Category: Touch Me

Leila was 5 years old when her mom took her to school for the first time. After she had kissed her daughter good bye, she remained out of sight but kept close by to see how Leila’s first day would unfold. Then she saw something that tore her heart in two.

Leila is a tender-hearted and gentle little girl with a heart filled with love for others, always willing to share. After walking around in the classroom, she noticed a girl sitting alone in the back of the room. She immediately ran over to her, sat down and greeted her with a smile, “Hi.”

The other girl angrily turned her face to Leila, “Do not sit next to me! I don’t want to be your friend!” Then she got up, leaving Leila sitting all alone.

Her mom saw the pain and confusion on her little girl’s face and she resisted the urge to go and take her into her arms. Then she saw another girl approaching Leila and soon they were friends. After a while, she left the school, believing her daughter would be fine.

Life in general is tough and unforgiving. A long time ago a Man visited the people He loved so dearly and after He had shown them His love and who He really is, they turned Him a cold shoulder as well. “Away with Him, crucify Him,” they shouted.

He saw one of His closest followers refusing to be called His friend. Jesus knew how it feels to be treated the way Leila experienced. On that day she went to school, He was there too. He saw the pain on the little girl’s face and He reached over and touched her heart, comforting her.

Leila felt the love and welcomed the new friend Jesus sent her way.

This little incident that took place at the beginning of this year, reminds us once again that we are not alone in our troubles and pain. Many times we experience people turning their backs on us saying, “Away with them, crucify them,” and we feel the pain. Most of us don’t have parents watching over us anymore.

When that happens, we should remember that we have Jesus. We should look around and notice His eyes focused on us and we would hear His voice, “I know this person! He is My friend! Leave him alone! I love him!”

Leila did not know her mom was watching her or that Jesus touched her but if she did, she would have hugged them and thanked them.

We do know Jesus. His love shines on us every second of the day and the night and we can respond with, “Thank You, Jesus! Because I love You I want to be Your friend!” This will make His day!

The tragic story of the two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, captured our attention for decades. Sadly, the lives of the two people with their sincere love, ended in tragedy. However, many people still wonder how it must feel to love someone so profoundly.

During my student years, two lecturers at our University had their own Romeo and Juliet experience. They were well known for the great love and affection they felt for each other.

Then tragedy struck. The wife was diagnosed with a fatal cancerous disease. The two people could not live without each other and the husband could not bear to see his Juliet suffer. Consequently, he gave her an overdose of sleeping pills after which he got into his car, drove himself into the river, and was drowned.

The ending was equally tragic but the same question surfaces regarding their love. How must it feel to love someone so sincerely?

Another Romeo and Juliet story is busy unfolding before our eyes. Many years ago, a Bridegroom noticed the cancerous sins present in the life of His bride. The cancer consequently, disqualified her to become His bride. This prompted Him to make a serious but painful decision.

He willingly submitted Himself to the bride and her family to be openly humiliated and tortured unto death on the cross.

Today, the cancer still exists to a certain extend in the life of the bride but the effect has been obliterated.

The only thing the bride has to do is to believe her Bridegroom has been resurrected and that the consequences of the cancer have been cancelled. The moment she does that, He moves in and starts living closer with her. This is the only successful and everlasting love story in existence.

This great love story has yet another tragic twist for the Bridegroom. If the bride believes in His love and His close companionship every day, why doesn’t she talk to Him more often and tell Him how much she loves Him? Why doesn’t she put more effort in to listen to Him? Why doesn’t she get to know Him better?

How profound must His love be for this bride!

Two angels were watching a married couple who was praying together. The couple had a prayer time scheduled for the early hours of every morning. Because Jesus was always present, the angels could not understand why the couple’s prayers were not always answered.

Angel A said, “Let us look at the two pictures this morning and see if we could spot the difference.”

“You mean there is a difference between the two images other than the fact that they are two individuals of opposite gender,” B replied.

A continued, “I’m referring to their thoughts. You know that people always pray what they are thinking. Thoughts contain the blueprint for the meaning of their words.”

“So let’s take a look at their thoughts, perhaps we can see why their prayers are not answered all the time. Often the pictures differ in many instances.”

“See, they are praying for their finances at the moment but the wife thinks about an increase in salary while the husband thinks about getting another job.”

“They should check their language of thought before they use the verbal version. I don’t think they realise that Jesus knows and understands their thought language.”

God sees the married couple as one beautiful concert. A violin and piano are two completely different instruments but when played in unison, create beautiful music. Two individuals of opposite gender are His pride when operating in unison, in marriage.

