Pit Stops in Life

The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, You have stayed long enough at this mountain – Deuteronomy 1:6

Thank God life is not all hardship. We also encounter mountaintop experiences after overcoming trials and tribulations. I call them, pit stops.You might be familiar with this term if you watch racing events like Formula 1 and NASCAR. A pit stop is vital to help teams to turn their race strategy into success. We are not racing cars but we sure need to renew our strength after going through countless opposition and also a breather for the journey ahead called life. Like the Israelites, God does not want us to get hung up on the summit view and feelings. He wants us to press forward and continue the race He has set for us. It’s easy to think that life will be smooth sailing all the way but the longer we dwell on these thoughts, the more it will hold us back. Pit stops in life are our short retreat from the non-stop action around us, let us use them wisely as God has provided them to us

SBS

Comrades marathon 2023 well wishes

All comrades marathon runners around the globe,
You know your abilities.
Don’t flow with your opponents.
Comrades is an individual fight, you fight against the inner you/yourself.
It is not about how fast you are,
It is not about position,
It is all about finishing what you have started.
Rather be the last runner to cross the finish line than quiting.
You are all winners.
Bring that medal home and gain the the glory.
Wish you all the best.
Good luck for 2023 comrades marathon!

The prophecy of the Lord Jesus for our consideration and edification

Zechariah 6:12-13And say to him, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord.
It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there[a] shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’New Testament FulfillmentHeb 8:1Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven

SBS

Conditional Security according to Matthew 24:9-10

Matthew 24:9-10 

9 Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

Matthew 24. The mini – apocalypse, the passage that speaks of the end times, judgement, apostacy. Scary stuff, full of dramatic images and threats, with so many opinions on what the Lord was trying to communicate to His followers.

Some who follow this topic of Conditional Security on Considering the Bible may have wondered why this passage has not shown up in the series previously. It seems it is such a slam dunk passage to support the Conditional Security position, and it may well be. 

Let’s take a look at it for a few moments.

Jesus is speaking to His disciples at this time, addressing the disciples questions about His coming, and the end of the age. The very first words out of His mouth need to be heeded – See that no one leads you astray

He warns His disciples first and foremost of deception in this topic of His future coming into His kingdom, and that they were to be vigilant in understanding the times to come. Just before the verses we are considering today, the Lord warns His disciples that there is only one Christ, and that self proclaimed substitutes would be many. The disciples will hears of many wars and rumors of wars – Don’t be worried. There is still time. 

Christians will be persecuted, even hated by other for His names sake. Tribulation will be the believers experience, and this tribulation will result in death for some, with the nations, the heathen, those who are outside the faith, hating believers.

Who are these many who will fall away? Context demands that the word “many” refer to those who would be delivered up to tribulation, those who follow as disciples.

Persecution will provide opportunity for followers to fall away. Yet does this mean a loss of salvation, the abandonment of the Christian life, the turning away from following Him? It appears that the two descriptors in verse 10 describe the non-Christian, in that the non Christian is allowed to betray one another, and to hate one another. Just the very verse prior, the nations are described as hating others!

The true believer, in following Jesus is faithful to those he knows, and loves those he comes in contact with. Is Jesus describing a believer when he decides to betray instead of exercising faith, to hate instead of to love? Is that the desciption of a believer?

This is a difficult passage to understand, but the warning seems obvious, for even in persecution, to follow Jesus is to be faithful, to be one who exercises sacrificial love to those he comes in contact with.

To those reading this post, don’t wait for persecution to come to your life to decide to love others and to be faithful. Live the Christian life each day, and pray for strength to follow when persecution does arrive, for we know we all must experience some persecution in our lives. Be faithful. Love those around you with a sacrifical love. 

In doing so, we may be preparing for times that will provide greater challenge than we expect

SBS

Our Creator God, Provision, Protector, Our Guardian! May Our Creator God, Provision, Protector and our Guardian be with all runners during this season of Comrades Marathon 2023 to be staged 11 June 2023

God, Our Creator, is our Provision, Protector, and Shepherd, providing for us, abundantly. We trust in him!

I look up to the mountains and hills, longing for God’s help.
But then I realize that our true help and protection
come only from the Lord,
our Creator who made the heavens and the earth.
He will guard and guide me, never letting me stumble or fall.
God is my keeper; he will never forget nor ignore me.
He will never slumber nor sleep;
he is the Guardian-God for his people, Israel.
Jehovah himself will watch over you;
he’s always at your side to shelter you safely in his presence.
He’s protecting you from all danger both day and night.
He will keep you from every form of evil or calamity
as he continually watches over you.
You will be guarded by God himself.
You will be safe when you leave your home
and safely you will return.
He will protect you now,
and he’ll protect you forevermore! (Psalm 121:1-8 TPT)

