Sometimes I wonder why God still wants to have anything to do with me. Really. I feel I simply don’t make it. I pull in the wrong direction too often. I often fail the keep calm test. I’m more lukewarm than hot. I often do wat I know I shouldn’t do. Then I wonder why […]
Read moreNataniël has a way of putting things. He said this about gratitude: “Get a dog and call him ‘Thank you’. Every time you call him will remind you how grateful you need to be for everything you have and everything you receive undeservedly, by grace.” 8 … if we have bread on the table and […]
Read moreGod’s idea is that we should walk through life filled with joy. We shouldn’t walk around with long faces. That is not how God meant it to be. But we struggle. We struggle to find our joy in all the hardship. We struggle to make Paul’s command part of our lives: 16Be cheerful no matter […]
Read moreWe are emotional beings. God made us that way. That is why we are so easily influenced emotionally by our circumstances. It is difficult for me to be joyful when someone close to me is in pain. I can’t laugh when I know my friend is hurting. I feel depressed when my cash flow looks […]
Read morePhilippians 4:1-9 My daughter read her composition to me. I was astounded by her wisdom and realized that she had already experienced the hard side of life too. Life out there is not easy: The longest journey that we as humans will have to face on earth is our life journey. Life is a journey […]
Read morePhilippians 4:1-9 There’s a hymn, Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, and the chorus goes like this: Rejoice! rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord and rejoice, Rejoice! rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord and rejoice. The Message translation of the Bible puts it like this: 4 Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in […]
Read morePhilippians 3:1-3 1And that’s about it, friends. Be glad in God! A friend complained to me about things going wrong: 20% of his labour force simply not pitching up for work; an expensive machine that worked for 15 minutes before a pump broke down; three clients phoning up very upset about having to wait for […]
Read morePhilippians 2:12-17 When and why do you find real joy? Often in my life I find my joy going up and down. If the holiday time is fast approaching, or even just the weekend, I feel good, but as soon as it starts coming to an end, I don’t feel that good anymore. As if […]
Read moreIn order to understand this part we have to keep in mind that the Jews of old did not believe that all people were sinners. They believed that only those people who did live strictly according to the law were sinners. Paul wanted to explain to them that no one is acquitted on the basis […]
Read moreFor many people the gospel is simply too simple. They want to know what the catch is. Many of us get calls from people promising you the moon and stars, just to be told at the end of the conversation that you first need to pay a lot of money. It sounds so good, but […]
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