Silent Time

Do you know someone who has a changing mood? A person who is sometimes in a good mood, sometimes in a bad mood? People change over time, but not so with the Lord. God’s mercy always remains same and is available to everybody.

If you think about the future – what is your biggest worry? Your health? Your job? Your family situation? We all know worries. How we handle those worries makes a huge difference, the decisive difference.

If we accept God as our saviour, then we can bring all our needs to him in prayer. God may not immediately fulfil all our wishes, but he always listens and always wants to bless our lives, all throughout the good and the bad times of life.

What do you wait for? There are many things we might be looking forward to. Blessed is the person, who primarily looks forward to God, the almighty, eternal, holy, sovereign Lord.

What is your major target for today? Is it to be successful? To achieve something in work? Or just somehow to come through the day? If we put God first in our lives, then he will take care and will show us what is good for us and for others. In short, then God can bless our lives. By contrast, if we give priority to something else, the day may take a course that we did not intent to go. The outcom...

In our life as humans being, we can usually see only one way: for example someone might worry “if I loose this job, then there is no hope to find a new one”. And similar in many other situations. But God also has other ways, that we can not imagine. His words are spirit and life, even beyond the natural abilities. So let’s put our trust in his word.

Do you sometimes feel weak in life? As humans we have many kinds of weaknesses. But there is one decisive strength. We can be strong in the Lord. God is stronger than any kind of negative and evil force. And God wants to give us power to overcome all those weaknesses.

How comes that by the time of Moses such amazing miracles happened? For example: The whole people of Israel left Egypt and walked through the water. When the Egyptian troops tried the same, they drowned. And how comes that at other times, so little happens? When we look at our own life, we might be disappointed in many regards. How comes that difference? Moses fully relied on the Lord alone as if...

The Roman officer had understood, that in the military hierarchy it is important to obey to whatever the superior said. And that is how he had moved up the hierarchy, he was in authority now. The reason why he came to Jesus was because he was looking for help: for healing of his servant. And Jesus was willing to help. But the officer said “no, just give an order and my servant will be well”. The o...

People have different abilities and talents. Some of them are found out only over the years. The power of God is already available. Everybody can have access in prayer.

Do you at times also doubt the almighty power of God? Especially when we do not notice anything about his might. When it even looks opposite, as if God is weak. When we look at the evil things going on in the world, for example when the devil confuses people that they hate and destroy each other. It looks as if God is weak. But God is almighty. He is the creator of the whole universe. Not only in...

We may walk away disappointed, for example when we had expected too much from another person or from things. In Jesus we find real fulfilment. And yet it is reported that a person walked away from him disappointed – how is that possible? Jesus invited him. But his possessions had a higher priority in that young person’s life than God. Therefore he walked away rejecting the invitation.

Did you ever have to flee? Sometimes God guides his people in ways that seem to be strange at first. Saul had persecuted the people of God, he tried to eradicate the church. But on his way to Damascus he got converted and shortly after that, he began to preach, to proclaim Jesus as the saviour.

For what do you use your hands? To bless others and to help them in their individual needs? Or to act in selfishness and greed, destroying others or taking away their honour? Or to lift up things on a higher level than God, making them idols? Human hands can do many things. They can do a lot of good but can also do a lot of evil.

False testimony: When a wrong statement is given, then the law foresees punishment, for example if by purpose wrong numbers are shown in the balance sheet in accounting. As an individual, we may not be punished in that sense for giving a false statement in private life. Yet how many times do we talk bad about others, taking away the honour for example of absent persons? How many times do we hurt o...

Do you at times complain that you are lonely? Or the other way round, do you feel too busy and crowded? It is precious if we have family and friends. When one person is in a difficult situation, family and friends may give new ideas and courage. Let’s give thanks for each beloved person and help them to build up their lives, also interceding for each other.

Even when the child is strongly crying, it may find wonderful comfort by the parents. In some situations of life, other people can not comfort us. God is the highest comforter. He also knows what we need. He can help even in extreme situations of life, where no one else can help. Jesus has won the victory over all that harms us. He also provides healing.

In which stage of your walk with the Lord are you currently in? It might be that in the beginning there was a lot of excitement about the good news in the initial stage of following the Lord, the heart was burning about the salvation that God offers us. But now there seems to be so much trouble, hardly any songs of praise, the heart is no more burning. We might be disappointed about other people a...

Let no one rob you of your price. How about your personality? Do you strongly pursue your targets? Or do you easily get influenced and distracted by others?

How many kingdoms where there throughout the history of humanity? Some lasted quite long. But all were based on human leaders. The kingdom of God is an everlasting kingdom based on the almighty eternal holy God.

Where are the people usually happy? One might say “on vacation”. Yet a lot of our time we need to spend working. What, if we could enjoy the work?

In a very old movie, which shows an “end-of-the-world-scenario”, people get asked “what would you do, if you had only 3 hours left?”. It is quite shocking how much negative behaviour people favour: taking drugs, trying to enjoy to the maximum, doing all kinds of strange things. When Jesus knew that the time of his earthly life in human form would soon come to an end, his priority was to give honou...

What do you seek in life? What do you ultimately look for? Many people look for success, for recognition, for influence and so on. For the moment it might make us happy if we achieve such things. And yet it does not really fulfil us. Life can be complete: everybody is invited to turn to the Lord, who knows what is really good for us. He can fill our life with fulfilment and provide all that we rea...

A lot of people know about the good news, having heard about it. But they do not go, they do not apply the good news to their life. The shepherds, they went. They heard the good news from the angels and they went to find out for themselves. And whoever else throughout history walked the path of faith, they were not disappointed. Do you only know, or do you go?

What is your refuge amidst the troubles of life? Do you look for refuge from your home? Your family? Your friends? God is our ultimate refuge. He protects us. And he is the almighty, all-knowing, loving God. Since we have such a great refuge, we can go forward with confidence and boldness.