Monthly Archives: April 2016

Beauty For Ashes

Christian Life, , , , ,

BEAUTY FOR ASHES

Remember our talk about travelling light?

Many of us carry the baggage of grief and loss. Loved ones top the list, but there are other kinds of losses we sustain that cause us as much pain as the loss of a beloved family member or friend.

We live in a time when children are the victims of great loss. Ruthless predators violently rob them of their innocence and childhood. You may be one of them, carrying the wounds of guilt and shame deep into you adult years because you were violated in your childhood..

There are those of you who have suffered the devastating loss of your home and the security of a roof over your head through the unexpected crash of the great institutions that support our economy on unsteady legs. Your job was terminated, the money you earned which undergirded your security was suddenly gone. You have a family to support and, though you walk the streets day after day, there is no employment available because many others are out there, snapping up any possible job to earn enough money to keep food on the table.

There are many predators around who will rob you of whatever they can without a conscience. Unscrupulous thieves take your money, your possessions, invade your space, violate your homes and think nothing of the devastation they leave behind, not only because of physical loss but also through the psychological damage they inflict.

What about the loss of a good conscience because, in a moment of temptation you gave way to the demands of your flesh? A baby conceived out of wedlock will not go away. You can kill it in the womb, but it will ever remain in your heart, accusing you night and day of a terrible deed which made your loss worse than the loss of your integrity.

You may have lost a spouse to another – your husband left you for another woman; your wife betrayed you, robbing you not only of a life partner but also of your children. Your life has been thrown into turmoil and all you have left is anger, frustration, bitterness and…memories.

Your losses may be co-incidental, the outcome of living in a sinful world or the self-inflicted loss of a good conscience. How you wish you could turn the clock back and make your failures disappear! However, whatever form your losses take, you have been left with the hopelessness and helplessness of grief and mourning.

I have good news for you. God never asks why? He has a better solution to offer than a meaningless question to which you have no answer. He sent His Son, Jesus, to take the pain of your loss and transform it into something much better than grief and mourning.

…To provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes , the oil of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. (Isa. 61:3)

“Beauty instead of ashes…” what does that mean? There is nothing beautiful about wearing ashes. It was part of the grieving process in Hebrew culture. Wearing a garment made of rough material and sprinkling ashes on one’s head told everyone that they had suffered great loss. It was a sign of hopeless and deep emotional pain.

What is beauty? Our eyes have the capacity to register pictures by the light that they allow in which is sent as signals to the brain. Our brains have the marvellous ability to turn the light signals into pictures which we “see” and interpret as beautiful. A friend gave me a moth orchid which is perfect in its beauty. I cannot get enough of its exquisite perfection and I stop and gaze for a few moments every time I go in and out of my front door.

However, there is another kind of “beauty” which is not visible to the naked eye but is equally captivating. Peter, writing to believers in his first letter, encouraged wives who were married to unbelieving husbands to win their husbands, not by adorning their bodies but by living lives of purity and reverence.

You beauty should not come from outer adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewellery or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. (1 Pet. 3:3-4)

Whatever the cause of your grief, Jesus invites you to give it to Him. He will take your turbulent emotions with their heaviness and despair and replace them with the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, with joy and praise because He is the source of hope. Whatever your loss, it is never the end. If you trust Him, He will bring good out of your suffering and strengthen your confidence in His perfect love.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Do you like this post? Then buy your own copy of my book, Learning to be a Disciple, which is also available from www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com in South Africa. You can also order a copy directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com

Watch this space!

My latest book, The Heartbeat of Holiness, will also soon be available.

Toxic Technology

Christian Life, , , , ,

TOXIC TECHNOLOGY

The ice age, the iron age, the bronze age and…the technological age. Scientists of the future will probably classify all the abandoned paraphernalia they dig up as evidence of the “technological” age. Of course, science will have advanced far beyond what we think are the marvels of our age – all the conveniences and advantages that computers, tablets, and cell phones have brought us, not to mention computerised vehicles and aircraft and everything else that is computer-driven and computer-controlled.

Remember the panic spawned by Y2K 16 years ago? We all held our breath when the clock ticked one second past midnight on the 31st December 1999. Were all the computers on earth going to crash and cause aircraft to fall from the sky? Who knows what other disasters would catch us unawares?

