Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Psalm 51:10-12 (NIV)
Lust, adultery, a planned hit, the victim killed, the mastermind behind the plot, when taken to task admits his guilt and is so sorry. A typical major media report to turn this Monday morning blue. Only this story will never make banner headlines, even though the guilty party was a famous king. It happened too long ago. You can read the full report in your Bible, 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12. The king concerned was none other than King David, a brilliant and complex man who by the grace of God, became Israel’s greatest king. It was Nathan, the prophet, who confronted David about his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband, Uriah, the Hittite, and what the consequences would be, even though the Lord had forgiven David. David felt so debased and defiled by the sin he had committed against God, that he penned Psalm 51, the finest gem in my personal treasure chest of Psalms. God forgave him but David needed more. So he desperately pleads with God to purge him of all evil. He begs God – wash me, cleanse me, teach me, blot out all my iniquities and then in our text for the day: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalm 51:10-12 David loved and walked with God who had blessed him beyond imagining. Now the evil David had done had greatly angered God. David was distraught, even though he had been forgiven. David needed to be convinced within himself that he was right with God. David was not unique in this aspect. We all make mistakes and stumble, that’s when we need first to turn to our Heavenly Father and say “O, God I am so sorry” even before we redress our wrongdoing. Then we can, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, move forward in faith with peace in our soul. Prayer: Almighty God we love you, yet we let you down time and time again. Forgive us our sins, Father for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 'n Man sit een aand rustig in sy gemakstoel in die sitkamer en koerant lees.
Aandete was verby, die kinders was gebad en in die bed en sy vrou was elders in die huis besig. Die volgende oomblik is daar 'n klop aan die deur en toe hy oopmaak, staan Jesus voor hom. Hy was baie bly om Jesus te sien en nooi hom vriendelik in en vra hom om te sit. Terwyl hulle nog gesels, is daar weer 'n klop aan die deur. Die man maak die deur oop en voor hom staan die Duiwel. Die man sê toe dat hy Jesus as gas het en dat die Duiwel dadelik moet weggaan en met die maak hy die deur toe. Na 'n rukkie is daar weer 'n klop aan die deur. Weer staan die Duiwel voor die deur. Die man vra hom weer om weg te gaan maar die Duiwel probeer met mag die deur oopstoot om in te kom. Na 'n redelike gespook, kry die man dit reg om die deur toe te druk en hy kom sit weer. Skaars het hy gesit of daar is weer 'n geklop en weer is dit die Duiwel. Hierdie keer is hy en die man behoorlik in 'n stoeigeveg betrokke maar uiteindelik slaag die man tog daarin om die Duiwel te oorwin en die deur toe te druk. Gehawend, vol knoppe en skrape en uitasem val hy in sy stoel neer. "Jesus, ek verstaan dit nie. U sien hoe ek sukkel om die Duiwel uit die huis te hou, ek het gebid en gevra dat U my moet kom help en U sit net hier en doen niks!" laat die man verontwaardig hoor. "Maar ek is net 'n gas in jou huis. Dit sal mos nie goeie maniere wees as ek blatant sou inmeng wanneer jy gaste ontvang nie," antwoord Jesus kalm. Die man vertel toe vir Jesus dat hy baie las het van die Duiwel wat net altyd in sy huis wil inkom en dat hy al baie beserings opgedoen het in sy pogings om die Duiwel uit te hou. Dit was dan ook die rede waarom hy so ernstig gebid het dat Jesus tot sy redding moes kom. Hy wou toe by Jesus weet wat hy kan doen om hierdie aanslae permanent af te weer. "Dis baie maklik," antwoord Jesus. "Gee jou huis vir My!" Die man was baie verbaas en ontsteld. "En wat dan van my - en my vrou en my kinders? Waar moet ons dan heengaan?" "Nee, jy verstaan nie mooi nie," antwoord Jesus. "Ek het net gesê jy moet jou huis vir My gee. Ek het nie gesê dat julle moet weggaan nie. Al wat verander is dat Ek nou die nuwe eienaar van die huis word. Jy en jou gesin bly nogsteeds hier en gaan aan met julle lewens soos gewoonlik. Niks behalwe eienaarskap gaan verander nie!" Die man oordink die aanbod 'n rukkie en stem toe in. Met die is daar weer 'n klop aan die deur. Die man wil opstaan maar Jesus keer hom. "Nee, nee, onthou Ek is nou die Eienaar van die huis. Ek sal die deur oopmaak." Jesus maak toe die deur oop en voor Hom staan die Duiwel en 'n klomp van sy demone, gereed om met mag en geweld die huis binne te storm. Toe hulle Jesus sien, deins hulle terug. "Waar is die eienaar van die huis?" wil die