deel. Dit kan so eenvoudig wees soos om ‘n boek of artikel te lees en iets interessants wat jy raakgelees het te deel, of om ‘n kursus te loop en dit wat jy geleer het by die huis aan te wend. Dit kan wees om te leer oor jou eggenoot se beroepsveld en belang te stel in dit wat hy/sy heeldag doen.
Eggenote wat wil aanhou groei as ‘n paartjie, het ook lewens van hul eie buite die huwelik nodig. Stokperdjies, belangstellings en gepaste vriendskappe buite die huwelik maak elke eggenoot meer interessant en stimulerend wanneer hulle by die huis kom. Hoe wonderlik is dit nie om saam aan die etenstafel te sit en opwindende dinge wat julle elkeen deur die dag ontdek het, met mekaar te deel nie.
Daar is egter ‘n balans wat gehandhaaf moet word wanneer jy jou eie lewe ontwikkel, sonder om die lewe wat julle saam het te ignoreer. Lank nadat fisiese aantrekkingskrag en die intensiteit van seksuele aantrekkingskrag vervaag het, nadat die kinders groot is en op hulle eie bly, sal jy en jou maat sterk verbintenisse wil hê sodat julle kan aanhou groei en die lewe saam kan geniet.’
Belê dus in jou huwelik.
Sielskos: 1 Kor 1-3; Luk 23:35-43; Ps 54; Spr 25:1-3
Ecclesiastes 9:9 NKJV
It’s amazing how many of us are willing to invest time and effort into our education, career, and financial future, but not our marriage. One of the leading causes of divorce is boredom.
One minister explains: “Partners lose their focus, stray into affairs, get addicted to porn, or exhibit other destructive behavior… The secret to a strong marriage is to continue to find ways to improve yourself and to share. It can be as simple as reading a book or article and sharing something interesting about what you read, or taking a course and using what you learned at home… It can be learning about your partner’s career field and taking an interest in what they do all day, showing you are engaged with who they are…
Partners who want to keep growing as a couple also need to have lives of their own away from the marriage as well. Pursuing hobbies, interests, and appropriate friendships outside the marriage makes each partner more interesting and stimulating when they come back home. How wonderful to sit together at the dinner table and share exciting things you each discovered during the day.
There is a balancing act in developing your own life without ignoring the life you have together. The person you marry will be around for a very long time if you do things right. Long after physical attraction and the intensity of sexual chemistry have faded, and the kids are grown and living on their own, you and your partner will want strong connections so you can continue to grow and enjoy life together.”
So, invest in your marriage.
Soul food: 1 Cor 1-3; Luke 23:35-43; Ps 54; Prov 25:1-3
2024-09-25
Efesiërs 1:4 NLV
Niks van jou verras God nie. Hy het geweet wat Hy gaan kry toe Hy jou vir Homself uitgekies het. Jy het nie net een dag lukraak opgedaag nie. God het ook nie besluit om jou maar net te verdra nie. Hy rol nie sy oë wanneer jy ‘n probleem het nie. Nee, Hy sal jou altyd herinner hoe ver jy gekom het, hoe goed jy besig is om te doen, hoe kosbaar jy vir Hom is en hoe baie Hy jou liefhet. God het reeds van jou swakhede, elke fout en elke keer wat jy sal misluk, geweet toe Hy jou gekies het.
Efesiërs 1:5 sê dat God jou as sy eie aangeneem het. Hy is jou vader en jy is sy familie. Hy sal jou dissiplineer wanneer jy dit nodig het, maar jou nooit weggooi nie. Met Hom aan jou sy sal dinge vir seker aan die einde vir jou uitwerk.
‘Prys ons goeie God, die Vader van ons Here Jesus Christus, voortdurend, want Hy is wonderlik goed vir ons! Deur wat Christus gedoen het, het Hy al die geestelike skatte wat daar in die hemel is, verniet vir ons gegee. Deur wat Christus gedoen het, het God ons uitgekies. Omdat Hy ons liefhet, het Hy ons, al voor die wêreld gemaak is, uitgekies om sonder foute net Syne te wees. Deur wat Christus gedoen het, het God vooraf besluit om ons as sy kinders aan te neem. Hy het dit gedoen omdat dit is hoe Hy dit wou hê. Daarom prys ons God se grootheid. Deur sy Seun wat Hy liefhet, het Hy sy onverdiende goedheid aan ons gegee’ (verse 3-6 NLV).
Sielskos: Sag 12-14; Luk 23:26-34; Ps 52; Spr 24:32-34
Ephesians 1:4 AMPC
Nothing about you surprises God. He knew what He was getting when He chose you. He “actually picked us out for Himself as His own.” You didn’t just randomly show up one day. And God hasn’t decided to merely tolerate you. He is not rolling His eyes when you have a problem. Instead, He will always remind you how far you have come, how well you are doing, how precious you are in His sight, and how much He loves you. God already knew your weaknesses, every flaw you would have, and every time you would fail, yet He still said, “I want you.”
Ephesians 1:5 says that God “adopted” you as His own. He is your father, and you are His family. Yes, He will discipline you when you need it, but He will never discard you. And with Him on your side, things are bound to work out all right in the end.
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son” (vv. 3-6 NLT).
Soul food: Zech 12-14; Luke 23:26-34; Ps 52; Prov 24:32-34
