Birds paint a beautiful picture of faith in the Lord

I was looking at this picture of these beautiful birds enjoying the stunning red berries on this tree and it struck me that they paint a beautiful picture of faith in the Lord. Here are just some of the scores of Bible verses on how God provides for us:

• "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want" in Psalm 23:1. 
• "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)
• "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26)
• "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread" (Psalm 37:25) 

To read more about God's promises, go to: https://www.biblegateway.com 

May you be blessed today!

The picture of the birds I used to create the above is courtesy of: http://funees.com/17-beautiful-birds-photography-world.html 

Simplification - simplicity - is the key to life

It seems that Scripture teaches us that simplification is the key to life. Too often with competing schedules, there is the temptation to put God in the back-burner while we deal with other pressing issues that we deem as urgent and that need to be handled "yesterday".  And yet Jesus teaches us that He is the calm in the eye of the storm, that we can place all of our burdens at His feet, that all of the complicated things of life need be taken to the throne of God and He will take care of them. The Bible says "Seek first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness, AND ALL these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). 

So often I find myself struggling, thinking in the opposite way, in fact, that I should seek ALL OF THOSE THINGS first and THEN seek His Kingdom. I have resolved to seek His Kingdom first, to rely on Him for all things, and follow this Biblical principle - I do believe this is true, I have the weight of the saints in the Bible and throughout the ages that testify to it! 

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" Heb 12:1

Be blessed today!

The above is a picture I took of the Johannesburg skyscape.

PS: If you want to read more of the Bible, go to: http://biblehub.com/ - I love this website, because it provides you with the same verse from several different Bible versions. The beauty of this is that you can get a holistic interpretation of the particular verse, in old English and contemporary English.

Broken until you reach the end of yourself

Have you ever been broken until you feel you reach the end of yourself? This is the time to reach out to God, who provides many rich promises of love, hope and strength in His word. Throughout the ages, millions have trusted in Him and not been disappointed. Perhaps this sounds like too simple a solution in this modern age of complication and sophistication, but I assure you, simplicity is the key to life. Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest". Matthew 11:28. Won't you trust Him today?

A promise that God will fill our hearts with joy

I love this Bible promise that God will fill our mouths with laughter and our lips with joy. It tells us that we can rise above our circumstances at all times and no matter how troubled we may feel, God will always be our grounding, and not what is happening around us.

In hours of discouragement, God is our encouragement...

This is such a beautiful poem by Helen Steiner Rice and I have always loved those first two lines, though the whole poem is so powerful:

Sometimes we feel uncertain, 

and unsure of everything,

Afraid to make decisions, 

Dreading what the day will bring,

We keep wishing it were possible 

to dispel all fear and doubt,

and to understand more readily 

just what life is all about,

God has given us the answers 

which too often go unheeded,

but if we search His promises 

we’ll find everything we need

and seek, to lift our faltering spirits 

and renew our courage too,

for there is absolutely nothing too much 

for God to do,

For the Lord is our Salvation 

and our Strength 

in every fight we fight.

Our Redeemer, and Protector, 

our eternal Guiding Light,

He has promised to sustain us, 

He’s our Refuge from all harms,

and underneath this Refuge 

are His Everlasting Arms,

So cast your burdens on Him, 

seek His counsel when distressed,

and go to Him for comfort 

whenever you’re lonely and oppressed,

For God is our encouragement 

in trouble and in trials,

and in suffering and in sorrow 

He will turn our tears to smiles.

God's special phone number!

Today is Friday – I love Fridays, the doorway to the weekend and freedom! 

My daughter is writing a big exam today – 4 hours! She was feeling quite jittery and I realised an important thing: I had not been praying for her success. So I prayed, I asked God to help her in her exams. I think I forget to pray sometimes. And yet God Himself calls us to be better than that – He says that we do not have because we do not ask.  At the same time, He reassures us, saying “Call unto me, and I will show you great and mighty things, things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3). 

Some preachers refer to Jeremiah 33:3 as God’s phone number, that’s pretty cool in my books! Knowing that God is there – just a phone call away! 

Be blessed today!

Dealing with my workaholic issues...

I couldn’t sleep last night – again.  The reason why was I was plagued with thoughts of work.  My mind was racing – I actually realised that I was thinking of the same things over and over again, resolving them and then thinking of them again. One of my colleagues once told me that my problem is that I think about people that are not even thinking about me – in the work context, that is – because I wanted to rush my lunch so that I could get back to the conference room.

It got me thinking as to why – why was I doing this? It all came back to my fear of failure. I have a fear of failure! This is what makes me a workaholic. But what does it matter, even though I am giving my all to my work, working as unto the Lord, as we are encouraged in the bible, Jesus said that “Do not be over-anxious, therefore, about to-morrow, for to-morrow will bring its own cares. Enough for each day are its own troubles” Mt 6:34. 

This does not mean that I have to give up work, or giving my all to what I do.  It means that at the end of each day, as soon as I walk out of that door, I am leaving everything in the hands of the Lord – trusting Him that all will be fine and that tomorrow when I walk in the door, things will still be fine.  He never sleeps or slumbers, so I can trust Him for all of these things!

Halleluia! What a mighty God we serve! I bow down in reverential awe of His splendour and greatness and I pray that you, dear reader, will be able to trust God with all that you do and leave today’s troubles for today.  God has given us a spirit of a sound mind and not of fear (“For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” 2 Tim 1:7).

Be encouraged today!