However, like every other man-made innovation, the technology which has lifted our lives to a higher plane, also has its dark side. There are always those who will exploit what is good for their own evil purposes. Hackers, sexual predators, unscrupulous business people – they all prey on the unsuspecting, to mention just a few.

I have seen something else which is seemingly innocent, take its toll on ordinary society – happening slowly, subtly and almost unnoticed to start with. It’s called “the social media” so-called “connecting” people across the globe. Now I admit that social networks have done much to help find “lost” people and bring them together again. Of course, “everyone” is on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or one of the many others in a growing network of social media links.

Friends and family chat across continents at very little cost. I use WhatsApp groups for convenient communication all the time, especially with my family who are as far flung as the USA and Qatar. We have been able to find solutions and make decisions in emergency situations in a very short space of time which would have been impossible 20 years ago. That’s not what I am talking about.

Technological gadgets have both connected and disconnected people from one another. We have traded face-to-face interaction with those closest to us for conversations via a little device called a cell phone. Children and young people are more familiar with cell phones, play stations, TV and computer games than they are with their siblings’ faces. Each family member would rather play a computer game alone than a family game around the table. Some families has been so influenced by this toxic technology that they even take their meals alone in their personal space so that they can catch up with their game rather than sit around the meal table together and talk to one another.

This is another one of those ploys the enemy uses to thwart God’s plan for His people. God is social – three Persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit in a close-knit fellowship of love and harmony, perfectly intertwined and interacting as one. He created the human race to resemble Him and to have fellowship with Him. He made us so like Him that we are able to participate in that circle of love and togetherness that the Trinity enjoys.

When man fell into sin by refusing to live under His authority, God already had a plan to restore everything to what He intended at the beginning.  He didn’t sent a text message from heaven. He came Himself to talk to us.  He came in the flesh and showed His love by dying for us. Jesus’ death  made reconciliation possible – not only to God but to one another. The very word “communion” which is one of the names we give to the Lord’s Supper, implies that we come together to celebrate the event that made reconciliation with both God and one another possible.

Jesus made the impossible possible. He healed the deep rift of hatred and suspicion between Jew and Gentile by His death and brought about a new race – neither Jew nor Gentile but one in Himself.

For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their hostility.  (Eph. 2: 14-16)

Tragically, in the name of “connection” we have traded gadgets for people. We are more connected to and familiar with our devices that we are with the people with whom we share our homes. Society is sick because society doesn’t know how to connect any more. What was the point of Jesus’ work on the cross to reconcile the members of the human race with one another again if we systematically destroy that bond by isolating ourselves from one another at the closest and most intimate level?

Conflicts remain unresolved because we hide on our ivory towers and leave our unfinished business to fester inside. We send emails and WhatsApp’s, we air our dirty washing on Facebook and Twitter, we give the world a blow-by-blow commentary of what we have done or what we are doing but our hearts remain cold, empty and lonely because we have not really connected with anyone in a meaningful expression of love. How can you hug another through a “device’?

The whole of human life should be about bonds and connectedness but our insistence on abusing technology, i.e., not using it for the purpose it was invented, is eroding the very fabric of society. When we have wronged another, instead of seeking face-to-face forgiveness, we hide behind a text message which saves us the embarrassment of humbling ourselves in the presence of the other and experiencing real reconciliation.

How much easier and more convenient it is to send an impersonal text message instead of climbing into the car and spending an hour or two with a friend or a family member.

Come on, church. Let us be the ones who recognise the trap of toxic technology and lead the way back to meaningful relationships by rebuilding the bonds and fostering fellowship in the family of God and in the world around us. Let’s talk face-to-face, not via a gadget that has no heart.

If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Do you like this post? Then buy your own copy of my book, Learning to be a Disciple, which is also available from www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com in South Africa. You can also order a copy directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com

Watch this space!

My latest book, The Heartbeat of Holiness, will also soon be available.

Travelling Light

Christian Life, , ,

TRAVELLING LIGHT

Have you ever moved house?

I have, many times and each time I move, I resolve not to accumulate so much unnecessary “stuff” again. We humans love our stuff, don’t we? Only when we have to pack and move it, and then find a place for it in our new location do we realise how much unnecessary paraphernalia we collect to clutter our shelves and cupboards, most of which we never use. Our excuse – we might need it some day!

