Psalm 127

Good day Today's message is the final part in this series and in it I'll be discussing the importance of recognizing one's potential. I believe that one of the reasons why we don't pursue intimacy with God like we should is because we often don't see the end result of where God is taking us. You see my friend, God sees the big picture. He knows the end of our story. He knows what He has destined for us. He knows what He wants to see accomplished and fulfilled in our time on the Earth. The challenge is that we don't necessarily see this same outcome or end result. We only see our lives as it is right now and not where God wants/needs us to be in 20 to 40 years from now nor the lasting impact our lives is meant to have on the generations to follow. 🔵 We don't see the full extent of the legacy we're meant to leave behind. 🔵  We don't see the next president and government officials that we're meant to be raising. 🔵  We don't see all the people...

Good day In the previous two messages I spoke about regret and ambition. For today's message I'd like to build on from there and speak about "current experience". Once we've moved on from the regret of the past and have established our ambitions (or goals), we can now start to assess/evaluate our current experience. This process of reflection helps us to compare where we want to be/ or what we want to become with where we are right now. It helps us to make the necessary adjustments to ensure that we're on track. It shows where we can be/do better going forward. So the question is, what does your current experience look like? I watched a movie recently where someone said that the only real certainty in life is death, but what is not certain, is the next decision that you're going to make. The amount of possible choices that you could make within the next month is immeasurable. For example, let's say you wake up Monday morning, you could decide to go to ...

Good day I ended the previous message off with the following question: "Let's say your future self could return to the past and they appeared before you today, what would they say to you? What advice or encouragement would they give you? What would they tell you to stop doing, start doing and keep doing?" One way to approach answering that question is to ask ourselves, "what are my ambitions?" Ambition can be defined as, "a strong desire to do or achieve something". If we can establish what our ambitions are, we'll be better positioned to recognise what we need to adjust now in order to ensure that we're on track with what we want to accomplish. If we don't know what our ambitions are, then how will we know what to stop, start or keep doing? How would we know if we're on track? How would we measure our progress? An example of this would be one's career. If you asked someone what their ambitions are for their career, they may be able...

Good day I'll be concluding this series on developing intimacy with God by sharing on regret, ambition, current experience and our potential. For today's message I'll be focusing on regret: I'm sure that from time to time people live with the regret of decisions that they wish they had made or some that they wish they hadn't made - either way, they live with regret and with the thought of, "what if I did this?" or "if only I had done this". Now we can certainly learn from our past mistakes but what I want to focus on here is how this feeling of regret can lead to disappointment, discouragement, frustration and can cause people to quit. None of us are perfect, we will at some point or another, make a wrong decision - more than once - maybe even multiple times. This is a reality, and the sooner we acknowledge this, the sooner we can move on. T he past is in the past, we cannot change what just happened a minute ago, it's gone, it's past, it...

Good day In the previous messages I highlighted the importance of having a desire for deeper levels of intimacy with God and we looked at some passages in the Bible where it says to "draw near", "to seek", "abide" or "meditate" and how they all indicate the importance of having/maintaining a focused and intentional relationship with God. That we need to pursue this relationship and be committed to it by making time to be with God and take ownership for our part in this relationship. I then shared some self-reflecting questions and asked that we all take a moment to reflect and ask ourselves "What does the quality of my time with God look like, and am I happy with it?" ... I also mentioned some things we can do to help to cultivate that relationship and also some practical steps we can take to help bring focus/priority to some of those areas. Now while we're trusting God to work in our lives in this area, we need to realise that we s...

Good day Another way to develop intimacy with God is by being a member of a local church. In the previous messages we covered Bible reading, praise and worship and prayer. B eing a member of a church definitely serves a catalyst, helps to sustain and can grow all of these areas and so much more.  Please see below examples: 🔵 We go to church to be taught the word of God and to be equipped by those whom God has appointed for works of service. (Ephesians 4:11-16, Acts 4:42, 2 Timothy 3:16) 🔵 Proverbs 22:6 says that we should train our children up in the way they should go, and whilst we shouldn't leave it up to the church alone to train and direct our children, it does provide the opportunity and platform for our children to learn about God. 🔵 At church we also get to meet leaders that can further speak the word of God to us. It also creates an opportunity to be discipled by them by following their example. (Hebrews 13:7, Hebrews 13:17, Titus 2:2-6, 1 Timothy 2:2). In doi...

