Helloooo

I have not been active on this blog at all. I want to really start doing this as a matter of routine. It does cristalize your thinking.
We are currently busy in our Precept study with the book of 2 Timothy and Paul is encouraging Timothy and all of us believers to join him in suffering for the gospel. This is not a message I want to hear, everything in me goes NO! Who wants to suffer hardship, who wants to be imprisoned? But when it is for Something on which you can put no price, on Something that will let you live forever in the presence of the most glorious King, then I am challenged to think again.
I see a soldier enlisting for a cause, for a King, for a country, I see him enduring whatever comes his way and fighting with purpose.
I see a marathon athlete who knows the rules competing for the ultimate prize, he has stripped himself of all extra weight, be it physical or mental, he is prepared, well-trained and sets off at a steady pace, regularly taking in the necessary energy bars and liquids. When the going gets tough, when the weather turns and he gets the wind in his face, he still persists, endures, because of the prize.
I see the wheat-farmer, he has prepared the soil, the first rains has fallen, he is sowing the land. Now the waiting game begins, rain is needed, but this is out of his control. His dependence is on God for favourable circumstances. He knows that he has to do what he has to do - day in, day out. A harvest is waiting.
Endurance. Perseverance.
Paul call us all to endure, to suffer hardship for the sake of the gospel. People in the world is desperate for the gospel. What is the gospel? Paul summarises it as that Jesus died for our sins, He rose again and is now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. We will live with Him eternally when we believe in Him. As we live what we believe, as we share the gospel with a dying world, we can know that persecution will come, but Jesus said that He will never leave us or forsake us, and that we need be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world.

Bible Journey

In January 2007 our church, Harvest Christian Church started a Bible Journey. See http://www.biblejourney.harvest.co.za What a wonderful walk we are all having. We are going through the Bible as it happened, ie chronologically acc to F. Lagarde Smith's Daily Bible.
So a quick recap upto now: Our aim or focus in this year's reading is to learn who God is, about how He has revealed Himself to us through His Word. We started ..."In the beginning" where everyone starts, but what an awesome truth to truly believe - God is Creator of heavens and the earth. Unless we place our trust in this, that God is Creator, our whole foundation for believing is removed and our faith becomes meaningless or only focused on self.
Then we saw God choosing a nation for Himself through the faith of Abraham - He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. From the beginning we see God choosing salvation through faith alone. Abraham did some real stupid things, yet he believed God! What a wonderful God we serve!
Then we saw Abe's offspring living under oppression and in desperate need of deliverance. Once again God sovereignly choose to redeem them from the slavery of Egypt, He led them through the wilderness (caused by their own disobedience) and with undeserved sustenance and provision they came to their Promised Land. Yes, God is faithful. He promised to Abraham that his people would inherit this land and God did it. As they entered they had to realise that God had given them the land, yet, they had to destroy their enemies and take possession of it.
Due to partial obedience to God, their enemies continually pestered them. They entered into a cycle of disobedience-enemy oppression-repentance-deliverance. God's love and mercy continually on display.
What can I say - is this not what my life look like?

From here I'm going to jump - I don't want to rewrite the Bible. Today we read out of Ecclesiastes 3
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.
I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.
That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.

Although I don't presume to understand everything that Solomon wrote in this book, these verses are self-explanatory. There is a time for everything and everything was made beautiful in its time.
O God, redeem my time, may I do your works to bring glory to your name. May I serve you and worship you in the beauty of holiness. Purify my heart and renew my spirit