Tainted Water

12 January 2011

Proverbs 5:15 Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.

When we have a lot of rain like we have had over the past week or so, then the rainwater seeps into the underground water and the result is that the one borehole is tainted with the taste of mud. The result is that we have to flush the borehole by running the pump to waste and then emptying the tanks and cleaning them of sand. This is one of the joys of living out in the bush, on the other hand we know our water is drinkable even though it may taste slightly different, because it is rain water that has caused the problem not something else.

In the same way when we are in situations of plenty, when we have plenty money, plenty success, we often do not notice how these things seep into our lives, and before we are aware we are tainted by them. Our flavour for life changes and we no longer taste the same to God, because we have allowed these things to alter us. We need every now and again to flush our systems and clean our situation so that we stop being tainted by the things that stop us from relying on God. When we rely on the things of the world to determine who we are, we no longer rely on God.

So even though rainwater is pure, the way it enters the ground water allows it to become contaminated by what it filters through. So even though our intentions are pure in regard to money and success we often forget that these are also contaminated by the world we live in.

Be encouraged to rely more on God than on money and success.

David

Point to ponder:  Money and Success come and goes, but God is always there.

Question to consider:  What do you rely on?

Our webpage: www.chf.yolasite.com

Attitude

11 January 2011

Proverbs 16:3 Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.

Our attitude in the way we respond to issues and to other people is important, not only in the way we deal with things, but also in the way we deal with ourselves. In society today we find that our attitude to the decisions we have to make and the situations that we are in determines whether we are able or capable or not. There are many people who break us down, undermine what we do, add on words to what we say, jump to conclusions, and our attitude in how we respond to them is vital for our own well-being.

Attitudes are closely linked to what we believe, what we do and in what we have faith, if money is the root of our stability then our attitude to money will reflect that, if success is our root then our attitude will reflect that. When we start to realise that our attitude towards things in our daily life is a reflection of our beliefs then what should our attitude be towards what we believe about God? If we believe that God is in control of our world and that we are His children then our attitude should be the same, in our world God is sovereign, God is majestic, God is our God in our world. Our world is the world in which we live, not the earth, but the world of our own perception, our own reality and in that world God is King. Our attitude should then reflect that.

Be encouraged today to have the right attitude to life in your world and to crown God King of it all.

David

Point to ponder:  Our attitude reflects our beliefs.

Question to consider:  What is your attitude like?

Our webpage: www.chf.yolasite.com

Wrong language

10 January 2011

Proverbs 8:8-9 All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them. They are all straight to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge.

On Friday we went to visit in Frankfort in the Orange Free State, and so I did the daily encouragement diligently and transferred all the address lists onto the laptop. When it came to send it I tried everything that I knew to send it, nothing I did worked. Yesterday I saved it onto a memory stick and came to email it from the desk top, and then found that the desk top could not read it because it was in Office 2010 and the desk top was in Office 2003.

Language and communication are sometimes very strange, we keep on changing our language and its definitions to suit ourselves and then find that we cannot understand each other anymore. In the same way we use language to communicate, but if you understand a word differently to what I understand it, then we may come to a different conclusion and the result is that there has been no adequate communication. Failed communication results in more damage to ourselves than we could ever imagine. We then should take time in selecting our language, our words, our attitudes so that we say what we mean and mean what we say.

Be encouraged today to make sure that we speak the same language to each other.

David

Point to ponder:  Our words are important.

Question to consider:  Do you speak before you think?

Our webpage: www.chf.yolasite.com

Swallows

6 January 2011.

Psalms 73:28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all thy works.

Between my office and the flatlet, there is an alcove that leads off the office. In the alcove above the window the swallows have built there house, one cannot call it a nest it looks more like a mud igloo. Just before they enter the nest they perch on an old telephone wire and then go into the nest. Firstly I did not know that swallows could make such a pleasant sound, and secondly I did not know that they had such beautiful feathers. When we see them flying or swooping after insects they are usually so fast or so high that we cannot really see them. At the moment it would seem they are very busy bringing food, so I do not know if they have babies or not.

