Mirror or window church?

This weekend we had the privilege to visit a church that helps us in many ways. One of the many things they do is to provide food so we can feed the hungry people and children in our church. They have generous hearts and open hands to the needy.

While we were sitting in their service, I wondered what makes this church so different. How does a church become outwardly focused, while there are still so many churches that are just inwardly focused?

I realized then that it depends where the church is looking!

There are so many churches just looking at the mirror. A mirror will always just reflect yourself; it will show you how you look and what needs to be changed on yourself. Churches that just look in the mirror will only focus on themselves and change only within the boundaries of their own needs. There is nothing wrong with looking in the mirror, but we must remember to look out of the window as well.

A window helps you to look outside; to see further than just your own need. And when you look outside, you will definitely see the need. You will realize that looking into the mirror is good, but looking through the window will expand your vision.

The Bible is very clear about the importance of a vision:

Proverbs 29:18(KJV)

 ¹⁸Where there is no vision, the people perish…

A church only looking at the mirror will have no vision; this will not only have an influence on the spiritual health of a church, but they will actually grow backwards!

Make sure that you are part of a church that looks through the window and not only at the mirror!

Shalom!

Anina

(Thanks to the congregation of Kruik – may you keep on looking through the window!)

Are you a Carrot, an Egg or Coffee Bean?

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life, and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it, and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first pot, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what do you see?" "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft. She then asked her to take the egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to smell and sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she smelled and tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What's the point, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity- boiling water-but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water. "Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When trials and adversity knock on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"

Think of this: Which am I?

Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? Am I the egg that starts with a passive heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside, am I bitter an

d tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?

Or, am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you become better and change the situation around you. When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?

(Author Unknown)

Shalom!

Anina

Bitter coffee

I am not a coffee expert, but I know coffee is not supposed to be bitter. I did some research and found out that bitter coffee has a few origins:

The first and most common cause of bitter coffee is bad coffee grounds. Coffee grounds come from coffee beans – the heart of coffee!

In the same way, the origin of bitterness in a person’s life comes from a bitter heart. You will only be able to get rid of the bitterness if you go back to your heart!

The second cause of bitter coffee is when you keep coffee on a hot plate; the boiling will actually result in a bitter taste.

If we don’t “cool down” after an angry spell, we actually give the devil a foothold in our lives for bitterness:

 Ephesians 4:26-27(NIV)

²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold.

Now something that you most probably did not know – one way to remove the bitter taste of your coffee is by simply adding some salt! I’ve never tried it, but it is apparently very effective!

So the best way to remove bitterness in your life is to simply add some salt to your heart! Salt usually brings out the best flavors in food. By adding salt to your heart you allow your heart to focus on the best, not the worst.

Mark 9:50(NLT)

⁵⁰ Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.”

Bitter coffee, just as bitter Christians, leaves a bad after taste. Add some salt and live in peace!

Shalom!

Anina

Lukewarm coffee

There are so many variations of coffee these days: espressos, lattes, instant coffee, decaffeinated coffee… the list just goes on and on. You can even have a coffee milkshake.

I like all kinds of coffee but I prefer my coffee in a specific way - steaming hot, allot of milk and not too strong.

There is however one kind of coffee I don’t like at all… lukewarm coffee. I’d rather drink an ice-cold coffee milkshake than a cup of lukewarm coffee.

This made me think about a verse in the Bible:

Revelation 3:16(NLT)

¹⁶ But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!

This was a letter to the church in Laodicea. God had it against them that they said:  ‘We are rich. We have everything we want. We don’t need a thing!’ And the Bible says they actually didn’t realize that they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.

Lukewarm Christians are people that think they made it on their own, that everything they have achieved, was done by their own strength. They know about God but have the inability to recognize their need for Him.

I want to say metaphorically, God – like me – likes His coffee either steaming hot or an ice-cold coffee milkshake…He can work with “cold people” who at least knows and acknowledge that they are miserable and poor. He loves “hot people”, those who know that true richness can only be found in Him.

But God doesn’t like lukewarm coffee – He spits it out!

What kind of coffee are you?

Shalom!

Anina

Daily coffee

Most married couples greet each other in the morning with a “good morning my love!” In our home my husband has an unusual way of starting the morning. His first words are most of the time: “Whose turn is it?”

You see we take turns to make the first, early cup of coffee. Without exception we drink a cup of coffee every morning in bed. It is so part of our morning routine and I can’t imagine going into my day without it.

Most people have coffee on a daily basis. Take away their coffee and they will be grumpy the whole day.

