Yes, it is all on from next week (for 18 weeks). I am going to learn more about computing. I went today to the learning centre and even met up with the tutor . That was really good! He is from Africa.

Deuteronomy 1:34-36

Deuteronomy 1:36

“except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.”

Before Christmas I picked up a very interesting  brochure put out by a jeweller. Very interesting indeed. On the first page it says:  “Make Christmas unforgettable.” On the second page is written at the top: “There is still time to make Christmas special.” Page three has the following headline,” Give her a new look.”

Christmas is all about gifts.

But most people are forgetting the greatest gift, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I still remember the first Christmas the Lord Jesus Christ made unforgettable for me. It was Christmas 1958! That’s when I came out of darkness into light. It was in the month of September 1958. And that Christmas was really special. For the first time in my life I knew, what Christmas was all about. And I am sure I had a new look on my face. Before I knew the Lord I surely did not have any joy. I was really miserable. And even more. I did not only have a new look on my face, I had even a new outlook on the life before me. All of a sudden I had a HOPE. Of course, I did not know very much at that time about spiritual things. But I was willing to learn, and I think I was learning fast.

It is good to get gifts – but you cannot compare them with the greatest GIFT!

You probably ask:  Have you forgotten, that it is still a long time until Christmas? No, I have not forgotten.  But I believe Christmas 1958 was so special for me, because my mother prayed for me.

And here is now a challenge:

Am I willing, to pray for a particular person,  a person the Lord is laying on my heart, that Christmas 2009 will be unforgettable for that person, that Christmas 2009 will be special for that person and that that person will  get a new look on his /her face and a NEW OUTLOOK ON LIFE?

He never expected to have a vision.

Visions did not interest him especially. But there it was, all of a sudden!

A fairly large room with a number of people here and there. He looked around and they looked to him like a skeleton. They all together seemed to make up a big skeleton. Or were they as individuals skeletons as well? They were  actually!

Unfortunately the room he saw in his vision was not confined to any particlar part of the world. Rooms like this with skeletons can be found all over the world.

Those skeletons were coming to be fed. But there was no food for them

Do you also see the skeleton and the skeletons?

You will find them in many of the churches today!

An ecologist from England has walked 43 894 km through 39 countries to encourage people to plant trees to save the earth.

A Honda advertisement says this:

“The Honda TreeFund funds the planting of 10 native trees for every new car sold.”

For some people it seems to be  very important, to spread the environmental message worldwide. I wonder why?  Only today I read in the Bible Isaiah 24:19.  Read also Isaiah 24:18-20.

For me the message to save souls (make disciples) is of uttermost importance! Why? Matthew 28:16-20

BUT CAN WE NOT LEARN FROM THE COMMITMENT OF THOSE ECOLOGISTS?

How must the preacher preach the GOSPEL, to reach the hearts of the hearers? That question has been on my mind for a long time.

This morning I read again a devotional book by C.H. Spurgeon, and I am really meditating on what he writes. He is talking about the PREACHER and the HEARER.

The Preacher:

1.  Which subject is seed for the sower?

2. What is the live coal for the lip of the speaker?

The Hearer:

1.  Which subject is bread for the eater?

2. What is the master key to the heart of the hearer?

The answer:

Oh, to speak of  Christ alone. (“Christ and Him Crucified”)

Morning and Evening, March 2 (Evening)

“Oh! to speak of Christ alone, this is the subject which is both ‘seed for the sower and bread for the eater.’ This is the live coal for the lip of the speaker, and the master key to the heart of the hearer.”

The message stared at me when I looked through the big window of the restaurant I was sitting in. “I WALK ALONE” was of course written on  a T – shirt. The wearer explained the origin of  “I walk alone” to me – but that is another story.

“I walk alone”. I am glad, that I am not walking alone. I belong to all those who know the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Saviour and are walking with him. A number of hymns which are talking about our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ are coming to mind.

One of the hymns is by William Cowper and is called, “O for a closer walk with God.” Here is the first verse:

“O for a closer walk with God, a calm and heav’nly frame,

a light to shine upon the road that leads me to the lamb!

Originally this hymn text was titled “Walking with God,” based on Genesis 5:24:  “ENOCH walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. “Noah also walked with God. Genesis 6:9  “This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.”

TODAY there are many people walking with God!

Psalm 23 is well known. Verse four talks about the darkest valley. The darkest valley is the valley of death. Can YOU say with David: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4

PS:  Walking with the Lord is mentioned in the first line of many more hymns. I found some more in the REDEMPTION HYMNAL.