On their wedding day, they both verbally promised Jesus that they desire to become one and would always remain one. Jesus took their commitment of unity serious and He expects them to operate accordingly.

The moment they quarrel or are mad at each other, their language of thought takes a trip through a dark alley, creating sad and sometimes regretful feelings. During this time, their prayers are seldom answered, except if it is about reconciliation.

God is unprejudiced and fair and He loves both of them very much. During a time when a man and his wife distance themselves from each other spiritually, Jesus automatically moves a bit further from answering their prayers as well.(1 Peter 3:7)

Prayers of two people spoken in unity, grounded in faith, move mountains.

God created everything through His Son, Jesus Christ. Everything on earth and in heaven were created by Him and take note, everything was created for Him. (Col 1:16)

Ever since creation, Jesus was busy with what naturally belongs to Him. He has never left us nor forsaken us since the day we were born. He is still busy.

We are also busy. We are making a living in this beautiful world He created for us. During office hours, we are so busy we seldom find time to talk to Jesus. He understands this because He knows we have to make a living… or does He.

We haven’t got used to the idea that we are able to speak to Him without praying or having to make an appointment first. We forget that we can speak to Him even in a crowded meeting because He understands the language of thought.

We forget that to be busy with Jesus is more than just talking to him. We have to be busy creating and maintaining a relationship with Him.

We are so busy that we don’t realise we are busy getting ourselves divorced from Jesus. Sometimes we forget He is in us, indwelling us. Often we are only living together, nothing more.

What makes things worse unfortunately is that our world has become an entertainment sensation, soaking up all our attention. After hours, we remain busy. If it is not watching TV, we would find ourselves busy fiddling around with Twitter, Facebook or whatever.

At this very moment, Jesus is still present. The only problem is, in many of our homes, He is standing all alone. We became too busy to notice that He has become very quiet in our lives.

Stop being busy and take the weight off your shoulders and rest in Jesus! Then stay there!

The two people met one Saturday on the beach. After a while they walked together, chatting and laughing when every once in a while, their hands casually touched. At one stage, Rick suddenly grabbed her hand and held on to it. The further they walked, the easier it became to relax while holding hands.

A few months later, this relationship developed to a stage where Rick asked Esmé for her hand in marriage. Her answer was, “Rick, I believe I was made for you.”

Those words were an unselfish declaration of love. Rick, however, not realising what she really said, confirmed with, “I agree, you were made for me.” Now he feels so ashamed about what he had said.

Today, 35 years later, and with tears, welling up in his eyes he looked down at the words engraved onto the cold tombstone, “She was made to care and she completed her task with honours.”

Rick, knowing Jesus being present, started talking to Him. “You know, Lord, she was indeed made for me. Her way of thinking was the most beautiful any husband could ask for. In her mind she was the only wife in the whole world made just for me.”

“She also saw herself made to be the servant to all the people she cared for, every patient in the cancer unit where she worked, the pensioner who tried to cross the street, the orphan and the poor… Why did she have to leave, Lord?”

“Leaving is part of your world. Her leaving on your side meant she has arrived on Mine. You know Rick, she was also made for Me.”

“Wow, yes of course! But Lord, I miss her so much!”

“Son, through her life Esmé demonstrated what true love really is. Her love for you was so great that she did not regard herself to be equal to you. That is why she saw herself as being made for you, not the other way round.”

“Her view of love is the true essence of life. She understood that. I also became Man… for you, took it one step further by suffering and jdying on the cross… for you. I came back to life… for you because I knew one day you would be made… for Me.”

“Thank You for having me made for You, Jesus. Please help me to live for You the way she did!”

They were married for 40 years or 14600 days, give and take a few. Most of them were good days but some were not so good. Most were joyful but a few were also sad. Once in a while they had issues they found hard to forget and occasionally they said things they regret.

Today, once again, was one of those forget-me-soon days. Everything started innocently, and then he said something that she did not like. Soon, everything was dragged out of context.

On their faces, the stonewall façades, dismay chiselled an image of anger and pride. Deep down however, where only Jesus could see, a muddy feeling of wretchedness settled down. Both suddenly felt they’ve had enough of this marriage.

Then they heard the words of Jesus as His hand soothed and covered their hearts. “My children, let Me remind you of days long ago before you were married, but wanted to though.”