Good day Another way to develop intimacy with God is through prayer. Below are some scriptures where the Bible mentions prayer: Matthew 6:5 - And when you pray … Matthew 6:9 - This, then, is how you should pray … Mark 11:24 -  For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer , believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it] Jude 20 - But you, beloved,  building yourselves up on your most holy faith,  praying  in the Holy Spirit Colossians 4:2 -  Devote yourselves to  prayer , being watchful and thankful. Romans 12:12 - Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer Ephesians 1:16 - do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers Colossians 1:9 - For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you Ephesians 6:18 - And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and reques...

Good day Another way to develop intimacy with God is through times of praise, thanksgiving and worship. The bible says in Psalm 107:8-9 that we must give thanks to the LORD for His unfailing love and wonderful deeds, and 1 Chronicles 16:34 it says to give thanks for He is good and His mercy endures forever! One of the ways we do this is by making a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! (Psalm 95:1-3) Even though we are instructed to worship God, it shouldn't be seen as something that we have to do, nor should it be a  formality or a procedure we have to follow. It should stem out of our relationship with Him. If you're in a loving relationship with something, chances are you're going to tell them how you feel about them, this is no different when it comes to our relationship with God. Therefore this time spent with Him is a personal experience / personal interaction. It's one where we shouldn't care about how we sound or what the person standing next to us think...

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Good day Below are 5 things we should consider when reading the Bible: Number 1: Know God's motive / heart towards us. Because we know that God loves us, we need to view every instruction or promise given to us through those lenses. When a parent sees a child do something that may cause them harm, they warn them about it. It's not done to punish the child or prevent them from enjoying their freedom, etc. It's done to help and protect them - and it's the same with God's instructions to us, it's done out of love - To provide salvation, help, guidance, healing, hope, strength, peace, wisdom, encouragement, purpose and whole life prosperity. Number 2: Ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand what we're about to read. Isaiah 11:2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. The Spirit referred to here is the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38, Luke 4...

Good day In the previous message I mentioned that there are various components to how we successfully develop our relationship with God, whether it's through reading the Bible, attending church, attending small groups, reading Christian books, watching Christian teachings, having Christian friends, engaging in private times of praise and worship, prayer, etc. That all of these help to cultivate that relationship. I then mentioned some practical steps we can take to help bring focus/priority to some of these areas. Today I'd like to start off with reading the Bible. The Bible holds great significance because it speaks of God's covenant with mankind. It reveals God's intention for His creation, what He expects of us and also the eternal life that awaits us. It's where we're made aware of God's love towards us (1 John 4:8). It communicates God's plan of redemption for mankind (Colossians 1:13-23). Where we find out about our eternal salvation because of wha...

Good day In the previous message we took a look at some synonyms for the word intimacy, these included: belonging, nearness, closeness, affection, commitment, devotion, fellowship, faithfulness of a friendship or relationship. It also refers to trust or confidence, transparency and integrity. I mentioned that to experience all of the above with someone, one would assume you've spent a significant amount of time with the other person to have developed the relationship to such a point that all of these characteristics become real and can be experienced by both parties. That this takes time and doesn't happen overnight. One would also assume that it took commitment from both sides, commitment to develop the relationship ... And that this is no different when it comes to our relationship with God. We then looked at some passages in the Bible where it says to "draw near", "to seek", "abide" or "meditate" and how they all indicate the importan...

Good day As we move forward in this series about developing intimacy with God, it's important to define what we mean by intimacy. When you search for the word on the internet it brings up synonyms like familiarity, belonging, nearness, closeness, affection, commitment, devotion, fellowship, faithfulness of a friendship or relationship. It also refers to trust or confidence, transparency and integrity. Now to experience all of the above with someone, one would assume you've spent a significant amount of time with the other person to have developed the relationship to such a point that all of these characteristics become real and can be experienced by both parties. This takes time. It wouldn't happen overnight. One would also assume that it took commitment from both sides. Commitment to each other. Commitment to develop the relationship ... And this is no different when it comes to our relationship with God. Now whilst you may not find the word "intimacy" used in th...