Friday, May 30, 2008
Free to express
Chapels are my favourite part of the day at Bible College. I love to worship our Lord and just the idea that there are over 40 nations resembled in worship is so powerful. A while ago we were signing 'Here I am, send me' and passion took over and all I could think was: 'Lord, yeah..that is my desire to be send out Lord, use me to make Your Kingdom known to a lost world. That is my dream, my future, my hope..'.
But I also know that it is so easy to loose your passion and dreams, to step out of the calling that God placed on your life..sometimes even without noticing it.. So I said to God: 'You can see my passion, my heart at this very moment..You know my desire to serve you and to be sent into this world. I never wanna loose even a single bit of this passion Lord! Take away my free will to step out of the calling or to forget the calling that You have placed upon my life.
Sometimes I will ask God questions, even if I already know the answer.. Just to get a deeper understanding of His ways, a greater revelation of His love or a clearer view on His plans. God just tell me 'why' again.. And God answered: 'You know that I won't take away my biggest gift to you, your free will! I want to call you out every day and send you every day again. Just to show you that I have chosen you, because you are so special to me, because I love you so much. And I want you to make the choice to be sent out, every day again. The choice to follow me and to serve me..just to show me that you love me too.
I choose you every day, because that gives you the opportunity to choose me every day..
He gives us a free will so that we are able to express our love for Him!!
But I also know that it is so easy to loose your passion and dreams, to step out of the calling that God placed on your life..sometimes even without noticing it.. So I said to God: 'You can see my passion, my heart at this very moment..You know my desire to serve you and to be sent into this world. I never wanna loose even a single bit of this passion Lord! Take away my free will to step out of the calling or to forget the calling that You have placed upon my life.
Sometimes I will ask God questions, even if I already know the answer.. Just to get a deeper understanding of His ways, a greater revelation of His love or a clearer view on His plans. God just tell me 'why' again.. And God answered: 'You know that I won't take away my biggest gift to you, your free will! I want to call you out every day and send you every day again. Just to show you that I have chosen you, because you are so special to me, because I love you so much. And I want you to make the choice to be sent out, every day again. The choice to follow me and to serve me..just to show me that you love me too.
I choose you every day, because that gives you the opportunity to choose me every day..
He gives us a free will so that we are able to express our love for Him!!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Faith will reveal beauty
So I was thinking about faith..
I remember a beautiful summer day, my brother and I were playing with my fathers camera. Back in those days every camera had a film, after 24 or 36 photos you took the film out and brought it to a shop, 5 days later you could pick up your photos from the store.
My father had put in a new film for us, so we could take some nice shots ourselves. Everything went well and I am sure we took some really good pictures that day. But after a while my brother got curious and he wanted to check if the photos were really captured on the film, so without asking he opened the camera at the back and got the film out... He couldn't see any of the pictures we had taken and he was so disappointed.
When my father found out that my brother had taken the film out of the camera to check the pictures, he started to explain why you can't take the film out. The whole film was ruined, because of the light and we had to start all over again.
This story explains how faith works.. How often do we want to check the film of our life, just to make sure that everything goes the way we want it to go. But I can tell you...if you check your film you won't see anything of the beauty you tried to capture. You will ruin the film together with all those moments. You have to be patient and use all the pictures of your film before you can get them developed. It takes a while and sometimes we might get tempted to take random shots to get our film full a bit sooner, but they won't become the pictures you had so hoped for. To get 36 perfect pictures takes time and a little effort, but it is so worth while waiting for.
Faith is the belief in things unseen. To believe that the beauty is captured and knowing that it will be revealed one day.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. (Eccl. 3.11)
Sometimes we are praying for so long and nothing seems to happen, but God has been taking pictures of your journey, every single significant moment is captured in His mind. When your film is full and it’s Gods time to reveal the beauty He saw, you will get to see it too!
I remember a beautiful summer day, my brother and I were playing with my fathers camera. Back in those days every camera had a film, after 24 or 36 photos you took the film out and brought it to a shop, 5 days later you could pick up your photos from the store.