“If I wanted you to be married to Phil, you would have been called Mrs Jane Summers today. If I wanted you to be married to Rose, she would have been Mrs Rose Wyatt today. I did not want that. I gave you what you desired, Mr and Mrs Thom and Jane Wyatt. I saw you together and it pleased Me. I saw your children long before they were born. I also saw today.”

“Both of you came to Me then and both asked Me for a partner in life. I gave you your blessings and you became husband and wife. “

“You were happy. Your life together was music to My ears and in the course of time your children came along. Why do you doubt now and why do you cry?”

“I am not crying, Lord!” Thom said.

“Oh yes you are, Thom. On the inside a river of tears are flooding its banks.”

Jane looked at Thom in surprise. She thought he didn’t care.

“Yes, Jane, Thom cares just as much for you as you are caring for him.”

“I want you to look at each other through the same eyes when you met for the first time. Your bodies may have changed but on the inside, your beautiful spirits remained almost untouched.”

“Clean the slate and take her hand, Thom. Wipe your eyes and look back at him, Jane, smile!”

“If you want to leave him… you are free to go! If you think you don’t love her anymore… you are free to let her go! Remember though, I’ll be hurt more than you will ever know, because together you are one beautiful couple with the emphasis on ONE.”

They sat in silence for a long while, and then Jane said, “I don’t want to go.”

In the embrace that followed, Thom whispered in her ear, “I am sorry for what I’ve said! I love you too much to let you go.”

Joseph was watching a group of people who have just given their hearts to the Lord. At that moment, Jesus spoke into his heart.

“They are beautiful aren’t they?”

“Oh yes, Lord. They are starting a brand new life as citizens of heaven.”

“Joseph, from this moment on they hold permanent passports to enter into heaven when they die. However, they’ve also received new visas, endorsed by Me to live and work victoriously with Me in this world. Sadly, many visas get cancelled.”

“I don’t understand, Lord, who is responsible for cancelling the visas?” “They achieve that all on their own. Notice that young woman in front of the group. A few minutes ago, she has received her passport to eternity, including a visa to live victoriously in My presence. However, she was the first to cancel My endorsement on her visa.”

“Let Me explain. She is a lovely person. One day unfortunately, she committed a terrible sin. She was very sorry for what she had done but that memory made a habit of blaming her for all her mistakes in life.”

“When she gave her heart to Me, I forgave her for all she had done her whole life and she received her passport and visa. She certainly is going to heaven.”

“As a re-born child, she also had the opportunity to start a new life, a blessed, prosperous and healthy life because she holds the visa to achieve that. Then the old memory tapped her on shoulder again and I saw her cringe. If she believed in My forgiveness she should have forgiven herself as well. By reviving what I have deleted, she cancelled My signature on the visa.”

“I never thought of it that way, Lord! Is she the only one?”

“Not the only one but the first of this new group. Not many of My children achieve victorious lives, Joseph. This is one of the reasons why. I’ve always been telling people to believe. Why would they believe that I deleted their sins but then keep on reviving the memories of all their mistakes in their minds?”

“I am with them but they turn their backs on Me because they believe they’re not worthy of Me. Somehow they doubt the fact that they have been cleansed of their sins and mistakes.”

“I did not only become man to give everyone a passport into heaven. I also want them to live a new victorious life in My presence, true to the purpose I created them in the beginning.”

“You have been cleansed, your sins are gone, you are Mine! Smile, forget your mistakes and live!” (Heb 10:22, 35-38)

Annie took the day off. Her busy lifestyle piled a mountain of stress onto her life. She held the cup of tea with both hands in front of her mouth while casually gazing at the other people in the restaurant. Everyone seemed so relaxed and pleased, she thought.

A little girl sitting in her mother’s lap, enjoying her ice cream, caught her eye. Her whole being portrayed an image of peace and joy in the loving arms of her mother. She seemed so… complete.

Suddenly, Annie longed for the days when she was small. She loved her job but it is causing too much stress lately.

“Take a break,” Jesus said.

“Oh, Lord, I cannot afford to take a break now.”

“Annie, when you take a break, you obviously have to continue afterwards with what you’ve been doing. Now, I don’t want you to take a break but rather to break a take. Take your typical strenuous day to day lifestyle and break it.”

“If you feel you’re not in the right job, then take a break from that too. Take a break from thinking the wrong stuff and believing you’re not good enough. Take a break from thinking what you are lacking in life. Just… take a break!”

“How, Lord?”

“Come into My rest and come sit in My lap. Rest assured that everything is taken care of. Enter into My rest and become complete.”

