Category: Light

Richard was astonished by the magnitude of the hall when he arrived. It was Wednesday evening and many people had already gathered, standing around in groups, chatting cheerfully, while others were taking their seats.

He could hear the conversations taking place among acquaintances, close friends and even closer friends as he passed them. In his heart, he longed to have just one friend with whom he could share his feelings. “I’ve never felt so lonely in my entire life” he suddenly thought.

He had no close friends and even his closest friend for years, his wife Anne, had become so busy in her part of their activities that he couldn’t think of her as a close friend any more. They had grown miles apart.

Just thinking about it sent a chilling pain through his heart. Nevertheless, he missed her presence at this moment very much. At the same time, he wished he had a friend of his own gender, someone who loves sport and cars and things men usually do. “I’m among hundreds of people and feel so deserted,” he thought.

Walking across the auditorium, he became aware of the sheer luxury and beauty of the place, and a feeling of total inadequacy and insignificance filled his heart. An urge to turn around slowly and leave unnoticed entered his mind. Then, Jesus spoke into his heart, “Richard, I love you very much. I sent you here because you have to deliver My message to these people. They need to hear it, son! Remember, I will be with you and I will remain close to you every second.”

Calmness returned to Richard’s heart.

“Pastor Richard!” He turned around and saw the pastor of the congregation approaching him. “Welcome! Come let me introduce you to the rest of our staff.” They disappeared into his office.

What is described in this short fictitious narrative, is in fact not entirely fiction but something often experienced by many pastors.

Pray for your pastors, some of whom might be amongst the loneliest people on earth. Some have marriage problems, generating spiritual, emotional and psychological scars and they seldom have someone to share their feelings with.

The marriage counsellors, psychologists, financial analysts, and other counsellors are mostly part of the congregation or the neighbouring congregation, which would put them out of reach in terms of counselling.

Get the picture? Be a friend and pray for your pastors. They need it much more than you ever could imagine! The pastor is only another person, a pastor person.

Gregory clapped his hands in amazement until the palms of his hands started to ache. Through the whole amphitheatre sounds of ovation almost silenced the calls for “play again”, “one more”, encore”.

On the stage a small woman was holding a microphone in her hands. She smiled while looking at the crowd trying to focus through her tears. She was so afraid before the performance and now it was done.

Overwhelmed by the response from the audience, her eyes scanned the crowd for one person, Gregory.

Gregory knew Collette could play the piano very beautifully but he was blown away by her performance. He knew she could sing but this, wow, he had no idea.

This is extraordinary because Gregory and Collette have been married for 9 years. He was wondering why he could have missed this when he heard Jesus speak to him.

“Yes, Greg, there is a lot you have missed in your life. Do you know that she misses you very much, all the time while you have been married? No, you wouldn’t know, just as you do not realise that I am constantly with you. I know how Collette feels, not only because I know her heart, but because I experience the same she does.”

“She is looking for you right now. Put up your hands to draw her attention. I know how she feels. I am also looking at you every day, hoping you would try to draw My attention with your outstretched arms towards Me.”

“I’m always talking to you but you seem to ignore Me. All you do is asking and pleading things from Me and doing that once a day is not talking, Greg. I need to hear your every thought, which I do in fact, but as if you’re talking to Me, acknowledging My presence and longing for My company.”

“Do you realise how much I love you? Do you know that I know everything about you in detail and still love you? You don’t have to do something for Me, in fact, you don’t have to do anything but love Me back and desire to be in My presence.”

“Tonight, Collette sang this love song for you. If she did not, you would not even have known that she still loves you very much, not to mention that she is able to sing beautifully as well. She is part of your life and you do not know these facts. I am also part of your life…”

“Relax, love Me and smile. You know Who I am and what I have done for you already. I want you to enjoy your life, in My presence particularly. Could I get an encore for that now, and again?”

“I am not talking to Gregory now, but to you who are reading this. I love you so Much! Stretch out your hands towards Me! Talk to Me! I am always listening.”

Melanie opened the journal in front of her. She kept it on her lap for quite a while, too afraid to open. Finally, she gathered enough courage to read from the start.

For more than 20 years, she had gathered bits and pieces of her life and jotted them down in her journal, fragments of what had happened in her life. Some memories were bad, some not so bad. Some memories covered the occasional highlight in her life.

God saw her hesitation and then He spoke to her. “Why are you so afraid to read your journal? I have the more detailed version of your life and every time I look at it, I’m filled with joy. It is such a beautiful journal!”

