Archive - September, 2009

On being content

September 14, 2009 in Challenges with 0 Comments

contentment

Philippians 4:10-14 (The Message)

I’m glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you’re again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don’t mean that your help didn’t mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles.

This morning, reading my Bible, I read this passage from Paul to the church of Philippians.

How I long to get to that place of contentment. To really be able to be happy in whatever circumstances. The scary thing is, that Paul means this in everything. even while he was being flogged for preaching the Gospel.

All I can pray today is for the Lord to open my eyes to Him, so that I will also be able to be happy in Him, through any circumstance that may arise in my life. So that I will have my eyes fixed on Him as I walk this journey called life, and once I get to the finish line, that I will be able to run into my fathers arms, and say thank you for everything, and not want to ask questions of why.

I also pray this on each and every one of you guys.

Update on Community

September 10, 2009 in Challenges with 0 Comments

This morning, while reading my Bible I got this piece of scripture that really ties in nicely with my post on Community from last night.

I really don’t think I need to say anything more on the subject that what Philippians 2:1-4 (The Message) says about it.

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Community

September 9, 2009 in Challenges with 0 Comments

community

Acts 2:43-47 (The Message)

Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.

They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.

This evening at home church, we discussed these verses, and how it would apply to us as the modern church. I really feel that with the world around us as well as all the technology that we use to communicate these days, we are really missing the essence of these verses.

Even though this section can almost be misconstrued as the basis for communism, which it obviously is not, these early Christians really went out of their way to accommodate each other, by selling all their possessions and sharing everything equally. In the world today, we are so indoctrinated to focus on ourselves, and what material things we can accumulate for ourselves, that we are missing each other.

One shock I had tonight was the fact that for 2 of the 5 families present at the house church, I only know what is going on in 2 other families’ lives, other than myself, obviously.

This was quite a shock for me, as we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and yet we manage to live on a ‘howdy’ basis. By this I mean that we will ask each other how they are doing, not really being interressted in the answer, and the other person knowing this, will say things are OK.

I believe we need to go and sit down with ourselves and God, and get rid of this mentality of saying ‘howdy’ and really get back to caring. We need to get the love for other people, and not just some, all people, that Jesus had for us. He gave His life for us on the cross, even though we definitely didn’t deserve it.

Start with the people around you, and start to really care. Don’t just say ‘howdy’ but really take time to find out what the person sitting next to you at work have going on in his/her life.

They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.

Philippians

September 9, 2009 in Challenges with 13 Comments

This morning, as I started my new way of spending time with the Lord by prayer jogging, after reading the Bible, I read Philippians 1, and the verses that stood out for me was verse 27-28

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel

without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved–and that by God.
This just got me back to the point where I realised, yes God has a major plan for my life, and He is not sitting back and not doing anything, but in the mean time, I must do whatever I do, in order to glorify Him as well as the Gospel.
This gave me strength for the day, and today I am expecting great things from Him, while being content with what I have and with what I am able to do.

Prayer jogging

September 8, 2009 in Challenges with 26 Comments

Ok, so from tomorrow morning onwards, I am going to start a new routine in trying to get closer to God and to really make time in my day to just connect with Him.

This is an idea I got from JR Briggs, even though I know that it is a commonly done routine, known as Prayer Walking.

Now, I need to get myself back into shame, and quickly by that, and time is a bit of a problem for me, so from tomorrow morning at 4:00am, I am going to get up, do a quick bit of Bible study, and then I am going to go prayer jogging. At this point in time, my focus while doing this is going to be what I need to do with regards to my job and everything, and I really believe God is going to speak to me in very interesting ways while doing my Prayer Jogging.

Later on, I also want to start to pray for my community that I live in, and really bring God back to the people around us.

If there is any of you in the Centurion, South Africa area that would like to join me in this challenge, feel free to contact me, and we can arrange something to make this work.

The Plunge

September 7, 2009 in Challenges with 0 Comments

So, this evening, after we had a discussion meeting in starting the planning around how we as Doxa Deo Midstream Campus, are going to take the year of 2010 head on, I just had the conviction from God to speak out about the challenges and convictions He placed on my heart the last couple of months.

Luckily, our campus pastor wanted to discuss something else with me as well, and the floor was set for me to take up the conversation in transforming what we as a church in South Africa use the internet for.

He, as I thought, is not the right person to talk to when it gets to details, but I knew he would be able to get me into contact with the correct people within the church’s management structures. But, what was great for me was that he seemed very keen on the idea that we need to look at the internet as a tool in the church more, and not just see it as a informational website.

I am so excited about this, and I truly believe God gave me the time tonight to take this matter further, as I have been praying for this for so long.

Now, I need to get all my ducks in a row, and get everything on paper, with pictures and everything, and then I can go and present my vision to the church leaders, and hopefully take things further from there.

