Tag Archive - challenge

Sarcasm

July 23, 2009 in Challenges with 2 Comments

1 Peter 3:9

That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless-that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.

eye-cryingHow many of you, like me, use sarcasm as humour? For a very long time it just flowed out of me, without even thinking of it. I would be able to make a sarcastic remark to almost anything somebody would say to me.

In the process, I have hurt a lot of people along the way. Girls in our class, at school, would want to have nothing to do with me, due to my sarcasm, but I didn’t feel worried about it. That is up to the day I got married, and my wife asked me why I feel the need to be so sarcastic.

Anyhow, through the last 5 years I have learned to tone down the sarcasm, but it still lingers. That is until I read this passage this morning. God just has such a great sense of humour to place these challenges on me on a  daily basis.

I want to challenge each and every one of you to, when you feel the urge to say something sarcastic, to rather bless that person, and give them a smile.

The other side

July 20, 2009 in Challenges with 1 Comment

otherside

I got this email message from a friend this morning, which he related from the sermon at our church yesterday morning, and this really got me going at laying challenges out there. Danie, this mail had me awake from 4am till 5am, praying, and just conversing with God, saying thank you for placing these challenges in my heart.

The jist of the matter is this. It is sometimes so easy to reach out to the ‘other’ side, being the poor, or the hungry people in Africa etc. and in the end we almost always overlook the people that are in need right in our community. Especially in the current economic state in the world there are more and more people that are in need. People are losing their jobs, and a lot of the times the repercussions are that these same people loose their families as well, since the stress gets too much.

Last week at Worship Band practice we were witness to God working His miracles through us common people. Miraculously we were able to save a man from committing suicide, and hopefully we were able to bring him back to God, as well as his family.

Now, how can we reach out to our neighbours and friends, that really are in need these days. I really feel we need to start and reach out to our neighbours and just start by showing an interest in them and asking whether all is good, and what you can do for them to help them, in any way.

It is all good to help the people on the ‘other’ side, but we must NEVER forget about the people on ‘this’ side as well.

Total Surrender

July 10, 2009 in Challenges with 1 Comment

2 Chronicles 7:14

“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

White_FlagWhat does Total Surrender mean?

For me, it is letting everything go. What do I mean by everything? Exactly that! Not holding on to any human and earthly things, because we have this disjointed feeling that it is important.

In Christ, we are set free from Satan and earthly things. By God’s grace we have been forgiven for all our sins (past, present and future). We have been let go from the law, in that the only way we get into heaven is by His GRACE!

My challenge is, how do we let go of everything, and surrender in totality to God? Let Him decide what we are going to do, and how we are going to do it. Let Him tell us how to behave in a certain situation. Let Him…

I think you get the idea!

Let us all pray today, that He will take over in our live, and remove all earthly desires from our hearts, and help us to really get that communication line we have with Him to be clear. So we can listen to what He has to say to us, and react to that.

Amen

Risks

July 1, 2009 in Challenges with 11 Comments

This morning, during my Bible study, I came upon the following verse, which just again confirmed this calling for me, as to be Unsafe.

Luke 19:24-26 (The Message)

24“Then he said to those standing there, ‘Take the money from him and give it to the servant who doubled my stake.’

25“They said, ‘But Master, he already has double . . .’

26“He said, ‘That’s what I mean: Risk your life and get more than you ever dreamed of. Play it safe and end up holding the bag.

For those that want to join me in this challenge of being unsafe in your faith, step up now, and let us form a community to support each other, as well as to challenge each other.

It is no good that we sit in our comfy lives, praying and reading the Bible, but not actually stepping out into the world and following God’s call to his people, and that is to speak the Gospel, and win souls for the Kingdom of God. I would urge each and every one of you to get a hold of a copy of the book, Life on the Line. This book will show to you what can be done, if you step out in faith, and take up the challenge of being Unsafe.

why unsafe?

June 10, 2009 in Challenges with 3 Comments

ok, so after tonight ‘home church’, or better knows as cell (I personally prefer home church), I realised what this whole unsafe challenge is.

we as Christians have become so safe in our environment, in that we tend to only put our faith out there when we are between fellow believers, like at church on sundays, etc.

the challenge put before us by God, is to put it out there, ALL THE TIME!!!!! think about this…

this means, at school, work, home, sports fields. EVERYTHING.

I also know this sounds like the old cliche we are told over and over, but are we REALLY doing it?

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