“Stop nourishing your recollection of the bad incidents and wrong decisions. Look… in My journal of your life it is all blotted out. See, all the blank spaces are bad memories deleted by My blood.”

“Look, this is the day your parents discovered your mom was pregnant and this is the day you were born. Here you will find your first steps, your first words, your birthdays and your friends.”

“Look here, this is when you gave your heart to Me! The teardrops on your cheek did not come from your eyes but Mine, tears of joy!”

“Melanie, although you are much older now, this journal is still brand new, as new and unblemished as on the day your life started to take form.”

“Every mistake you have made and every wrong decision you are still making has been rewritten in My blood and therefore invisible, not because it did not take place, but because I choose to delete them immediately. You gave your life to Me, remember. Would you please stop remembering your sins now?”

“I will never forget you and I will never stop loving you. Carry on writing the rest of your journal with love, joy and trust in Me. Those memories are written down in big bold letters to remain for all eternity.”

“Come, dance on the pages, roll between the lines, rejoice with exclamation marks all over every page and tiptoe on the dotted lines, singing with joy as you do. The reason why you live is for you, yes, you, to experience joy. This is My reason for staying close to you every day of your life because when you rejoice, I am glorified!”

Lord, I’m so tired and yet, I’ve slept last night. I’ve prayed, read the Bible and showered like every other day before but why do I feel I need something more? I am standing on a flat surface with my feet solid on the ground, why then, do I feel I’m hanging from the edge of a very high cliff?

Then I heard God speak to me like never before.

Take time off. Go to the beach, do anything you want. I grant you the time to be still and chill. Relax. What is chasing you? Look behind you – see, nothing but an empty room. Go to town and wander around. Buy yourself a Cd, book or DVD.

Do you really think all I want you to do is labour and work, and then some more. I did not create industrial robots to perform automated, regulated and time stipulated tasks strictly according to a tight time schedule, which is running out anyway.

I created you to live. Of course, you have to earn a living somewhere but if your job has caused you to become a tensioned elastic type of cold engine running on fumes and worries, take a second look at yourself. Make a change.

How many friends have you made the past 12 months? More than 50 means you have lived a normal life. Less than 5 means you have become a chair or a table in a busy waiting room. Get up and walk out.

I gave you 6 days to work and 1 to rest, indicating a break is needed somewhere in your busy week. A day has 24 hours but I hide the sun for half a day so that you can get a rest every single day. Rest was meant for you to sleep, not watching TV or working all hours of the night.

I also set times apart for you to enjoy feasts lasting for days, sometimes weeks. Life was intended for you to enjoy!

Come My child, come and rest in Me.

Take time off and come sit on My knee.

Relax, let go with your head against My shoulder.

Don’t be ashamed, I know you’ve grown much older.

There inside your heart and cuddled in flesh.

I still find your spirit, still new and afresh.

My parents died several years ago at different locations and a few years apart. I still miss them but I am so glad that I know where they are now. We will see them again, because our whole family believes in Jesus Christ and we know where we are going when we die.

I read an article about a woman who had lost her father, mother and sister in an airplane accident, all on one day.

She was the only one left behind. In the article, she related what she had experienced when she received the news and how she barely managed to cope with the facts one year after the incident.

The article had a very long list of comments at the end, written by people who also experienced the loss of loved ones.

Something that shook me while reading this article and comments, was the fact that no-one mentioned where their loved ones would be finding themselves now, or expressed any hope of being re-united with them one day in the future. These poor people had suffered a permanent loss it seems.

Could it be that they were not re-born into the family of God, or are they unwilling to witness in public what they stand for or what they believe in?

It was a tragic accident that was reported, but behind the scenes could be unfolding much more than a single tragedy. Firstly, because of people who choose not to accept Jesus as their Saviour and are lost forever. Secondly, because of people who are believing in Jesus but refuse to witness publicly what they believe.

The Bible states that God is omnipresent. We are still living in a broken world but in our presence is the One who loves us very much. He cannot leave us because He is omnipresent. I can only imagine how it hurts Him to see people turning Him away. It must hurt even more to witness people who have accepted Him as their Father, turning Him a blind eye in public.

My wife and I have 4 beautiful children but before they were born, we experienced 3 miss-carriages. We have 7 children of whom 4 are alive. We will see 3 of them for the first time one day when we get to heaven.

praise and worship our omnipresent Father for being alive in our imperfect world!