I have a friend who is on the brink of moving from a 3-bedroomed house to a retirement centre. She grew up in poverty which, unfortunately, seems to have spawned a “hoard” mentality. Every drawer and cupboard in her house is filled with “stuff”, both family antiques from past generations and new things she just had to have, most of which she has never used. Now it’s time for her to pack up because her house is on the market. She looks around at her clutter and groans, “What must I do with all this stuff?”

Many of us have inner lives that are just as cluttered as my friend’s house. From early childhood,we have accumulated experiences that have spawned a “hoard” mentality. We hoard the emotional junk our memories have accumulated from the thoughtlessness or cruelty of others. Our emotional “cupboards” are full of anger, resentment, bitterness, and even feelings of worthless, uselessness and self-loathing because we have believed the lies their treatment of us has produced.

We know they are there and we are aware of the way those feelings influence our perception of ourselves and others, our interpretation of the circumstances life dishes up, and the way we relate to others. Every time someone says or does something that triggers an old memory, we react in ways far in excess of what the incident deserves. Husband or wife says something in innocence that causes the other to explode in anger or storm out in a huff, leaving the poor spouse bewildered and frustrated. An innocent comment or question inadvertently opens the cupboard and all the old stuff come tumbling out.

Like my friend, we hang on to our emotional clutter ‘because we might need it someday.’ “What if I run into the one who inflicted emotional pain on me twenty years ago?” We still hang onto the reason for getting our own back for what he or she did to us!

And so we carry our baggage with us, knowing that it is weighing us down but thinking that we can’t let it go because it is actually who we are. How often have you taken stock and thought, “What must I do with all this stuff.” We can’t pack it in boxes and get rid of it like my friend should do. Would that it was that easy! Must we carry it around in our hearts for the rest of our lives, weighing us down and creating barriers between ourselves and the people we love?

I have good news for you!

There is a way to get rid of your emotional junk and live free of your accumulated pain – the pain that weighs you down and cripples your relationships with others. The way is simple but not easy. To deal with your baggage demands honesty and humility.

The first step is to take responsibility for your pain. Instead of saying in a fit of rage, “You make me angry!” the right response would be, “I am angry.” To acknowledge whatever the situation has triggered is to own your responsibility for your responses.

The next step is to acknowledge that you cannot fix anything. No matter how much you try to “work through” your emotional baggage, it will not go away. Denying it, ignoring it, working through it, or burying it under a load of activity or addictions or even medication will not make you pain go away. You must face and own what you are feeling.

I have discovered on my journey through life that there is only one person who can take away my baggage and set me free from my painful past. Jesus does not take away the memories. He empties them of the false notions I accumulated about myself and God which produced the pain. Isaiah wrote about His mission long before He came to this earth.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and to provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendour. (Isa. 61:1-3)

I discovered this solution quite by chance – if there is such a thing as “chance”. I had a love/hate friendship with someone who carried a great deal of baggage of her own and used me as a dumpsite for her stuff. One morning, after a particularly traumatic encounter the day before, I poured out my anger, frustration and – yes, I named it – hatred for her to God. I “spilt my guts” at my bedside, got up and forgot about it.

Later that day, as I was busy at my kitchen stove, she appeared at my kitchen door – something she had never done before because she refused to come in without knocking and being invited in. To my great surprise, when I saw her, I felt nothing. All my resentment and anger was gone! It was as though it had never happened. Wow, God! Is that possible? Yes! I had actually, inadvertently cast my burden on the Lord, and He gave me His peace. And, what’s more, the baggage never returned.

I needed no psychiatrist, counsellor or medication to rid me of my stuff. Jesus took what I gave Him and replaced it with His indestructible peace. And He’s done it again and again. Brutal honesty with myself and Him is the key.

Since we are not permanent citizens of this world, just passing through because our citizenship is in heaven, why not travel light? Forgive the ones who damaged you. Jesus said they don’t know what they are doing. Give the burden of emotional pain to Him. You will be amazed at the relief you feel when you drop your baggage and walk free.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Do you like this post? Then buy your own copy of my book, Learning to be a Disciple, which is also available from www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com in South Africa. You can also order a copy directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com

Watch this space!

My latest book, The Heartbeat of Holiness, will also soon be available.

