Silent Time

Are you joyful or sad? So many times, the devil tries to make us sad, either by filling us with pride and arrogance that we think we do not need God and walk away from him. Or by the opposite way: the devil tries to tell us another lie “you are too bad, you have done too much wrong” and then again we may feel condemned and not turn to God. Both ways will make us sad and will lead us away from God....

Opposite to the obvious. Often opposite to the logics that we are used to. And yet perfectly makes sense and answers many questions that people puzzle about.

Have you only heard of the word of God? Or have you really experienced the life that the good news offers, the personal relationship with the Lord, his love, power and guidance?

As humans we tend to categorize and judge others by outward appearances and behaviours, by what people look like, by what they say and how they behave. Praise the Lord if you live in a place of relative freedom, in a country of democracy having a fair legal system that will judge those who do criminal things and a system that lets those live freely that have not done anything wrong. While human sy...

How would you react if you request something and seemingly get a harsh reply? How would you react if you requested something from the Lord in prayer and you do not get any word of comfort and rather only a short reply such as “go”? How we react to the word of God is of essence. The official by the time of Jesus had requested Jesus to come along with him in order to heal his son, but the reply was...

There are so many reasons to give up in life, so much suffering, work and tasks to be done and so little time per week to accomplish all. Additionally as a believer you may experience persecution and trouble. There are so many reasons to give up, but there is one reason not to give up. The great hope is bigger than any trouble we experience. It is not just a vague hope, rather it is confirmed by t...

Shall we always respect the authorities? It is a good practice and required for good order. But are there any circumstances under which conditions exceptions should be made? What would you say?

What are the major findings that you discover, when you study the word of God, when you read the bible and Christian books or listen to sermons? What is the core message for you? What are the criteria to find out whether a preacher is fully in line with the word of God? Just historical facts or only useful guidelines? There is much more to it: We can find real comfort, a fulfilled life and true ho...

What are the most important things for you in life? Since God has already shown that he has the best intentions for us and a good long term plan for our life, and since he has won the decisive victory on the cross, so we do not need to doubt: his mercy is surely available for us, even if our life goes through a lot of difficulties and challenges, even if we loose everything in this life, we still...

Thomas – called the twin – did not believe the words of the other disciples when they reported that they had seen the risen Lord. Blessed are those who do not see yet and already believe the good news of God’s grace.

Even a minor wrongdoing cannot enter the kingdom of God. No human individual is perfect. So the question is: Do you receive God’s grace and forgiveness? Or not? No matter how much wrong we have done or failed to do, God’s grace is bigger than our wrongdoing and his mercy is available to everyone who humbly turns to him.

Who belongs to the Lord? It sounds as a minor or even irrelevant side note. Yet it is so important: The one who belongs to God, listens to God’s word.

Have you also experienced situations in which a group of people thinks they are better than others? There are different talents that the Lord has given, but no one shall look down on others, neither as individuals nor as societies nor as religious groups. There is one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. We all share the same bible, whether it is an older or newer translation. We have the same...

Good stewards of the good news: how can we recognize whether someone preaches and acts to the will of God? That person will take the great shepherd Jesus as an example and will not only pick out certain aspects of religion, rather will cover the entire gospel as we can find it in the bible. Such a good steward will proclaim apart from reminders to the commands of God also the good news of the Lord...

It often seems as if the selfish and evil-doers in the world are better off, while the believers seem to be at disadvantage. The conditions in the world look not fair, and it looks as if God delays his intervention. God might act later than we expect, but he acts powerfully. In his mercy, he gives to everyone time and lots of opportunities to turn back to him.

Mercy triumphs over judgement.

Are you at peace?

Have you experienced situations of life in which it feels as if God is far away? It may even seem as if God is angry. But God is not angry about our wrongdoing, rather he is full of love. As long as we trust, there is hope.

Only those, who recognize that they are sick, go to see the doctor.

Even if someone tries to live a decent life, yet nobody is perfect, everyone does wrong at least at times. But whatever we have done wrong or failed to do, his sacrifice is sufficient to overcome all that, no matter how much evil might still fill us.

With the eyes of the body we can see another person, but to recognize God we need to involve the soul. With the mouth of the body we can talk to a human father, to talk to God we need to involve the soul. With the brain of the body we can imagine the natural birth of a person, to recognize the rebirth in Christ we need to involve the soul.

What is the core message of religion for you? Many people will think of how to work off wrongdoings or overcoming a kind of karma by good deeds or about trying harder. If that was all, it would mean we all were lost. But the good news is: the decisive point is neither our own efforts nor our own accomplishments. Rather, the decisive victory is already won by the Lord and offered for free to everyo...

Do you tend to look more often upwards to the opportunities or downwards to the difficulties of life? There are indeed a lot of challenges in life, yet we are invited to “raise up our heads”.

It sounds not realistic to have no trouble, obviously there are a lot of needs on hand. Yet there is the promise that our needs will be taken care of, if we let the shepherd take care.

What is currently your biggest hope? It might be the hope to graduate in school or university or to get a better job or to recover from sickness. Or to move to another place - what do you look for the most?