2025-02-13
Johannes 5:19 NLV
Die tweede bousteen wat Jesus se verhouding met sy Vader definieer is die volgende: afhanklikheid. Corrie ten Boom het altyd gesê: ‘Ek is net die handskoen, Jesus is die hand wat dit vul en daardeur werk.’ Dis ‘n beeld van Christus se verhouding met sy hemelse Vader en ‘n bloudruk van die tipe verhouding wat jy met God kan hê. Jy sal twee baie belangrike dinge in die Bybel oor Jesus opmerk:
1) Hy het nooit ‘n vrees vir mislukking gehad, soos ons so dikwels het nie. Hoekom nie? Omdat Hy gereeld gebid en leiding by sy Vader gekry het. Hy het nooit getwyfel nie, omdat Hy geweet het dat Hy volgens die Vader se Woord en volgens sy wil optree. Totdat jy van God gehoor het, is jy ‘n vraagteken. Wanneer jy egter van God gehoor het, is jy ‘n uitroepteken.
2) Jesus het geweet dat Hy nie enigiets van belang sonder sy Vader se leiding en krag kon bereik nie, dus het Hy nooit probeer om dit te doen nie. Ons sê egter dat ons God vertrou, maar tree dan op asof alles net van onsself afhang. Die resultaat? Ons val plat op ons gesigte en hou aan wonder hoekom dit gebeur.
Elke aksie van God in jou lewe is bedoel om jou afhanklikheid aan Hom te laat toeneem, nie te laat afneem nie. Iemand het een keer gesê: ‘Jy sal nooit weet dat Christus al is wat jy nodig het, totdat Christus al is wat jy oor het nie.’ Om jou by ‘n plek van totale afhanklikheid aan Hom te bring, sal God toelaat dat jou ego vermorsel en jou selfgenoegsaamheid weggestroop word. Op daardie punt maak jy ‘n lewensveranderende ontdekking: Wanneer jy niks anders behalwe God oor het nie – God is genoeg!
Sielskos: Gen 35-36; Luk 9:57-62; Ps 149; Spr 4:25-27
John 5:19 NIV
The second thing that defines Jesus’ relationship with His Father is this: dependency. Corrie ten Boom used to say, “I am just the glove, Jesus is the hand that fills it and works through it.” That’s a picture of Christ’s relationship with His heavenly Father, and it’s a blueprint for the kind of relationship you can have with God. In the Bible you will notice two all-important things about Jesus:
(1) He never seemed to suffer from the fear of failing, like we so often do. Why? Because He prayed regularly and got direction from His Father. Knowing He was acting on the Father’s word and operating in the Father’s will, He never doubted. Until you have heard from God, you are a question mark. But once you have heard from God, you are an exclamation mark.
(2) Jesus knew He couldn’t accomplish anything of significance without His Father’s direction and power, so He never attempted to. We, on the other hand, say we trust God but act like everything depends on us. And the result? We fall flat on our faces and keep wondering why.
Every action of God in your life is intended to increase, not decrease, your dependence on Him. Someone wisely said, “You’ll never know that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you’ve got.” To bring you to the place of total dependence on Himself, God will allow your ego to be crushed and your self-sufficiency to be stripped away. At that point you make a life-changing discovery: When you have nothing left but God – God is enough!
Soul food: Gen 35-36; Luke 9:57-62; Ps 149; Prov 4:25-27
2025-02-12
John 5:20 NIV
These three things define the relationship Jesus had with His Father, and they are a blueprint for the kind of relationship you need to build with God: intimacy, dependency, obedience. First: Let’s look at intimacy. Jesus said, “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” You only reveal yourself, including your innermost thoughts and secrets, to someone with whom you are intimate. And when you become intimate with God, He will share with you things that others are not privy to.
David’s greatest passion was to know God intimately. In Psalm 25:4 he writes: “Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths” (NIV). Then he follows up by saying, “The Lord confides in those who fear [honour] him” (v. 14 NIV). Having an intimate relationship with God involves three things:
(a) Desire. The truth is that you are as close to God right now as you desire to be; otherwise, you would rearrange your priorities to make it happen.
(b) Discipline. This calls for spending time alone with God in prayer and Bible reading each day. When you pray, you’re talking to God. When you read the Bible, God is talking to you.
(c) Delight. “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4 NKJV). Something wonderful happens when you “delight yourself in the Lord.” His desires become “the desires of your heart,” so He can trust you with them.
Do you want a more intimate relationship with the Lord? If you are willing to pursue it, you can have it.
Soul food: Gen 32-34; Luke 9:46-56; Ps 145:14-21; Prov 4:23-24
Johannes 5:20 NLV
Hierdie drie dinge definieer die verhouding wat Jesus met sy Vader gehad het en is die bloudruk vir die tipe verhouding wat jy met God moet bou: intimiteit, afhanklikheid en gehoorsaamheid.Kom ons kyk eerste na intimiteit. Jesus het gesê: ‘Die Vader het die Seun lief en wys Hom alles wat Hy self doen…’ Jy openbaar slegs jouself, insluitend jou mees innerlike gedagtes en geheime, aan iemand met wie jy intimiteit deel. Wanneer jy intiem met God word, sal Hy dinge met jou deel wat ander mense nie weet nie.
Dawid se grootste passie was om God intiem te ken. In Psalm 25:4 skryf hy: ‘Here, wys my die weg wat ek moet gaan, leer my u paaie’ (NLV). Dan volg hy dit op deur te sê: ‘Die Here se voorneme is duidelik vir dié wat Hom dien. Aan hulle maak Hy sy Verbond bekend’ (vers 14 NLV). Om ‘n intieme verhouding met God te hê, verg drie dinge:
a) Begeerte. Die waarheid is dat jy tans so naby aan God is as wat jy begeer om te wees; anders sal jy jou prioriteite herrangskik om dit te laat gebeur.
b) Dissipline. Dit beteken dat jy elke dag alleen tyd saam met God in gebed en Bybelstudie moet bestee. Wanneer jy bid, praat jy met God. Wanneer jy die Bybel lees, praat God met jou.
c) Verblyding. ‘Wees bly in die Here, en Hy sal jou hartsbegeertes aan jou gee’ (Psalm 37:4 NLV). Iets wonderliks gebeur wanneer jy jouself in die Here verbly. Sy begeertes word jou hartsbegeertes, dus kan Hy jou daarmee vertrou.
Wil jy ‘n meer intieme verhouding met die Here hê? As jy gewillig is om dit na te streef, kan jy dit hê.
Sielskos: Gen 32-34; Luk 9:46-56; Ps 145:14-21; Spr 4:23-24
2025-02-11
Luke 7:47 NLT
The Bible says: “One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him… When a certain immoral woman… heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. When the Pharisee… saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!'” (vv. 36-39 NLT).
Then Jesus answered his thoughts. What did Jesus tell this Pharisee? The same thing that He is saying to you today: It’s your past that qualifies you to worship God. “I tell you, her sins – and they are many – have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love” (v. 47 NLT). The depths of sin from which she had been lifted caused her to rise to heights in worship that this Pharisee couldn’t understand.
If there is a worship leader in Scripture, it’s David. Looking back, he writes: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He… heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth – praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord” (Psalm 40:1-3 NKJV). So, the word for you today is – your past qualifies you as a worshiper!
Soul food: Gen 30:25-31:55; Luke 9:37-45; Ps 145:1-13; Prov 4:20-22