Pushing The Reset Button

Christian Life, , , ,

PUSHING THE RESET BUTTON

How many times have you blown it and wished that you could turn back the clock? Or perhaps something terrible has happened to you or a family member and you fervently longed that it was still yesterday. Unfortunately for us, there is no such thing as “pushing the reset button”. Whatever we have said or done, or whatever has happened, we must go on and make the best we can of our situation.

However, I have really good news for you today. God can do what we cannot. He has promised to push the reset button at some time in the future when all His plans have come together.

What is even more amazing is that He actually built restoration into His plan long before things went wrong on the earth. As a matter of fact, the whole Bible is about restoring creation after the devil had successfully derailed God’s pristine universe.

Someone once said, “God don’t make no junk!” It’s true. The first two chapters of Genesis tell the story of a perfect creation – everything in place working perfectly. God’s verdict on His handiwork was “very good”. The Hebrew word for good actually means “functional”. His entire universe worked together like a well-oiled machine. Of course, it did because it was the magnificent product of a God who is one – three Persons in perfect unity and absolute harmony.

It was not always like that. Genesis 1 is not about the beginning of creation but rather the beginning of order. From the text it seems that the earth was already there when God began to work on it. Why was it shapeless, empty and dark? The original Hebrew language hints at a sinister history – someone inhabited the earth before God took it in hand – the devil and his minions.

Why were they there? We learn the truth in the last book of the Bible.

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled down to the earth, and his angels with him. (Rev 12:7-9)

Ah, so that’s where the chaos on earth began. Satan cannot be in a place long before he puts his fingerprints all over everything. God banished him and his support group to the very planet He intended to be the home of man. Why would He do that?  Why not send them to Mars or one of the other uninhabitable planets where they could do no harm? Strange as it may seem, God included the devil and his minions in His recovery plan.

Satan rebelled and refused to live under God’s authority. He took a third of the angelic beings with him when he was banished from heaven. God’s recovery plan involved two major issues – win the love and allegiance of human beings without coercion or force in a hostile environment and give the devil and his followers the reason for God to judge and destroy them forever.

What we read in Genesis 1 and 2 is the idyllic scene in which this battle would take place. Everything was perfect including the relationship between the Father and His son and daughter. The first pair were to be the ancestors of God’s entire human family – living in a perfect environment with everything working like clockwork and fulfilling God’s mandate for them to manage the earth for and with Him. That was the blueprint for His dream – a forever family living in the circle of the Trinity in perfect unity and love on a perfect earth in a perfect universe…

Until it all went wrong, but…

God was not taken by surprise…

Even the very rebellion of His children fitted into His plan. What was His plan? Restoration! Pushing the rest button. You see, human beings would never really be His beloved sons and daughters, and irrevocably committed to loving, trusting and submitting to Him until their love was thoroughly tested against all odds.

This is where the devil comes in. Who better to put God’s children to the test than God’s sworn arch enemy? If everything Satan throws at them cannot veer them off course, God can gladly include them in His family and grant them equal status with Jesus as His sons and daughters. The devil did it to Jesus and failed hopelessly to break the bond between Father and Son, not even when he had Him murdered for crimes He has not committed. God allows him to do it to us as well to test the validity of our faith and the sincerity of our love for Him.

And finally, when God has gathered together a family of sons and daughters whose love and loyalty to Him are unquestionable, He will push the reset button. O yes! He said He would.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning, or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then He said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Rev 21:1-5)

So take heart! Whatever you wish you hadn’t said or done or whatever has happened that you wish you could change, will all fit together into God’s perfect plan. In the end, when God pushes His reset button, you’ll be amazed at what emerges. God will blend the good and the bad into one big whole and when He pushes the reset button, His perfect plan will be revealed!

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Do you like this post? Then buy your own copy of my book, Learning to be a Disciple, which is also available from www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com in South Africa. You can also order a copy directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com

Watch this space!

My latest book, The Heartbeat of Holiness, will also soon be available.

 

You are Your Own Judge

Christian Life, , , ,

YOU ARE YOUR OWN JUDGE

I have noticed, as I have walked and re-walked through the gospels with Jesus, that He was big on human responsibility. He never sanctioned the kind of prayers I often hear people pray – that God would do for us what He has already done, or given us the responsibility to do for ourselves. Jesus always honoured the gift of choice. How often He ratified the choices people made! Take the rich young ruler, for instance. Did He go running after the man to beg him to follow Him, or to make things easier for him? Not a chance! He simply let the man go. He had made his decision, and that was that!

