Search-Light / Zoek-Licht

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Like the bright star at Jesus’ birth. Like a light beam on a lighthouse. Or even a flashlight in the darkness, to the smallest little flame of candle light. What God can start in our hearts can start small and grow bigger. Or He stands on your doorstep in a wide open moment. Searching… for us…

Aren’t we searching for wonders, signs around us? Like recently, when thousands are marveling outside in the darkness, over the wonders of the Northern lights. In search of that beauty. If that craving is pulling us, how the more is God’s everlasting Light shining for us… With His promises full of perfection and beautiful peace… Isn’t that pulling you for His love? As a child is scared of the darkness, trusting his parents for guidance; how much the more we can trust our Heavenly Father through difficult, ‘dark’ times in our lives… He is the Light of the world, let His brightness shine for you, through and in you.

For to Him and in Him is all the glory!!

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. (Eph.5:8)

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

Switching Gears

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We are all born into sin, surrounded by it constantly. There are temptations all around us… Choices are to be made; a big part of the choice is, you either stay in the particular sin(s) – driving the same speed or you switch gears and turn into that different road.

Some roads are or have been long, lonely, hard, continuous, or even an endless road. Some are/were shorter. Though the longer we’re stuck on a long, hard, lonely one, the harder it is to get off and find the one that’s leading to happiness and hope.

Don’t get me wrong, no matter what road you are on in this world, it’ll only lead to destruction if you don’t pay attention. It makes a difference in whom you’re driving that road with… Who’s the guide, leading you where to go? Is it the worldview; where the Devil is let free to tempt and twist the truth? Or is it Jesus, God, who will fill you with hope and love for a better future? Are you alone or are you surrounded by people on the road, whom all come with their own burdens, but whom are having a hope and love. A future without tears, a future where there’s no more pain… Or are we stuck in gear and letting worldly people influence us about the ‘good or bad’.

We all have a conscious. Which I believe is connected to our souls. Where the Holy Spirit meets, where God guides and Jesus saves. But where there is room for the worldly influences and the devil who is trying to keep you from God.

Yes, a sin is a sin. Jesus hates sin. The devil loves sin. But Jesus loves the sinner who requests forgiveness, is ashamed, feels guilty and is looking for love. He wants you to pull of that worldly road and prepare you for the future of hope, with Him as leader and not ourselves…

Don’t walk or drive that lonely road, stuck in gear. Slow down. Give yourself up to God, He’ll lead you to better places, in His time. Not ours, not yours, not my time. Let’s open our tired, weary eyes, have Him carry us, strengthen us. So we may drive the road of life on earth for His glory. Not ours… His.

In the beginning God created all, we did not and cannot. We can’t re-create it for Him either. Satan tries… He twists and turns to make it look all fine and dandy until it leads to destruction. Where in his conscious, he knows, he’ll end up too. Satan wanted to be God, but he isn’t. His verdict is destruction and he’ll try his hardest to break whatever is good and full of love. Taking with him as many as he can. Envy, jealousy and so on, is a destructive road that belongs to the devil. Love joy, peace, but in due time suffering, belong to Jesus.

He gave us others around us, that are on His road, to suffer together in due time. But also to help each other out with love where needed; to endure destruction and to find everlasting peace.

You’re not alone, you never will be. The big question is: with who are you fighting the battle(s)?

https://curvesofhope.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/oneday-male-choir-you-never-walk-alone-2.mp3

Every Story has Two Sides

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Twisted stories, cover-ups, making others look worse than yourself. What are the motives behind this all? Pride and jealousy are the big items. “Life is like a coin. Pleasure and pain are the two sides. Only one side is visible at a time. But remember that the other side is waiting for its turn.” Because; “Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.” Therefore; ” Don’t justify before you listen to both sides of the story.”

What does God and the Bible teach us about this? Proverbs 18:17 says; ‘The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him.’ And Proverbs 2 verse 8 says; ‘He guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of His saints.’

God knows all, the truth, the lies and the cover-ups. Though all of these will come to light on the day of judgement. Until then, we can join the Psalmist in Psalm 30:1-5; ‘In You, o Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be ashamed; deliver me in Your righteousness. Bow down Your ear to me, deliver me speedily; be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defense to save me. For You are my rock and fortress; therefor, for Your name’s sake, lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for You are my strength. Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, o Lord God of truth.

So how can we read this? “All the lies people tell just to cover up the truth that reveals itself in the end.” Since; “Its almost always the cover-up rather than the event that causes trouble.”

“How can we smile, when a smile is like a band-aid, it can cover up the pain but it will still hurt.” The answer is: Hold on to the truth!! For; “Every time you thought of giving up, remind yourself what kept you holding on.”

What’s your, my purpose? To be a light in this world. Being examples in the truth. For He, Himself said in Jeremiah 29:11; ‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’

Go On

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The busyness of life… Daily chores, appointments, work. Can we keep up? Does your world spin around you; does it ever seem it stands still? ‘Can I go on?’

My favorite saying lately has been: one day at a time. Why not? It already flies by and way to fast. Sometimes we have to stand still, sit down, find the peace and quietness… We can find those things exactly in Christ! Christian music helps, the lyrics make you realize that exact peace and quietness. Especially the hope… He talks in the quietness and He also listens. The Power of love. His love goes on.

And so do we have to!

In our recent sale of our main farm, the change of moving into another house, a lot of stress, emotions and all the other factors of moving; need to be released somehow. In the midst of that all we have to ‘go on, ‘move on’. Christ knows our future, He’s our Leader and Guide. His love endures forever, His love will help us endure, to go on!