Duiwel weet. "Jy praat met die nuwe Eienaar van hierdie huis. Van hierdie oomblik af is nie jy of een van jou demone hier welkom nie. Maak dat julle wegkom! Ek wil julle nooit weer hier sien nie!" Verward en hals-oor-kop is die spul toe daar weg en het nie weer probeer om daardie huis te beset nie! Daarvoor was die nuwe Eienaar net een te veel vir hulle! Hy wat voor God kniel, kan voor enigeen staan Ps 127:1 As die HERE die huis nie bou nie.... T IS TIME TO REJOICE!!!!...... NOW IS THE TIME!!! EVERY MOMENT IS NOW!!! Phil 4:4 Tells us "REJOICE IN THE LORD, AND AGAIN I SAY REJOICE" WHAT POWER!!..... WHAT GLORY!!.......WHAT OVERFLOW!! .... BE READY.... BE EXPECTANT.... THE "GOD OF THE BREAKTHROUGH IS ABOUT TO FLOOD YOUR LIFE WITH HIS FAVOR HIS GOODNESS, HIS LOVE and HIS SUPERABUNDANCE ......LIFT UP YOUR VOICE AND REJOICE.... FOR NOW IS YOUR TIME ..... NOW IS YOUR SEASON!!!!..... HAVE A OVERFLOW DAY REJOICING..........
I want to know Christ and the power that raised him from the dead. I want to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death. Php 3:10
Trace the path of this Savior, the God who swapped heavenly royalty for earthly poverty. His bed became, at best, a borrowed pallet—and usually the hard earth. He was dependent on handouts for his income. He was sometimes so hungry he would eat raw grain or pick fruit off a tree. He knew what it meant to have no home. He was ridiculed. His neighbors tried to lynch him. Some called him a lunatic. His family tried to confine him to their house. His friends weren't always faithful to him. He was accused of a crime he never committed. Witnesses were hired to lie. The jury was rigged. A judge swayed by politics handed down the death penalty. They killed him. And why? Because of the gift that only he could give. The Applause of Heaven (Max Lucado) Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly. If we live with feelings that God disapproves of us we will always have the wrong kind of fear of Him and that will hinder us from enjoying an intimate relationship and rich fellowship with Him. We need to have a reverential fear and awe of God and come boldly to the throne of grace Hebrews4:16 and Ephesians 3:12.
"Come now, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh And God said, I AM THAT I AM: Thus shall thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." Exo 3:10-14
Nothing is more needed to-day than God's Partnership as a realised fact in Christian experience. Many of us may assent to what is written in these lines, and then put it aside, as a dream which is too ethereal to be of practical service. But when the Apostle said that "our fellowship, i.e. our partnership, is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ" it is surely meant that we should enter upon our inheritance. "I AM... “Says our great Partner; "fill in your need, and I will meet your demand, according to the riches of My glory in Christ Jesus." Let us tear out the order-forms from God's service-register, fill them up, and present them for delivery. Not one of them would be dishonoured. And if it happened that we had wrongly diagnosed our need, He would erase the demand based on our imperfect knowledge, and substitute what we would ask if we knew. There is nothing more certain than that the more we ask of God, the more pleased He is to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. Our Lord made use of this incident when He was challenged by the Sadducees to adduce proof of the future life from the Books of Moses. He answered by quoting this paragraph of the burning bush, calling special attention to the fact that Moses referred to God as the "God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob." He said that the use of the present tense---I AM--proved that God is not the God of the dead but of the living, and that all live unto Him. What a comfort there is in this thought, that our beloved who have passed from us are in-breathing the same atmosphere as we are. We all eat the same spiritual meat and all drink the same spiritual drink. We see in a mirror darkly, but they face to face; but this identity of fellowship, of partnership with the "I AM," the ever-present God who fills heaven and earth, is a proof and a pledge that they have not altered essentially. They are drinking of the same stream higher up and nearer its source: "One family we dwell in him." In order to follow Jesus, we must deny ourselves and lose sight of our own interests. Mark 8:34
We must continually and steadfastly cling to Jesus in every aspect of our lives. Mark 9:23 The only way to experience true joy is to allow God to work through you to bless others. |
Ana & Andre Schoonbee God uses us to motivate and encourage the body. Authors
All
Archives
June 2015
|