Patience

September 7, 2009 in Challenges with 0 Comments

Impatience

After being tested in many ways over the past weekend on my patience, which is something I am still trying to overcome in the Lord, I found this piece of scripture this morning.

Proverbs 16:32

Better a patient man than a warrior,
a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.

I know I am destined to reign, in more ways than just being a ruler, but to reign in life through the Grace that Jesus came and give us by dying on the cross for our sins, but patience is currently the one thing that is pushing me. It is making me feel that to attain the life I am meant to live in Christ, is somehow unattainable.

Getting into bed last night, I realised that I failed that day, BIG TIME, by loosing my temper more than once, and many time on petty things.

This is my challenge in life, and something that I need to place at the feet of God, and let Him sort it out for me, as it is something that I can not do by myself.

Dear Lord

Please forgive me my sins. Please take this burden on my soul, called impatience, and remove it from my soul. Cleanse me from the inside, and take control of me. Guide me and take me to the places where You want to use me.

I love You, and praise You for all that you do for me.

Amen

Blessing

September 4, 2009 in Challenges with 9 Comments

Got this in my inbox today from a dear friend, Danie Nell. Thank you for this Danie

“Your son is here,” she said to the old man.

She had to repeat the words several times before the patient’s eyes opened.

He was s heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man’s limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man’s hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.
He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital – the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.

“Who was that man?” he asked.
The nurse was startled, “He was your father,” she answered.
“No, he wasn’t,” the Marine replied. “I never saw him before in my life.”

“Then why didn’t you say something when I took you to him?”

“I knew right away there had been a mistake,
but I also knew he needed his son, and his
son just wasn’t here.
When I realized that he was too sick to tell
whether or not I was his son,
knowing how much he needed me, I stayed.”

The next time someone needs you… just be there. Stay.

WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS GOING THROUGH A
TEMPORARY SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE.

WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS GOING THROUGH A TEMPORARY
HUMAN EXPERIENCE.
 (love this line)

THIS IS WHAT WE ARE PUT ON THIS EARTH TO DO ANYWAY. RIGHT ?
HAVE A GREAT DAY AND BLESS SOMEONE ELSE IN SOME LITTLE WAY TODAY!
GOD IS SO GOOD

The BIG question

September 4, 2009 in Challenges with 0 Comments

puzzle_rs

This will somehow tie in with my previous post of where you want to be in 5 years time…

After havng had that very confusing question asked of me, and actually sitting down and really thinking about it, I have come to the conclusion that the path I have walked in the last 10 years as far as career goes, was not for nothing. And why can’t I use the skills that I have developed over the years to further the Kingdom using that.

Now, South Africa is far behind the rest of the word as far as technology goes. Yes we have internet, and everything else, but we don’t have the bandwidth that first world countries have, and we don’t have the online community thing as a culture yet. Facebook has become big in South Africa, but the rest of online community has not really started to catch on really.

south African churches also have not yet caught on to really using the internet to further their ministries. Websites have become informational tools only, and I see a future of furthering the online community thing for the South African church, as a whole.

So, what I want to ask of you is, what kind of things would a church web space need to have to really make you sit up and look/listen. This is, at this stage, stopping short of a Church Online. I would love to hear from you on this, as the more I pray about this and sit and think about it as well, the more excited I am getting about it.

5 years from now

September 2, 2009 in Challenges with 18 Comments

light_at_the_end_of_the_tunnel_l

OK, so yesterday I have received the biggest challenge for my life in n long time.

I had a job interview for another IT company, doing pretty much what I am doing currently. The reason for looking at this job is mainly to be closer to home, except for the fact that the project that they want to employ me for, will be at the client site, which is further from home than I am currently at. PROBLEM

But, this is not the actual challenge, as that is pretty much an easy one. During the interview, the interviewer asked me basically one question, and he really wanted to get into it, which I will be grateful to him forever, as it opened my eyes a bit.

This question was, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?”

Easy one? Usually yes, but not this time.

See, the fact is, I have been moving jobs pretty much each year for the last 5 years, and I have been telling myself each and every time, that it is for career growth. This was true, as with every move I would get a little bit more money. The fact of the matter is though, that I struggle to find happiness in what I am doing on a daily basis.

Up until earlier this year, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life, and was happy riding the corporate wave until I find what I am looking for, but it has become clear to me that I do not want to be in the corporate world.

I want to be in ministry!

But, I unfortunately don’t have the faith yet to leave my job and step out in faith, but I wish I had it though.

I am now, on a mission to be able to right my 5 year vision on a piece of paper, or even on this blog, but to have it in writing, and then I am going to do everything in my power to align whatever I do, to get to that goal. I have seen a bit of light at the end of the tunnel today though, but to get there, I will have to get a couple of key role players to buy into this idea I have, and then for them to put their faith in me, to make it work for me and them, and for the growth of the Kingdom of our Lord.

So, my request to you guys are, to please carry me in your prayers on this matter, as I am at the end of my tether with regard to my day job, and can think of only one thing, all day.

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