Iemand anders vroeg me of ik niet misschien gewoon mijn evaluaties ook hierop kan plaatsen, maar dat betekent wel dat het in het engels is... Aangezien ik niet precies weet wie deze blog lezen weet ik niet of het een probleem is dat ik in het engels schrijf. Maar vandaar vandaag mijn evaluatie die ik net geschreven heb!
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” Isaiah 1:16,17
July 14, Wednesday
Evaluation week 25, July 7 - 14 , 2010
It is really clear what God wants. He wants a heart that is obedient in following His ways. He wants us to learn how to do good. All throughout history, God has been writing the story of His faithfulness and love. He has given us everything, so we can be saved. And all He asks is to follow Him. He even gives us the promise that it will be well with us when we follow Him. Gods Word is so full of treasures (like Psalm 119 describes it), that it is sometimes overwhelming. Have you ever seen a movie or picture where a treasure is found and a little bit of the lit is opened? The glittering of the gold and jewels immediately catches your eye.. and that is only the beginning, the lit is not even fully opened yet, let alone that there is way more to discover under the first layer of treasures. That’s the same way it feels with the Bible sometimes. It’s like the treasure box is opened for just a glimpse of that what lays ahead. Jesus Himself prays for His disciples before He leaves the earth in John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Wow, an eternal life full of discovering more of the treasure that is only found in God Himself! And we will never stop discovering, because He is so Amazing. I realized that I have often made Him so much smaller than He in reality is. I am trying to carry burdens and do all kinds of things forgetting that the one that made the universe is just at my side. That the one that moves the mountains is willing to help when I just seek Him and acknowledge Him. Last Monday I was invited by my friend Mymy to visit the house of Prayer and God showed me something I am still trying to grasp. In Isaiah 1 it is clear that God doesn’t desire sacrifices or burnt offerings, but He desires obedience. In Isaiah 2 God repeats the same sentence a few times. “Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty.” It was as if the word TERROR, lighted up for me. A little onward in verse 19 and 21 God continues: “When He arises to shake the earth mightily.” Maybe it is easier or nicer to speak about Gods love, but while God is fully LOVE and His compassion never ends. God is also TERRIFIC. He is Holy, Glorious, Majestic. No one can see His face and live! So when God asks our obedience it is really clear that He doesn’t take His love lightly. It is so true that salvation is found in grace alone, but we cannot continue to live in sin, so that grace may abound. Becoming a child of God, being adopted in His family will have lots of consequences. We need to lay down our own life in order to find Gods life in us. And if we choose to hold on to our own ways of living the Lord will Judge Righteous and Just.. with His Terror. Maybe I never really liked the picture of a smoking mountain when God gave the commandments to Moses. Maybe I have put my focus only on the Shepherd carrying His sheep. But God reminded me that I have to remember both. He is the Shepherd that came to seek and save the Lost, at the same time He is the one that makes the mountains melt like wax and He will shake the earth. No one knows how long God will still give us life here on earth, no one knows when He is coming back to judge righteously. But we do know that He will come and that our works will be tested as through fire. Have I done with my talent what He wanted me to do? Have I learned how to do good? How to show my love for Him in obeying Him? I am saying with Paul: ‘O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – trough Jesus Christ our Lord!’
Day by day I have to learn to crucify my flesh with its sinful desires (take up your cross) and allow Jesus to take over. Thanks and Glory be to God who is faithful and just to cleanse me from all unrighteousness and give me a new life in Christ Jesus. And the deeper I will abide in Him the more He will allow the fruits of obedience and good works to grow. The works that He has already prepared for me!
Thank you for letting me share with you some of the spiritual journey God is taking me through. And thank you for being a part of it in your faithful prayers and support to me! May I say just once more with Paul: ‘And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.’ (Philippians 1:9)
What has happened:
Since I have shared so much in my introduction already just a little bit of some other things that have happened the past week. God has really blessed me last week with the opportunity to visit the first family in Umapad with a small gift. It really opened my eyes for more of the needs in this community and the lives of this children. It breaks my heart to just understand a little bit more of what they are going through. Pray that God will really shine His light in this place. For the rest I am very happy with the flannel pictures that I use for every outreach now. And the people in Tres were also very excited about it. A lot of time is still going into preparing food, buying, cutting and cooking. During this times of cutting vegetables I can meditate on the spiritual food God has been giving me, so that is one of the reasons I shared so much of my spiritual journey with you today. Just let me know if you want to know other things!
What will be happening:
We just welcomed another short-term stepper from Switzerland yesterday. She will stay for four weeks. With Cres I will also prepare Friday afternoon teachings for the Teens. Which can be anything and will probably include some teaching on Hygiene and Health, Baking skills and creative skills. This Friday I will try to give them a lesson on AIDS. This Saturday there will be a baptism from the teens from different outreaches, I still have to find out how I am going to combine that with my normal Saturday outreaches. So enough to keep me going!
En nog een extratje.. mooie plaatjes van de Filippijnen toen mijn broer bij me op bezoek was en we het eiland van Cebu beter bekeken hebben.
Posts
