Message in the Making

THE CROSS

THE CROSS

“‘AS FOR YOU,

First Kings 9:4-7

I.  if you

a.  walk before me

aa.  in integrity of heart and

bb. uprightness, as David your father did, and

b.  do all I command and

c.  observe my

aa.  decrees and

bb.  laws,

End:

I will establish …'”

II.  “‘But if you or your sons

a.  turn away from me and

b.  do not observe the

aa.  commands and

bb. decrees I have given you and

c.  go off

aa.  to serve other gods and

bb. worship them,

End:

then I will cut off Israel from the land …'”

I CALL IT A MIRACLE

werner-150x150-e1367980712224“You can do it!” it says at the top on one of the last pages of the Slimline Edition Holy Bible I received for my last birthday. (New Living Translation)

Reading that reminds me of the time when I was not able to do it.

Underneath “You can do it!” is a picture of The One Year Bible. (NLT) It says there also “The entire New Living Translation arranged in 365 daily readings.” On one of the first pages of the Slimline Edition Holy Bible I find also a One Year Bible Reading Plan.

What do I mean by “that reminds me of the time when I was not able to do it?”

I could say quite a bit about that time, but here is the summary: I was not able to read the Bible  systematically, from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation. We read books from the beginning to the end, don’t we?

But I am also reminded of the time when I learned to read the Bible from cover to cover, every word, and there was one year when I read the Bible twice from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation, every word.

In his book HUNGRY FOR GOD Ralf Martin writes in the last chapter of his book about carrying things out in our own strength and depending on the power of God to carry things out.

I don’t know if I stopped reading the Bible systematically in my own strength and started depending on the power of God; but I know that a miracle happened in my reading of the Bible. It can also happen in your life, if it has not happened already. Praise the Lord!

RELATIONSHIPS

AT THE BEACH

AT THE BEACH

We cannot get away from “right relationships.”

I am finding that again in the magazine called PRESS, NZ Edition, No 1. 2016.

It says there that the best intentions to do the best job are not enough. We need also the right people and the right relationships to get the job done. Without the right relationships and people I am told “you won’t get there”. That relationships are huge is really emphasized.

For me relationships are also very important. One relationship is of uttermost importance and that is our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Without the right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ we won’t get to heaven.

The Eye and the Heart

THE EYE

THE EYE

“Certain things catch your eye. But pursue only those that capture your heart.”

Walking along Commerce Street in KAITAIA today, I saw that advice on a street sign in front of a shop.

In my teens the Lord Jesus Christ captured my heart and since then the things of the Lord captured my heart.

What are now the things of the Lord?

At the end of the Gospel of Matthew the Lord Jesus Christ says:

THE HEART

THE HEART

“‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them …'”  (Matthew 28:16-20)

Let us also read Acts 1:8:

“‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'”

“The eye never has enough of seeing, or the ear its fill of hearing,” the Bible says in  Ecclesiastes 1:8.