How will we, as prospective disciples of Jesus, respond to His warning? How will we measure our response to His yoke? I am sure we have no desire to disqualify ourselves or to lose what we already have because we have not understood the kernel of His teaching. What I am about to share with you is, I hope, in essence what Jesus was getting at.

I have an acquaintance who works for a small private company. She has worked extremely hard to help the company prosper, bringing in huge amounts of money through sales and service. She recently resigned to take up a position in her husband’s business, much to the disappointment of the company owners – not because of her value as a person but because of the wealth she brought to the company. The husband of the husband-and-wife team has shown his disdain for her decision. Where once he was her “friend”, he is now distant and unfriendly.

I think that this reveals in a nutshell the difference between those who have “the evil eye” and those who have “the eye of light”. Jesus was adamant that He had come to serve, not to be served. He expects those who follow Him to have to same attitude towards other people as His. My friend was useful to her employers as long as she brought in the money. The bottom line is: they used her. Their relationship stood only until the crunch of her leaving hit their bank balance.

What came to my mind through this incident was something like this: Whether they are believers or not is irrelevant. They have been diminished by their reaction to her resignation. Something of what they had has been lost. They measured her worth in terms of money and business. They did not value her as a person and share in her anticipation of bringing prosperity to her family. In fact, they did not even reward her or any of the other staff members by a bonus at the end of the year. They became their own judges.

This leads me to the heart of Jesus’s yoke. If we have chosen to walk in the way of Yahweh, our lives will be characterised by selfless service. We will not use people for our own ends. We will serve people at our own expense. The more we serve, the more we will increase in knowledge and understanding of God’s ways. It’s this “reciprocal” thing again. When we give ourselves away, God gives back by multiplication!

The opposite is also true. When we use people for our own purposes; when we disregard them as people and use them as a means to enrich ourselves, we are diminished as people. We become more selfish and self-serving, less sensitive to the needs of others and dehumanised in our attitude to ourselves and other people.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?’ (Matt. 16: 24-26)

Another aspect of this principle is true. The shallow soil does not allow the seeds to produce roots to anchor the plant in all conditions so that it can mature and produce fruit.  Shallow people trust in God as long as it is beneficial for them. As soon as tests or adversity come, they fall away because their faith in God is opportunistic.

These kind of people will also use rather than serve God just like they use rather than serve others. Is this not diagnostic of what kind of hearts shallow people have? When they are disillusioned with God because He doesn’t answer their prayers – in other words, He doesn’t do what they want – they give up their faith in Him and go back to their old life. Use or serve – this reveals the true nature of our hearts.

Conclusion

The soil adds nothing to the seed. It only provides the environment in which the seed grows. Whether the seed is able to reproduce itself or not depends on the nature of the soil. What is the purpose of the seed? It exists only to reproduce itself so that its fruit can nourish the eater and its seeds can continue the cycle of growth and reproduction in the hearts of other people.

As I pondered on this thought, it occurred to me that this is a picture of our lives. Our hearts are the soil into which the seed falls. Like the soil, we add nothing to the seed but, as it grows and reproduces in us, our spirits are nourished by its fruit. We in turn, continue to perpetuate the life of the seed by sowing it into the hearts of others. Their response will determine its effect on their lives and whether the seed it reproduces will continue to be passed on to others.

What we eventually become in our efforts to follow Jesus and become true disciples is entirely our responsibility. The Holy Spirit will not make the choices for us but He will give us grace and power to put into practice our decision to follow Jesus and to do what He instructs us to do. In the end, as we follow Him, we will become like our rabbi, maturing as we journey with Him, into true sons and daughters of God.

“Be careful how you hear,” Jesus warned. “You determine the measure of your own fruitfulness.”

Pray with me, then, the matchless prayer of David whom God called, “A man after my own heart.”

Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth;

Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. (Psa. 86:11)

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Do you like this post? Then buy your own copy of my book, Learning to be a Disciple, which is also available from www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com in South Africa. You can also order a copy directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com

Watch this space!

My latest book, The Heartbeat of Holiness, will also soon be available.