Maybe you don’t drink coffee, maybe you exercise every day or maybe there is something you eat without exception every day. Can you say the same about the time you set aside for God?

David said it so clearly:

Psalm 1:2-3(NLT)
 ² But they delight in the law of the Lord,
      meditating on it day and night.
 ³ They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
      bearing fruit each season.
   Their leaves never wither,
      and they prosper in all they do.

If you meditate on the Word of God every day, you will be like a fruitful tree and everything you do will prosper!

Make time with God a daily thing – as daily as your cup of coffee. Because without it, we simply cannot go!

Shalom!

Anina

Coffee with God

We decided to take the commandment of making disciples seriously and we are presenting a foundational course in Christianity on Sunday evenings. Each person received a file last week and every week they receive new notes. They are also encouraged to share their new knowledge with somebody in the week.

Sunday evening we again realized the amazing work Jesus has done for us! The fact that He gave His life so that we can stand in relationship with our Father!

I love my Father with my whole heart and I take this relationship very literally. Sunday I shared how I sometimes take God for coffee…

Last week God did a miracle for us by providing in a big way for a big problem we had. I went to a coffee shop, ordered 2 cups of coffee and thanked Him for providing for us in such a big way. I also opened my Bible and read the portions of my daily reading plan. It started with 1 Chronicles 1. Now if you know the Bible, you would know that it is all about genealogies.

At one stage I said to God that the conversation was not very interesting. It was as if He just smiled and He asked me what one of my greatest heart desires was. I told Him about my desire to have a piece of land or bigger church in Danville. There was no response, so I just went back to the genealogies in Chronicles. My eyes scanned through the chapters, until I got to this verse:

1 Chronicles 4:10(MSG):

¹⁰…Jabez prayed to the God of Israel: "Bless me, O bless me! Give me land, large tracts of land. And provide your personal protection—don't let evil hurt me." God gave him what he asked.

I knew this verse, but forgot that it was hidden between all the genealogies. What an amazing God! What an amazing answer and promise!

Take God for coffee! He will speak to you and He will even give His cup of coffee to you!

Shalom!

Anina

Each Day Is A Gift

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each
morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly
applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.
Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.
After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she
smiled sweetly when told her room was ready.
As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description
of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window.
"I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just
been presented with a new puppy.
"Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room .... just wait."
"That doesn't have anything to do with it," she replied. "Happiness is
something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't
depend on how the furniture is arranged, it's how I arrange my mind. I already
decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have
a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the
parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the
ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I'll focus on the
new day and all the happy memories I've stored away, just for this time in my
life."
She went on to explain, "Old age is like a bank account, you withdraw from what
you've put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in
the bank account of memories Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank.
I am still depositing."
And with a smile, she said:
Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

(Author Unknown)
Shalom till Monday!
Anina

Heart problems

Solomon was one of the wisest person’s that ever lived. His reign was distinguished by peace and prosperity. Many of his wise words are written in the Bible and still inspire us to live with Godly wisdom.

There is however one thing that I never understood about Solomon. How could the wisest person ever be deceived by so many women?

The problem was that all his women gave him heart problems…

1 Kings 11:4(NIV)

⁴ As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

His heart was turned away from God.

The moment you turn your heart away from God, you get serious heart problems - the problem of a divided heart.

God wants all of our heart. When someone or something turns your heart away from Him, you are no longer fully devoted to Him and there will be serious consequences:

1 Kings 11:11(NIV)

¹¹ So the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.

Solomon lost what was most important to him. Although it did not happen in his rule, the kingdom was taken away from his son.

Make sure you heart is fully devoted to God – then you will have a spiritual healthy heart!

Shalom!

Anina

A bad heart?

Deceit is when you think you are right, but you are actually missing the mark by far.

As Kobus was preaching on Sunday, I was very self-assured and thought by myself that my spiritual heart is healthy and beating in step with God’s will!

At one stage in his sermon, he used a Scripture that made my heart miss one beat… I don’t know if it ever happened to you? It seems as if one word or one Scripture is just meant for you! It is in that moment that God transform His written Word (logos) into a revelation (rhema), just for you!

The Scripture was:

Jeremiah 17:9(NLT)

 ⁹ “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
      and desperately wicked.
      Who really knows how bad it is?

What God actually wanted me to realize is that you can never be too self-assured. Even when you look at your own heart, you might miss something.

The key is not to look into your own heart, because you might be deceived. You need to ask the Holy Spirit to look into your heart and reveal to you anything that is not in line with His will!