Peter spreads all the newspaper clippings across the table. As he glances over them, he has difficulty deciding which one to address in his prayer time.

The world seems to have gone completely mad. It almost seems an evil conspiracy of organisations is manipulating and regulating governments and every negative decision in the world.

Following Jesus is put on hold and banned from featuring in governments or schools in many places. People are not allowed to propagate Jesus or their churches in many countries. On the other hand, Muslims are allowed to propagate their faith while they pray openly over loudspeakers to be heard by everyone living close to the mosques. In some countries, people are forced to follow their religion and when they refuse, they are abused and sometimes even killed.

Same sex marriages are enjoying an enormous exposure in the media, to such an extent that it almost seems illegal to propagate normal Biblical marriages between a man and a woman. Gay and lesbian relationships are pushed down our throats in almost every newspaper, video or film.

Racism has been widely, and most rightly so, viewed as the most negative attitude that any white person could have towards a black person. However, when a black person openly discriminates against a white person, it is called affirmative action.

After 17 years of black government rule in South Africa, affirmative action is still very high on the agenda of the black government. This in spite of the fact that schools, hospitals, roads and municipalities are in a terrible state due to incompetent staff, being appointed based on the colour of their skin instead of their skill.

Earthquakes, droughts, famine, storms, financial meltdown are taking place all over the world indicating more difficult times ahead. Where and when is this going to end? What should we do in this “hopeless” situation?

During the time Farao ruled over Israel in Egypt, he thought he was in charge. God showed him otherwise, led Israel out of bondage and drowned him at the same time. Even to this day, God is keeping His eyes on Israel, managing their enemies without them knowing it.

When we watch the news or read a newspaper, we should not be influenced by what we see or hear because behind the scenes, God is directing the fate of both believers and unbelievers.

Having realised this, Peter sweeps all the paper clippings from the table into the trash can, takes his Bible and starts reading. On his face appears a grin stretching from ear to ear. He knows and calmly rests in the fact that the signs of the day are evident that the time for Jesus to re-appear is at hand. It is so good to be alive!

Live life to the full! Jesus is present already – through the Holy Spirit!

Thousands of athletes, sportsmen and women from all over the world are gathering in London to determine who would be the fastest, strongest and best in the whole world. To achieve that required hours of strenuous training and exercise, years in advance.

Every winner receives a prize, a gold medal for first place, silver for second and bronze for third! Some would receive a bouquet of flowers as well. In certain categories, athletes would receive clothing and sportswear from manufacturers or sponsors for years to come. Some would receive money.

For many of the competitors, first place is the only place that matters.

But what about us, who are not taking part? What would we want to achieve? What competition would we prefer to take part in? What are our chances to be the winner among 7 billion people on earth?

For we who are watching, will receive nothing but good entertainment during a fleeting part of our lives.

However, God loves us so much that He has a huge prize for every winner in life and the best part is that we are not competing with other people! First prize is everlasting Life and co-heir of the Kingdom with Jesus Christ! God has also prepared a house for every winner in heaven, plus a reward!

There will be no gold medals because we would be walking on streets of gold.

All we have to do is to follow Jesus in the track to the end of our earthly race.

Each and every follower of His is a winner!

There are no second or third places and only those who refuse to take part will be called “lost” for rejecting the only life Sponsor during the short timeline that was available to them.

Call the press, whether we are part of the Summer Olympics or not, we are winners in Jesus Christ!

Chris stopped at a crossing, uncertain which road to take. In a distance, he saw another car approaching and he decided to stop the driver and ask his advice.

As the car came close, he waved him down to a stop. “Pardon me, sir, my name is Chris. You seem to know this area and know exactly where you are heading?”

The man smiled at him, “Hi, my name is Angelo and I was sent to meet you here and tell you where to go. I am a Christian.”

“Oh, that is great, Angelo! I’m a Christian too, or at least I was but I’ve taken so many wrong turns that I believe Jesus has fired me. He must be very disappointed in me by now. I’m afraid I am not part of His kingdom anymore.”

Angelo looked at him intently. “Would you say that God knows everything?”

“Oh yes,” Chris replied.

“This means that on the day you surrendered your life to Jesus, He knew exactly who you were, who you would become and what you would be doing until the day you die.”

“Yes, I believe He did and He still does.”