My father had put in a new film for us, so we could take some nice shots ourselves. Everything went well and I am sure we took some really good pictures that day. But after a while my brother got curious and he wanted to check if the photos were really captured on the film, so without asking he opened the camera at the back and got the film out... He couldn't see any of the pictures we had taken and he was so disappointed.
When my father found out that my brother had taken the film out of the camera to check the pictures, he started to explain why you can't take the film out. The whole film was ruined, because of the light and we had to start all over again.
This story explains how faith works.. How often do we want to check the film of our life, just to make sure that everything goes the way we want it to go. But I can tell you...if you check your film you won't see anything of the beauty you tried to capture. You will ruin the film together with all those moments. You have to be patient and use all the pictures of your film before you can get them developed. It takes a while and sometimes we might get tempted to take random shots to get our film full a bit sooner, but they won't become the pictures you had so hoped for. To get 36 perfect pictures takes time and a little effort, but it is so worth while waiting for.
Faith is the belief in things unseen. To believe that the beauty is captured and knowing that it will be revealed one day.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. (Eccl. 3.11)
Sometimes we are praying for so long and nothing seems to happen, but God has been taking pictures of your journey, every single significant moment is captured in His mind. When your film is full and it’s Gods time to reveal the beauty He saw, you will get to see it too!
Friday, May 9, 2008
God says: kill it all...
My title today might be a bit extreme, but don't stop reading...I think this is the most important lesson I ever learned. Yesterday in college we had Reggie Dabbs speaking to us. His message was about how Saul, the first king of Israel, died. In 1 Sam. 31. 4-6 we can read:
Saul told his armor bearer, "Draw your sword! Stab me, or these godless men will come, stab me, and make fun of me." But his armor bearer refused because he was terrified. So Saul took the sword and fell on it. When the armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him. So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that day.
Saul, the first king Israel ever had, died this way. How is that possible? A great king, anointed by God... The answer is found in 1 Sam. 15. Samuel anoints Saul king over God's people. And tells him:
"The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."
But Saul didn't listen to God.
Verse 9: But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good (pleasing to their eye), and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
I'm a student in a Leadership Bible College. I know the calling that God placed on my life, He calls me to lead...to be the head and not the tail, to be the light in a dark world. And the lesson that I learned out of this message is that God wants me to die to myself. COMPLETELY!
IF YOU DON'T KILL YOUR FLESH NOW...IT WILL KILL YOU!!
Why this is the most important lesson I ever learned? When Saul died, he wasn't the only one who died that day. Together with him, his best friend died, his sons died and all his men died. If I don't crucify myself with Christ completely, it's not only I who will die...but also all those people that God will place on my path. All those people that needed to hear about God.
My prayer today is that God will give me a vision of all those people... So that I know it is not about me, but about all those and that I can't give up, ever!
Saul told his armor bearer, "Draw your sword! Stab me, or these godless men will come, stab me, and make fun of me." But his armor bearer refused because he was terrified. So Saul took the sword and fell on it. When the armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him. So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that day.
Saul, the first king Israel ever had, died this way. How is that possible? A great king, anointed by God... The answer is found in 1 Sam. 15. Samuel anoints Saul king over God's people. And tells him:
"The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."
But Saul didn't listen to God.
Verse 9: But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good (pleasing to their eye), and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
I'm a student in a Leadership Bible College. I know the calling that God placed on my life, He calls me to lead...to be the head and not the tail, to be the light in a dark world. And the lesson that I learned out of this message is that God wants me to die to myself. COMPLETELY!
IF YOU DON'T KILL YOUR FLESH NOW...IT WILL KILL YOU!!
Why this is the most important lesson I ever learned? When Saul died, he wasn't the only one who died that day. Together with him, his best friend died, his sons died and all his men died. If I don't crucify myself with Christ completely, it's not only I who will die...but also all those people that God will place on my path. All those people that needed to hear about God.
My prayer today is that God will give me a vision of all those people... So that I know it is not about me, but about all those and that I can't give up, ever!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
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