I suppose it is the same with many of us, that there are people around us that we do not understand until we can get closer to them. When we see how people build there homes, how they provide for their families, how they dress and act, it tells us so much more about them than when they are flying high and are so busy in the world. So for us to get to know our neighbours we need to get close enough to them so that they can be themselves, and we can love them for who they are. It is also the same with Jesus, the closer we want to be with Him the more we will get to understand Him.

Be encouraged today to get closer to your neighbour, you may surprised at just how pleasant they are.

David

Point to ponder: You cannot love from a distance.

Question to consider: How close are you to your neighbour?

Our webpage: www.chf.yolasite.com

Please if you need to send this to some one please do. If you want any help or advice I will be happy to try and help. dhutt@mweb.co.za

Redeemed from the past

5 January 2011.

Ephesians 1:7-8 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us.

It is just great to be a born again Believer, simply because we have been redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness of sin has happened, and because of that we rejoice in His grace. Men will judge us and find us guilty, children will accuse of us of being bad parents, people will do what people do, but Christ finds no fault for those who love Him. When we dwell in the past with vain regrets and what if’s we allow them to be held against us. When we come to understand that Jesus understands, Jesus cares, then we find the freedom from the past. Jesus was there with us when did those sinful things and He understands our hearts and He still loves us.

What an awesome God we serve, He came not to judge us but to save us. His grace is there for us all and He lavished us with His love. We may feel hurt by the world, we may be rejected by the world, Jesus wipes away our tears and holds us tight in His love and He will never reject us. As Believers we have this secret that the world does not have, and we are the only hope through the power of the Holy Spirit to share it with those caught in the sin of the world.

Be encouraged today to praise God for what He has done for us.

  

David

Point to ponder: God has saved us.

Question to consider: Are you still trapped by your past?

Our webpage: www.chf.yolasite.com

Please if you need to send this to some one please do. If you want any help or advice I will be happy to try and help. dhutt@mweb.co.za

Promises

3 January 2011.

Ephesians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

Happy and a blessed New Year! From Val and I and all our family we wish you and all your loved ones  a year filled with hope, peace and joy. It is well to remind ourselves that God also wishes us a blessed New Year and that in this year His promises to us will come true. The first promise is that we are blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, this promise is also part of the fact that we are the chosen of God. God has chosen you to receive His blessings.

We need to respond to this by accepting and believing the promises that God has for us, and that as a result we should be holy and blameless before Him. Even though we may do things, say things, think things that may not be holy and blameless, it does not stop God. Even though we may not be perfect, and we may not be good, (because only God is good and perfect), He chose us before the foundation of the world to be His. How we respond to in this year, is our choice and when we do respond with thanksgiving and praise, we find the reality of His blessing being manifested in our lives.

Be encouraged today to accept the promise of God for you.

  

David

Point to ponder: God has given you a promise.

Question to consider: Do you accept the promise of God?

Our webpage: www.chf.yolasite.com

Please if you need to send this to some one please do. If you want any help or advice I will be happy to try and help dhutt@mweb.co.za

Faith as Children

4 January 2011.

Ephesians 1:5-6 He destined us in love to be his children through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

Life is a paradox and the Christian life even more so. So often we hear of people who have a special relationship with God, a God that speaks to them and tells them what to do and when to do it, it would seem that God has favourites. We then think that we are not as special as they are and that we must be doing something wrong, because if we were doing things right then God will also speak to us. But why should God speak to us, we are not important and just think how arrogant we are if we believe that God actually needs us or really cares what we do? Whether we live or die, the world will not change and the world will not change to suit us. Sometimes we are so far away from God, we might as well not exist. God is God and He does not need us to be God.

Yet our hope is not in the outward appearances or the religious mumbo jumbo, it is based in faith, a faith that no matter what or how we feel, God is unchanging and we are destined in His love to be His children through Jesus Christ. So if God our Father chooses to do what ever, we as His children love Him irrespective. His grace should be sufficient for us, even though we may not even be aware of it.

Be encouraged today to accept that it is God’s will that He loves us and we are His beloved, let us have faith in that.

David

Point to ponder: We are God’s children.

Question to consider: Do you sometimes loose faith in God?