Psalm 139:23-24(AMP)

²³Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!

    ²⁴And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Only God can show you if you have a bad heart! Decide today to make these words in Psalm 139 your prayer. God will show you anything that is standing between Him and you. Confess it and He will lead you in the way everlasting!

Shalom!

Anina

Keep still

One of South Africa’s proudest moments for me is signified by the first heart transplant done by Dr. Chris Barnard in 1967. Today countless heart transplants are done all over the world.

It is a very difficult operation and it takes allot of hours to complete this delicate process of transplanting a new heart into someone.

There was however Someone that have been transplanting hearts long before Chris Barnard even thought it was possible to do an operation like this!

Ezekiel 36:26(AMP)

²⁶A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Our Lord specializes in transplanting new hearts into His children. Hearts that is tender and responsive to Him and beating in step with His will!

An important ingredient to any successful operation however requires that a patient lays still. In the same way, if you need a new spiritual heart, it will require that you will spend some still, quiet time in His presence!

Isaiah 40:31(AMP)

³¹But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.

Be still and wait upon Him. He wants to give you a new heart and a new spirit. You will have new strength and power and run in step with His will!

Shalom!

Anina

Blood pumping!

Sunday Kobus started a new series concerning the heart. He mentioned a few things that really made me think…

Firstly, that our physical heart is very much responsible for the health of our whole body. Your heart will pump blood through your whole body every 10 seconds.

This is important because blood supply the body of oxygen, nutrients, removal of waste, important for you immune system and the body’s self-repair mechanism as well as the body temperature.

In the same way we have a spiritual heart! And in the same way your spiritual heart is also responsible for your spiritual health.

Your spiritual heart pumps the blood of Jesus through your spiritual man.

In a sense the blood of Jesus gives you oxygen and spiritual nutrients. The blood of Jesus removes all the waste of sin in your life. His blood will strengthen your spiritual immune system by giving you the ability to resist all kinds of temptation.

When your spirit-man is hurt by sin or wounded by others, the blood of Jesus will self-repair the wound and even regulate your spirit’s temperature when you go through the different seasons of life or spiritual deserts.

No wonder the Bible says in:

Proverbs 4:23(AMP)

²³Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.

Let the blood of Jesus pump through your spirit-man – it will keep you spiritually healthy!

Shalom!

Anina

Heaven is real!

Getting to a place with no sun and moon

This week we’ve been talking allot about death… And in some way, one should think it would leave you depressed and hopeless.

We have however seen that through death you can get to heaven, a place that is very real. It shines with the glory of the Lord and sparkles like a precious stone, the gates are made of pearls and the streets of gold. It seems like something to look forward to.

There are a couple of other interesting points about heaven that the Bible speaks about:

The city has no need of sun or moon, because of this glory of God and the light of the Lamb are present. And the gates never close because its inhabitants have nothing to fear. In fact, no evil can enter through its gates. Instead, only those whose names are entered in the Lamb’s Book of Life have a ticket to heaven.

I think there is much more God can reveal to us about heaven, but He just gives us a small glimpse. Maybe because it is more important for Him that you should know how to get to this place that does not need a sun or a moon!

There is only one door you can take into this wonderful place:

John 14:6(AMP)

⁶Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the door to the place where there is no sun or moon!

Enter through Him and know that you are on the right Way to the door of heaven!

Shalom!

Anina

It is well

2 Kings 4:26(AMP)

²⁶Run to meet her and say, Is it well with you? Well with your husband? Well with the child? And she answered, It is well.

These were the words of Elisha to a wealthy woman that lived in Shunem.

Elisha knew this woman because quite a while ago she decided to build a small room for him on the roof of their house. She furnished it so that when he passed through Shunem he would have a place to stay.

He was touched by this this woman’s generosity. He wanted to give her something in return for her goodness, but she said she had all she wanted. She was however childless and Elisha prophesied that she would have a son.

Sure enough, she soon became pregnant. And the following year she had a son, just as Elisha had said.

One day however when her child was older, he went out to help his father, who was working with the harvesters. Suddenly he cried out, “My head hurts! My head hurts!” The son died!

The woman decided to go to Elisha to get his help. When Elisa’s servant however run ahead to ask her if it is well with her, her reply was: “It is well!”

How can one say: “It is well” when your only son has just died. This woman obviously had a lot of faith.

In the same way, if we lose a loved one – though with sadness – we can say: “It is well!”

We can say it is well, because we know that when someone dies, and that person placed their faith in Jesus as their Saviour, they will enter onto their new heavenly city!