He’ll find you, may you find Him as well!!

‘These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!’ (John 16:33)

The Rank of Life

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Right now, where are you standing? Are you thinking; where am I standing in life? What’s my stand place in life and how am I ranked? How many likes do I have or am I being shared so much? Do we need to?…

Who do we need to share… Ourselves? Our family and friends? Do we ‘follow’ them? Are you being followed?

Who do we need to follow? And do we love this person? Who are we connected to? Today’s visible, everyday people? Are we thinking of today, yesterday or tomorrow?

All these connected questions… There’s just on true connection we really need; The Rank of Life. His vine produces hope. Hope for today, yesterday and tomorrow. But not only that… Hope in eternity! This vine produces fruit and a good vine produces lots of fruit. Which part of the vine are you?

John 15: 1-8: ‘I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.’

Heavenly Peace

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Will it ever be peace on earth? When we look into our daily life’s; we are fighters… fighters of wanting to be right, fighters towards inflation, fighters towards sin… and so on. Aren’t we tired of fighting? Where is our hope? My friends, the battle has already been won! It’s been won by Christ, our peace. He sends us His spiritual gifts through the Holy Spirit. Who gives us hope, a heavenly hope.

This is how my mother illustrated it recently: ‘By putting two fingers close to each other: this is us living on earth now. Then she stretched her arms wide open: and this is eternity!’ It doesn’t mean we should stop ‘fighting’. We should fight the good fight: for the right things, by being examples of Jesus Christ: all for His glory.

God is awaiting us with open arms, to reveal His heavenly Peace. Remember, Jesus born as a baby. Fighting life in all kinds of ways. But never giving up the hope; the hope He knew about all the way; to give up His life for us.

‘In the dawn of redeeming grace, all is well, all is bright.’ ‘Rejoice! Rejoice! Emanuel: Shall come to thee, oh Israel…’

Ephesians 2:14-17 : ‘Christ our Peace’

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 4: 13-15 : ‘Spiritual Gifts’

Till we come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ – from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Hebrews 11: 13-16 : ‘The Heavenly Hope’

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

Why pray?

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Pray… prayer is God’s special gift of communication. He loves to hear from us! Although He knows all outcomes of our futures, He needs to hear our struggles. Not only our struggles, but also giving praise to Him. Prayer is so powerful, it’s this communication towards our biggest King! No multiple hold-or waiting lines, only to find out you can’t talk to such an important person. No, it’s a direct line, any time of the day. All the things of concern you can share. He won’t cut you off or place you on hold. If we ask for help, He hears us. But we, to often, wanted the help yesterday already. But God’s ways are mysterious and happen only in His time.

Though, you might say: ‘Prayer right now doesn’t help…’ But who are we compared to God to even say or think that? So many prayers do get answered… Some even if we don’t realize ourselves. Others might be praying for us without us even knowing. And look at all the blessings we have! Houses, clothing, food, good health… is it then never enough?! Why do we ourselves want to be in control? Because we’re self-centered. And we need to give that over to God. He’s the center of everything, He’s in control. Not ourselves, not our neighbors, family, friends, governments or passports. The port we all have to pass is through the gates owned by God Himself. Will you, I, pass that port? It’s always the right time to pray for help and that prayer won’t be unheard. Trust, trust and believe, that’s all He’s asking of us.

‘Share’

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‘Sharing is caring’ is the saying… It’s hard to share something valuable, isn’t it? To kids even a simple toy can be hard to share. To adults it can be anything. We share conversations, we share our kindness or even our miseries. The internet is full of links, where you can share that certain thing or page. Just one click away. That interesting, nice part you’d like to share with others.

Aren’t we constantly comparing? Like apples to pears… Do I look better in daily life then others? Have I accomplished more in life? Is my house needier? Am I a ‘better’ Christian? No, no, no… we are all sinners! No one is better then the other… But we forget one major thing:

Jesus is the person who’d like to be shared too… One simple decision in your life. But that decision is loaded with good and bad consequences. What do I mean by that? The bad first; through Jesus we suffer, we realize our sins and may get rejected by those who normally wouldn’t. But the good thing is His grace, His love and His promise to everlasting life! How can we not share that with others? Are we afraid? For the worlds view and it’s rejection?

We need to be shining lights. That when there are more lights are burning, the brighter it gets: So others may see! So, are we sharing? Are we caring? This hope filled light in Jesus Christ? His light will never go off, He’s our hope and strength to whatever we face tomorrow. May it be a messy house, situations to solve or rejection by others… We have Him on our side!! It’s so valuable…

Risk Management

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Doesn’t it seem like we think things are going well and seem to be under control, that then, something totally unexpected happens? We plan, have strategies in place, but those don’t always work either. For myself, I like to problem solve, but that’s not always easy… and not always done in a minute or so.

God however, knows already and can solve anything. How? Not always right away and not always the way we want it. But through Jesus Christ and His special Helper, the Holy Spirit; anything is possible. Is this special management in place for you, me? Not always right? We like to -so many times- depend on ourselves… But why not ask for His help? He knows the outcome!

We tend to go outside our boundaries sometimes, wondering of. Explore or looking for something. But that ‘something’ is or can be with you already! We need to realize, even in our busy lives, that He’s there. If you want Him to or not: He is. So how do we manage that? Do we take on His plan or leave it be? Time will tell, but there’s always time to step back into the save-zone and have Him look out for you when you seem to have things out of your own control.