2025-02-16
Galatians 3:6 NKJV
We think of Abraham with a halo. Hardly. Not once, but twice he throws his wife under the bus. As they traveled through Egypt, Abram says to Sarai, “You’re a beautiful woman; I’m afraid the Egyptians will want to kill me so someone can have you for a wife, so let’s tell them you’re my sister” (See Genesis 12:11-13). Pharaoh does take Sarai into his harem – giving Abram, her “brother,” a bunch of sheep, cattle, donkeys, servants, and camels. Rather than feeling guilty and coming clean, Abram simply says, “Thank you very much.” And if you think that’s bad, when Abraham and Sarah are in the Negev later on, recorded in Genesis 20, he does the whole “she’s my sister” routine a second time.
Why doesn’t God just give up on him? Because Abraham doesn’t give up on God! Abraham eventually reached the place in his walk with God where his résumé reads: “Who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform” (Romans 4:18-22 NKJV).
Note the words “strengthened in faith.” God’s plan is not to discard you, but to develop your faith and use you to bring glory to His name.
Soul food: Exo 20:3; Acts 14:1-18; 1 Sam 5:1-5
2025-02-15
Kolossense 3:15 ABA
God wil hê dat jy ‘n rustige gemoedstoestand moet hê. Sy Woord sê: ‘Christus het vir julle vrede gegee en daardie vrede moet julle lewe regeer. God het julle gekies om een te wees, die een liggaam van Christus, sy kerk. Daarom moet julle in vrede met mekaar lewe. Julle moet ook dankbaar wees’ (vers 15 ABA).
Geen posisie of besitting is dit werd as jy nie vrede het nie; geld, status, populariteit – dis alles sinloos as jy vrede kort. Jy kan eenvoudig nie ‘n prys op die waarde van vrede plaas nie. Baie van ons bestee ons lewens om die suksesleer te probeer uitklim, maar elke keer wat ons hoër beweeg, verloor ons meer van ons vrede en vreugde, om nie eers van tyd saam met ons familie te praat nie. Ons lewens word deur die druk en stres om vas te klou aan dit wat ons bereik het, verteer. Ons is egter nooit waarlik suksesvol as ons nie vrede het nie.
Sommige van ons doen verskeie werke om dit wat die wêreld voor ons swaai en sê: ‘Jy moet hierdie hê om waarlik gelukkig te wees,’ te verkry. Ons kry daardie dinge, maar ons het steeds nie enige vrede nie. Romeine 14:17 sê vir ons: ‘As God koning is in ons lewe, gaan dit nie om wat ons eet of drink nie; dit gaan daaroor dat ons reg sal lewe en die vrede en die blydskap sal vertoon wat die Heilige Gees in ons bewerk’ (NLV).
God wil hê dat jou behoeftes oorvloedig vervul moet word en dat jy in ‘n posisie moet wees om ander mense te seën. Moet egter nie iets probeer bekom as jy dit nie vreedsaam kan hê nie.
Sielskos: Gen 40-41; Luk 10:13-24; Ps 28; Spr 5:3-6
Colossians 3:15 NKJV
God wants you to have a peaceful state of mind. His word says: “Let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live]” (v. 15 AMPC).
No position or possession is worthwhile if you don’t have peace; money, status, popularity – it’s all meaningless if you lack peace. You simply cannot put a price on the value of peace. Many of us spend our lives trying to climb the ladder of success, but every time we go up one more rung, we lose more of our peace and joy, not to mention time spent with our family. Our lives are consumed with the pressure and stress of trying to hold on to what we gained. But we are never truly successful unless we have peace.
Some of us work several jobs to acquire what the world dangles in front of us, saying, “You must have this to be truly happy.” We get those “things,” but we still don’t have any peace. Romans 14:17 tells us, “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink” – it is not things that money can buy or status can secure – but it is “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
God wants you to have your needs met abundantly and to be in a position to bless others. But don’t seek to have anything if you cannot have it peacefully.
Soul food: Gen 40-41; Luke 10:13-24; Ps 28; Prov 5:3-6
2025-02-14
Johannes 5:30 NLV
Die derde bousteen wat Jesus se verhouding met sy Vader definieer is gehoorsaamheid. Wanneer jy weet dat jy van God gehoor het, het jy die selfvertroue om enigiets wat die lewe na jou kant toe gooi te hanteer, en om enige opdrag wat Hy vir jou gee, aan te pak. Christus se eerste wonderwerk was om water in wyn by ‘n bruilof in Kana te verander. Daar sal jy ‘n stelling vind wat noodsaaklik is om God se wonderbaarlike krag in jou lewe te ervaar: ‘…Wat Hy ook al vir julle sê, moet julle noukeurig doen’ (Johannes 2:5 NLV). Dit beteken dat jy gewillig moet wees om God te gehoorsaam wanneer Hy vir jou sê om iets te doen wat nie rasioneel lyk nie, wanneer dit nie populêr is nie, wanneer dit ongerieflik is, wanneer dit jou duur te staan kom en wanneer dit van jou verwag om ‘n onbekende paadjie te loop.
Jy sal slegs hierdie vlak van gehoorsaamheid bereik wanneer jy jouself aan ‘n lewe van intimiteit met God en afhanklikheid van God, toegewy het. Intimiteit, afhanklikheid en gehoorsaamheid word nie gekweek wanneer jy probeer om God meer lief te hê nie, maar wanneer jy ‘n openbaring van God se wonderlike, onverdiende, onfeilbare liefde vir jou het: ‘Op hierdie manier het God sy ware liefde aan ons bekendgemaak toe Hy sy enigste Seun na die wêreld toe gestuur het sodat ons deur Hom die lewe kan ontvang. Dít is ware liefde: nie dat ons vir God liefgehad het nie, maar dat Hy ons liefgehad het en sy Seun as versoeningsoffer gestuur het om ons sondes weg te neem’ (1 Johannes 4:9-10 NLV). Bid dus vir ‘n openbaring van God se groot liefde vir jou.
Sielskos: Gen 37-39; Luk 10:1-12; Ps 5; Spr 5:1-2
John 5:30 NIV
The third thing that defines Jesus’ relationship with His Father is this: obedience. Jesus said, “I judge only as I hear… for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” Note the words “as I hear.” When you know you have heard from God, you have confidence to handle whatever life throws at you, and to take on any assignment He gives you. Christ’s first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana. In it you will find a statement that’s crucial to experiencing God’s miraculous power in your life: “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5 NKJV). That means you must be willing to obey God when what He tells you to do doesn’t seem rational, and when it’s not popular, and when it’s inconvenient, and when it’s costly, and when it requires you to walk an unfamiliar pathway.
And you will only reach this level of obedience when you’re committed to a life of intimacy with God and dependency on God. And here is something you need to know: Intimacy, dependency, and obedience are not cultivated by you trying to love God more, but on having a revelation of God’s amazing, undeserved, unfailing love for you: “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:9-10 NLT). So, pray for a revelation of God’s great love for you.
Soul food: Gen 37-39; Luke 10:1-12; Ps 5; Prov 5:1-2
