2022-06-05
Hebreërs 11:6 NLV
Net soos die regte sleutel die deur oopsluit, is daar Skriftuurlike beginsels wat waarborg dat jou gebede beantwoord sal word. Kom ons kyk die volgende paar dae daarna.
Geloof. ‘As jy nie glo nie, is dit onmoontlik om God tevrede te stel. Wie tot God wil nader, moet glo dat Hy werklik dáár is en dat Hy dié wat na Hom soek, daadwerklik beloon’ (vers 6 NLV). God reageer nie noodwendig op jou behoefte nie. Waarop reageer God dus? Jou geloof! Satan sal egter jou gedagtes met vertwyfeling probeer vul. Wanneer hy dit doen, moet jy jou hart ondersoek en kyk wat dit sê.
Jy kan God se Woord in jou hart glo, selfs wanneer jou gedagtes dit bevraagteken. Staan dus op dit wat in jou hart is en nie op dit wat in jou gedagtes is nie. Soms begin twyfel met afleiding. Wanneer jou aandag van God se beloftes afgelei word, begin jy twyfel. Soos jy meer en meer op jou probleme fokus, begin jou geloof wankel. Wanneer dit gebeur, moet jy soos ‘n laser op God se beloftes herfokus – en slegs skrams na jou probleme kyk. Moet hulle nie probeer ontken nie, maar moenie hulle onnodige aandag gee nie.
Die Bybel sê: ‘Maar, as ‘n mens bid, moet jy die vertroue hê dat God sal antwoord, want iemand wat twyfel, is soos ‘n brander in die see wat deur die wind aangejaag en heen en weer gedryf word. So iemand kan mos nie dink dat hy iets van die Here sal ontvang nie. Hy is iemand wat nie tot ‘n besluit kan kom nie; op so iemand kan jy nie peil trek nie’ (Jakobus 1:6-8 NLV). Bly aan God se Woord geanker en moenie begin ronddryf wanneer jou omstandighede begin verander nie.
Sielskos: Lev 23:15-22; Hand 2:1-18
Hebrews 11:6 CEV
Just as the right key opens the door, there are scriptural principles that guarantee your prayers will be answered. For the next few days, let’s look at them.
Faith. “Without faith no one can please God. We must believe that God is real and that he rewards everyone who searches for him” (v. 6 CEV). God doesn’t necessarily respond to your need. Look around and you will see that everyone has unmet needs. So what does God respond to? Your faith!
But Satan will try to fill your mind with doubts. And when he does, you need to examine your heart and see what it says. You can believe God’s Word in your heart even when your mind questions it. So stand on what’s in your heart instead of what’s in your head. Sometimes doubt begins with distraction. When you’re distracted from God’s promises, you start to doubt. And as you focus more and more on your problems, your faith begins to waver. When that happens, you must refocus like a laser on God’s promises – and merely glance at your problems.
Don’t try to deny them, but don’t give them undue attention. The Bible says: “When you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm. If you are that kind of person, you can’t make up your mind, and you surely can’t be trusted. So don’t expect the Lord to give you anything at all” (James 1:6-8 CEV). Stay anchored to God’s Word, and don’t drift all over the place when your circumstances begin to change.
Soul food: Lev 23:15-22; Acts 2:1-18
Hebrews 11:6 CEV
Just like the right key opens the door, there are scriptural truths that can act as keys to prayer. For the next few days, let’s look at them.
Faith. ‘Without faith no one can please God. We must believe that God is real and that he rewards everyone who searches for him’ (v.6 CEV). God doesn’t necessarily respond to our needs. If we look around, we’ll see that everyone has some kind of unmet need. So what does God respond to? Our faith!
But Satan will try to fill our minds with doubts. And when he does, we need to examine our hearts. You can believe God’s Word in your heart even when your mind questions it. So let’s stand on what’s in our hearts instead of what’s in our heads.
