Silent Time

Can anything be above heaven and earth? Daniel knew the Lord very well, he had a close relationship with that mighty eternal God. Despite we cannot see him, everyone can find the holy Lord and his grace.

Do you regularly take the time to remember the things you are thankful for? Apart from many more benefits, it can even improve your physical health!

Even if we live in relative safety still we are at risk each day: there could be accidents, robberies, sicknesses, unusual cosmic events as well as attacks from evil spirits that are not obvious since we cannot see them. Can anyone be found who can really protect us?

How do you feel, if someone has promised something to you but does not keep it? Some people might be reliable only to a lower, others to a higher degree. But there is one who is always 100% faithful.

Shut in. Locked in. Closed in. Many things might take away our freedom, such as our circumstances, other people, various types of sicknesses, too much work, addictions, and so on. How do you deal with those things?

In the past, often statues made of gold, bronze, stone or other materials have been the idols to which people gave relevance, or they worshipped the sun or other objects. Nowadays in our modern times, what draws your priority attention away from the almighty eternal God who in his grace continually offers us a close relationship? There are many modern idols such as work or leisure, possessions or...

Attention, please! Attention to what? In a world of so many influences, opinions, advertisements and voices, we are forced to filter out and focus on some of them. To what do you give the priority of attention?

Science discovers more and more things that in the past seemed to be mysteries. And probably that will go on in future, more knowledge will be gained by humanity by using modern technologies and algorithms. And yet there remain things which we cannot explain and that are unknown, for example the question what the future will bring.

Do you also talk of “good days” and “bad days”? Lucky days and unlucky days? Instead of putting our focus on the fate which would make us passive, rather let’s actively see what we can change and impact and most of all let’s focus on the almighty God who is also the Lord over each person’s fate and who offers to help and guide throughout life. He can turn even days that seem to be unlucky ultimate...

What are the consequences of each lie spoken by someone in the world?   And whom do you follow – the gruesome liar who continually brings evil and destruction into the world, or the one who is the great truth and who continually offers healing and new beginnings?

What gives you great joy? What kind of topics really move your heart?

Do you know someone who is talking all the day long? It might be annoying if another person continually talks. But not so with the Lord. God also continually tries to talk to us, but not in an annoying way at all. His words are words of real wisdom and offer a blessed, fulfilled life with joy and hope to all who listen to him. The father in heaven is full of love and mercy and he has the best inte...

What do you think about God? Do you think of him in human terms? Some people even think they could judge the eternal creator God, as if they had more knowledge or power than him. Daniel knew that God deserves more honour than any human or thing. The father in heaven controls the times and the seasons. It is him who gives wisdom and understanding.

Supposed you had been seriously sick and someone – e.g. a good doctor – intervened with a major surgery and then guided you and instructed you well how to treat your body so that you got healed – would you not be joyful and thankful towards that person?

If someone is shut in, that often has to do with force and wrongdoing, for example if someone acted against the laws. Similarly, if someone is shut out by people or by other forces. But that is not what the Lord wants for our lives, he wants to help us and finally to give us freedom. The eternal, almighty, merciful God holds the ultimate keys in his hands.

Freedom – what would you like to be free of? God wants us to have freedom. He could have created us like puppets, but he created us humans with a free will. We often take away our own freedom by either putting us into chains of wrongdoing, sin and devil. Or – by contrast – we take away our own freedom by putting ourselves into the chains of rules and by trying to obtain salvation by our own good d...

Water is necessary for life – we become aware of it especially in dry places like when walking through a desert. Not only does our body need physical water to drink, also our soul needs water, even if we are not aware of it, our soul needs the holy spirit. We become aware of it especially in “dry phases of life”, when burdens make us feel like walking through a desert.

We all look forward to better times. But what do we do in order to achieve it? Do we only pursue fun and pleasures in order to seek short term distraction from the troubles of life? Or take also steps towards lasting, eternal joy?

As humans we naturally want to go upwards, to gain honour and favour with people or to accumulate more possessions and so on. Jesus did the opposite, he went downwards – in order to help us!

What do you do, if you have too many things to do, a long list of tasks, and there is not enough time? A clever person will set priorities and focus on the most important things. That is a useful principle. Yet in the eyes of the Lord, sometimes other things are more important than from our point of view.

What do you reply if someone says “it does not matter which religion one follows”? Many people imply that it is more important to do good deeds. And most religions claim that the major point is the effort of a person. But God does not judge us based on our accomplishments. Rather in his mercy he sent his son Jesus into this world, who washed the feet of the disciples. He offers all that is necessa...

What do you think about compromises? Are they good? Are they bad? Often compromises between 2 conflicting opinions are useful to find a solution and a way ahead. Pilate also knew that sometimes compromises are necessary, he tried to find a way in between the conflicting expectations. But towards Jesus, a compromise is not possible. There needs to be a clear decision. Whether consciously or unaware...

Have you ever done a small favour to someone, and that person made you a much bigger present of incomparably more value? Whatever we can do for Jesus is much smaller than the tremendous gift that he offers us.

What is your reaction to that great news? – “He has risen!” The greatest news of history about the decisive victory of all times and for everyone personally: “The Lord has risen!” Are you interested? Or do other topics of daily life continue to fully occupy your mind alone?

Do you have anything to eat? To most people of our times sufficient food supplies are available. Less obvious, beyond the need for food and other physical stuff, there are also other types of needs that we are sometimes not aware of.