“In Me dwells the fullness of God. You, having accepted Me as your Saviour, are complete in Me.” (Col 2:9, 10)

“Being complete in Me, our Father will make you complete to do His will through Me.” (Heb 13:20, 21)

“You would still be Annie who makes mistakes now and then but everything would be fine. That little girl over there spilled ice scream on her dress just now but her mother quickly wiped it clean. Notice however, the girl is the one sitting in her mother’s lap, protected and cuddled, but both are content and happy. If you would rest in Me, we would both be happy and content too.”

“Resting takes time. Do not hasten the process. Let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:4)

“Oh, and Annie, our take-a-break time together will last not for a moment but for every minute of every day!”

Edgar said something in a meeting that sparked a reaction. He saw the eyes, whispering lips, hand gestures and expressions of contempt.

Driving home after the meeting, he spoke to Jesus, “I don’t think I would ever feel good about myself in public again, Lord.”

“It is all about the trees, My child.”

“Trees, what about them?”

“They are everywhere. You will find some trees in a forest and some standing alone on a hill.”

“Billions of trees all over the world and no two are the same. This is unique, don’t you think. However, some have been bent or missing a branch or two. I suppose a forest would call them eccentric if it could.”

“Take another look at yourself and notice that no other person in the world looks like you. You are normal but unique, exclusively formed to be you. No one else but you can be you.”

“No other person sounds like you, smells like you, thinks the way you do, desires what you desire. You are absolutely unique in every single way and so is every other person in the world!”

“Do not compare yourself to other people. You did not fail when you struggled to achieve the same goals. Do not take their ambitions and dreams as the blueprint for your success in life!”

“Stop feeling bad when you do something different to what other people think is the rule.”

“You don’t need to feel self-conscious in public. Everyone is growing old. Beauty does not expire at the age of 30. On the contrary, true beauty increases just like good wine, on the inside.”

“When someone does not comply to a certain way of dressing or operating or thinking he is referred to as being eccentric. Many people have deviated so much from who they are by trying to be acceptable in the public eye, that they forgot how unique they really are.”

“Every person is unique and I am so glad you are uniquely you. I love every bit of you for being just you. Keep on doing your special things, follow your ‘peculiar’ customs, put on the clothes that you love and just be uniquely you. You are perfect peculiar eccentric true to Me. I love you!”

“Trees are good but I would never die for one. I died for you in order for you to live abundantly in your unique pair of shoes.”

God created Adam and gave him dominion over all the animals. He knew it was not enough and in Gen 2:18 God said, “it is not good that man should be alone.”

Consequently, God put Adam to sleep, took one of his ribs and created woman. When he woke up and saw his beautiful helper, it was love at first sight.

I am more of a loner but I didn’t want to go through life alone either, therefore I am married. However, I chose to marry my wife because I love her.

Loneliness we discovered, is not present in the lives of unmarried people only. As a couple, we have also felt very lonely sometimes.

During times like these, we often asked ourselves the question, Lord, why are we here? What is the purpose of our life? Why have You created Adam in the first place?

Pastor Mario Marchio of Bosko Ministries in Hermanus, South Africa, answered that question perfectly in one of his newsletters recently. He was on a flight to the USA, admiring the landscape underneath, when he asked God, “Lord, why did You create man?”

While pondering over the matter miles up in the air, he made a disturbing discovery. He noticed a brown liquid leaking from one of the engines. He brought it to the attention of a flight attendant who reported it to the captain.

The attendant returned soon after, assuring Pastor Mario that it was perfectly normal, “when there’s too much oil in the engine it automatically discharges the excess through an outside outlet.”

At that moment God answered his question, “that’s why I created man Mario. I was so full of love that I needed a love outlet. That’s the only reason why I created you son, because I need someone to love.”

After reading his letter I realised that God created Adam in His image (Gen 1:26,27) and we, the great, great, great… grandchildren of Adam are still in His image. We also have love to give.

Married or not, since Jesus’ death and resurrection, God is in us with all His love and we will never ever be alone, but what about God? If we are created to the image of God, it means that God also needs love just as we do.

It does not feel good to be alone sometimes especially when many people around us are too busy to notice us.

God wants us to look for people who might not have family of their own and make them part of ours once in a while. They might have God but still miss a human being to chat with, eat with or play with the way people do when they are together.

Most of all, give Jesus a hug in your spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit to saturate you with His presence only because you love Him. Sit on the lap of the Father and hold His hand in your spirit because Someone with love, also needs love.