Sometimes doubt begins with distraction. When we’re distracted from God’s promises, we can start to doubt. And as we focus more and more on our problems, our faith begins to waver. When that happens, we need to refocus like a laser on God’s promises, and give nothing more than a glance at our problems. That doesn’t mean we should deny them, just that we don’t give them more attention than they need.
The Bible says: ‘When you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm. If you are that kind of person, you can’t make up your mind, and you surely can’t be trusted. So don’t expect the Lord to give you anything at all’ (James 1:6-8 CEV). If we stay anchored to God’s Word, we won’t be as likely to drift all over the place when things begin to change in our lives.
Lev 23:15-22; Acts 2:1-18
2022-06-04
Philippians 3:10 NLT
Paul said, ‘I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death.’ Let’s take an in-depth look at this verse.
1) ‘I want to know Christ.’ There’s a difference between knowing someone and knowing about them. We can learn all about Jesus’ life, the miracles He performed, what others said about Him, and so on. But what really makes the difference in our lives is having a personal relationship with Him.
2) ‘And experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.’ What’s dead in your life that needs to be raised? There’s no problem that Christ’s resurrection power can’t handle. And we access that power when we make intimacy with Christ our top priority.
3) ‘I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death.’ We’d be more comfortable if the verse ended after the words, ‘the mighty power that raised him from the dead’. But the truth is, if we want intimacy with Christ, we must be willing to ‘suffer with Him’. For Paul, it meant being beaten, betrayed, and beheaded. But it brought a level of intimacy with Jesus that can’t be experienced any other way. If you’ve ever walked through suffering with another person, you’ll have experienced the way the experience brings you closer together. We’ll never experience true intimacy with somebody by telling them, ‘I only want to share the good times with you.’ The strongest relationship bonds often come from the suffering we go through together; the trials that cause us to know, love, and trust each other in a newer, deeper dimension.
1 Kings 16:1-18:15; Matt 14:13-21; Ps 121; Pro 12:23-24
Filippense 3:10 NLV
Paulus het gesê: ‘Op hierdie manier kan ek Christus persoonlik ken en die krag beleef wat Hom laat opstaan het. Deur saam met Hom te ly kry ek deel aan sy dood’. Kom ons kyk in diepte na hierdie vers.
1) ‘Kan ek Christus persoonlik ken.’ In die Skrif, dui die woord ‘ken’ ‘n fisiese intimiteit tussen twee mense wat vir mekaar lief is, aan. Byvoorbeeld: ‘En die mens het sy vrou Eva beken, en sy het swanger geword en Kain gebaar…’ (Genesis 4:1 AFR53).
2) ‘En die krag beleef wat Hom laat opstaan het.’ Wat in jou lewe is dood wat weer moet opstaan? Daar is geen probleem wat Christus se opstandingskrag nie kan hanteer nie. Hoe kry jy toegang daartoe? Wanneer jy intimiteit met Christus jou hoogste prioriteit maak, kan jy uit hierdie krag put.
Sommige van ons sou verkies het as die vers hier geëindig het. Die waarheid is egter dat indien jy intimiteit met Christus wil geniet, moet jy gewillig wees om ‘saam met Hom [te] ly.’ Lyding verwys in hierdie opsig nie na slegte allergieë of geld wat jy op die aandele mark verloor het nie. Vir Paulus het dit beteken om geslaan, verraai en onthoof te word. Dit het egter ‘n intimiteit met Jesus meegebring wat op geen ander manier ervaar kan word nie.
As jy ooit diep saam met ‘n ander persoon gely het, sal jy hierdie beginsel verstaan. Jy sal nooit ware intimiteit met iemand ervaar deur vir hulle te sê: ‘Ek wil slegs die goeie tye met jou deel’, nie. Dikwels ontstaan die sterkste bande deur die lyding wat ons saam ervaar; toetse wat veroorsaak dat ons mekaar op ‘n nuwe, dieper dimensie leer ken, liefhê en vertrou.
Sielskos: 1 Kon 16:1-18:15; Matt 14:13-21; Ps 121; Spr 12:23-24