“And yet, on that day, while He knew exactly how you would lead your life and how it would end eventually, He accepted your conversion and commitment and made you heir of His kingdom. He even gave you directions and tasks to perform. He never told you that you would not make it. He never gave you false hope of reaching heaven. He never told you that you were His child, not meaning it. All of this knowing you would “fail” as you put it!”

“I suppose you are right. I mean, I know you are right”, Chris responded.

“Of course I am. Stop sulking, carry on along the road you would want to travel within His plan and keep on talking, thinking, speaking and doing what you have done. You have been more successful than you think because you have sown seed along the road. Remember though – you are not the one causing it to grow. God does that and only He knows how many seed have sprung up and yielded a crop in your tracks.”

“And, Chris, Jesus did not die for failures. He died for people like you and me who are imperfect travellers, driving through potholes and taking wrong turns more than we would want to admit. Lift your head, fix your eyes on Jesus and keep on driving. He still loves you very much! One word of advice – keep within the speed limit and obey the traffic rules. ”

Every day two friends sit next to each other in an old age home conversing in silence, while being captivated by their own thoughts. They know each other so well that words have become redundant between the two of them.

While watching a grumpy nurse cleaning up the mess another person has made, one of them says, “I told you so”, and the other one replies, “You bet you did.” A little bit later, a beautiful nurse walks past them and one says, “Oh yes…” and the other replies with, “Now you’re talking.”

So they carry on chatting the whole day long. Because they know each other so well, they are able to anticipate and assume what the other one might be “saying” in his thoughts.

Although the language of thought is not heard by other people, it is the most commonly used language in the world. Our thoughts are completely transparent to God. He also understands our thought language.

To talk to Jesus in the language of thought is entirely acceptable to Him. We should realise however, that Jesus desires more than our only sitting quietly in His presence expecting Him to read our thoughts. We should speak up. Our words spoken out loud, have an enormous significance in the realm of God.

Jesus said that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we would be able to move trees into the sea, not just by praying, or by standing quietly in faith, but by saying to the tree, “Be removed and be cast into the sea.” (Luke 17:6)

God created everything by speaking it into existence. Words are necessary not only when we need to “move stuff”, but also when we want to express our love to God.

In Hosea 4:2 we read: “Take words and return to the Lord.” If we decide to meet the Lord, we should therefore take our words and go to Him, and not meet Him empty-handed. Even if we should give Him the same words a million other people do, the act of speaking our love, or desire, or need, is so special to Him since they flow from a heart desiring to meet with Him.

Besides the fact that spoken words are powerful, speaking to Him in an audible voice demonstrates and confesses our faith in His immediate presence.

William looked out of this huge copper pot. He found himself a small figurine walking around on the bottom looking for leftover scrapings.

This pot, once filled with blessings, running over, pouring down onto the table and onto the floor, suddenly seemed empty.

He was in a dire position due to many problems. While being so desperately aware of his own situation and feeling helpless about it, he visited a close relative struggling with cancer. He prayed for his relative but his prayers seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

William had experienced the blessings of God since birth. Every time he needed something or found himself in a crisis, Jesus came to the rescue. Numerous times God miraculously healed, rescued, blessed and poured out His love on him and his family. Suddenly it seemed that he had used his entire stock of blessings. The pot was empty, nothing left.

Jesus was watching him very closely, concerned about him and his problems, ready to solve them all until He noticed William’s empty copper pot attitude, causing traces of pain on His face – This truly hurts!

“William!”

“Yes, Lord.”

“Accidents do happen because you are still living in a broken world, run by people. No person is perfect and people make mistakes. Your modern lifestyle and certain habits might cause people to become ill. It is not My fault, William, I am innocent.”

“I have healed you many times. I’ve answered numerous of your prayers and rescued you several times from certain death, not that I would have been sorry if I did not, because I long to have you on this side. However, you love your life and I would love to see you live your life to the end with your family.”

“Son, take a look at your pot from a different altitude. Look at it from My side. Have you noticed the little innocent girl who finds herself in the intensive care unit of a hospital, due to serious burns? Have you noticed the family whose parents were brutally murdered? Have you seen the family of the cancer patient who was buried this week?”

“Those parents and family don’t look down at their pots but up to Me and they don’t see their circumstances as empty copper pots. Have you noticed that, although they carry in their hearts the deepest pain, they radiate joy and peace? They do because they notice My immediate presence in their lives, that presence only a disciple like you can experience.”

They know, as you should too, that in any circumstance you might find yourself – I will never leave you nor forsake you! In cases like these, I pour out Myself, covering you, rather than filling an empty copper pot!”