It is well!

Shalom!

Anina

Death

I don’t know about you, but when I am confronted with the death of someone, I always think of the day when I would exchange my earthly tent for my permanent house…

Now you might say: “Anina, how can you be so somber?”

It is a fact that death is not a popular subject to talk about. Many people don’t even want to mention it because of their fear of death and the emotions connected to it. Death is just not a nice thing for us as humans to talk about.

The truth is however that death is the one certain thing that will happen to each and every one of us.

The challenge is to change our worldly perceptions about death into a Biblical perception.

There is a thought coming from Irish folk wisdom that says: “Cry at a birth and rejoice at a funeral”. When you start looking at what the Bible says about where you go when you die, this saying makes allot of sense:

Revelation 21:11-12; 18-21(NLT)

¹¹ It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. ¹² The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates…

 ¹⁸ The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. ¹⁹ The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

 ²¹ The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.

To think of my own death is definitely not a somber thought! It is the imagination of a new heavenly city that awaits me!

Although we miss our departed loved ones immensely, and it is this that created all the sadness, we can for surely know that they do not want to come back to our broken world once they have entered into heaven through Jesus Christ!

Shalom!

Anina

Taken down tent

It is always so difficult to stand next to a death bed of a loved one…

It is especially difficult when that person is a daughter or a son. Today a precious lady in our congregation had to witness her daughter slowly leaving this earth as the life-giving machines were switched of.

As I stood there and I saw Anrie’s body, I thought of this Scripture in Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 5:1(MSG)

 ^1-5For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we'll never have to relocate our "tents" again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what's coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we're tired of it! We've been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less.

It was only Anrie’s tent that lay on the hospital bed. Her tent has been taken down and she has swapped her tent for a God-made heavenly body. This is a permanent house, her true home, for eternity!

We thank Jesus Christ for our new resurrection bodies that await all of us who accepts His gift of eternal life. We are sad because we will miss her, but because of Him we have hope in our hearts and today is not a goodbye… it is only until we meet again!

Please pray for this mother, that God will comfort Hester and that she will keep on finding her hope in Him!

Shalom!

Anina

Smoking or non-smoking?

(God has blessed us with a week of holiday, so this week we will be featuring some of the older posts. Enjoy and be blessed!)

 

Today I have been thinking back about the two years God has been using and blessing us in Danville.

Some other pastors can’t imagine working in the area we are working and sometimes even pity us. The truth is, when you are where God wants you to be – it is a joy! The people of Danville are our family in Christ!

But true to a broken and hurting community – there is allot of alcohol and drug abuse. A few of these incidents left us with a smile on our faces.

One of these incidents happened about a year ago. One of our brothers lost his wife and gave up on life, lost everything and stayed on the streets of Danville. His survival against the cold – using drugs. So many times he would come to church… how can we state it…. very happy… and it was not because of the joy of the Lord!

So one day he came to church and said to my husband: “Pastor, I have found some partitions!” My husband asked him for what he wanted to use the partitions. “Well, off course to divide the church…” My husband just frowned.” Pastor, for the smoking and non-smoking parts…”

Again my imagination took over… our ushers asking people on a Sunday: “Smoking or non-smoking?”

I value this brother, in spite of his addiction. He placed a smile on my face, and he is the reason we are in Danville. To bring Hope to those who lost hope!

Shalom!

Anina

Saved by an earthquake!

(God has blessed us with a week of holiday, so this week we will be featuring some of the older posts. Enjoy and be blessed!)



Isn’t it strange that sometimes you read a familiar passage in the Bible that you have been reading many a times… and then for the first time, you read a truth that you’ve never seen before?  Last night I’ve been reading about Paul and Silas…

 ²² The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. ²³ After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. ²⁴ Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

 ²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. ²⁷ The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” (Acts 16 NIV)

After been beaten and thrown into jail – round at about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing like some of us don’t even pray in good times…

But the significant part – “…and the other prisoners were listening to them.”

Other’s will always be looking and listening how you handle life if you say you are a Christian, especially through the tough and difficult times – you see, we are supposed to be handing life differently if God is on our side!

Then even more significant – God’s response to praying and praising in difficult times – an earthquake, freeing them from prison… but, not only Paul and Silas were freed… each and every prisoner that listened to them, was freed!

Isn’t that just amazing – when you pray and praise in difficult times – it can even influence those who listen to you!

What do you do in difficult times?  If you choose to praise Him, in spite of you circumstances, you might just also free the people listening to you!

Shalom!

Anina