SBS

In The Presence Of The King 08 days to The BigC Comrades Marathon on 11 June 2023 or your life challenges daily

Take a snapshot of the wounds of your past, to remember from where God brought you, because he is about to make you forget the wounds of your past. You are about to suffer a huge memory loss, great dementia towards the hurts of yesterday, to receive a new mindskin, and a new heart, in the presence of the King. All marathons during the year where preparing you for the Big day and it’s different for all in this case the big C Comrades Marathon (SA) 2023 11 June 2023

You are becoming so lost in His presence that you won’t be able to go back to the old places, old wounds and old ways of rejection. Yahweh is piercing the veil of defiled religion, removing the scabs that have healed over hard and healing you with his love. He is causing you to leap with joy. You are anointed to run through a troop and leap over a wall. Leap with joy, at the false accusations and the revile of men, for great is your reward in heaven and you are being prophetically confirmed. Bless them. Don’t retaliate for just as David loved Saul, greatly though he tried to kill him, he didn’t retaliate. As result everything that was Saul’s became David’s.

You are rising to a greater frequency of hearing and deeper aggression of loving your enemies. You have fresh power to bring forth, power to withstand, power to persevere, power to believe, and power to complete all that the Lord has assigned you to do.

Jehovah said, I declare the blessings of Manasseh (that you forget the toil, grief, and trauma of your past) and that it will have not have any more effect on your life. “And Jacob called the name of the first or Manasseh: For God said he hath made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house. (Genesis 41:51)

I declare the blessings of Ephraim that you will remain fruitful even in times of affliction or trouble. I declare the abundance of fruit in your life. And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. (Genesis 41:52)

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.(Isaiah 43:25) For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.(Hebrews 8:12) And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 10:17)

If it isn’t on Jehovah’s mind, it shouldn’t be on yours. Remember the wounds of the past NO MORE!
Don’t allow circumstances, the enemy, people or yourself to con you out of what already belongs to you. Seize it, accept it, and walk in it! Remember, take a picture for your photo album because what you’re seeing now is not what you will be seeing later in your near future.

Let’s meet at the finish line

Siphiwe Billy Sigudla-Executive Editor-Pastor
Christian posts

The Way of the Kingdom

Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. John 14:10 NKJV

If Jesus is in the Father, as mentioned in this portion of Scripture, and Jesus is in us, that means that the Father Himself is in us. Say this: Jesus is in me, the Father is in Jesus, therefore the Father is in me!

As born-again believers, we have made the choice that the Father knows what is best for us and it is our desire to serve Him and live out the fullness of our purpose on earth. The Father IN US will do the works THROUGH us, we just need to yield to Him and be His hands and feet on earth! What a great honour to be used by The Father!

SBS

Temptations

If on a visit to a farm, the farmer took you to the pig pen and offered you slop to eat from the pig trough, you would probably be insulted. Yet if he opened the gate and called the pigs, they would rush to the slop without hesitation. This may sound strange, but both you and the pigs were tempted with the same slop. What repulsed you in this temptation caused the pigs to be overjoyed. This temptation, or test, simply confirmed that you were not a pig!

The scripture says that Jesus was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin Hebrews 4:15. The Greek words translated tempted and temptation in the New Testament scriptures mean to test and to put to proof. In other words, these temptations are the things that come to let us know if something is as it is presented to be.

Most often when the Bible speaks of temptations it is speaking of hardships and afflictions or persecutions and other attacks of Satan. Peter wrote to believers who were in heaviness through manifold temptations. I Peter 1:6. Outwardly they were enduring great hardships and the furious attacks of the adversary, but inwardly they were rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory. I Peter I:8. These temptations were not moral temptations. These were great trials the adversary brought to see if he could destroy those who trusted in Christ. Jesus had foretold of these things saying, in the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16:33.

Was Jesus tested with moral temptations? Yes, but not as many suppose. God does not test with evil, but Satan definitely will seek to. Jesus was tempted …yet without sin.Opportunities for sin were set before him such as are common to us all, but never once did he have any desire for such things. If he had lusted for immorality, according his own words (whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.Matthew 5:28) he would have been immoral in the eyes of God.

Jesus was tested in every way, but there was no sin in him for these temptations to discover. Just because Satan sets sin in your path does not mean that it is in your heart. A person who is tested with evil in their path will walk on by and sometimes not even know they have been tested, but the person tempted with evil that is in their heart will struggle to escape it.

As children of God, moral temptations may sometimes be in our path, but they are not in our heart. If they are, something is already not right. James told us that when a person is tempted with evil it is because they are drawn away of their own lusts. James 1:13-15. Something is wrong within them. This has gone past just a test laid in their path, but this is sin that dwells in their heart. James let us know that the end of this will be death.

People struggle with sin, not because it is in their path, but when it is in their heart. This is the reason that Christ came and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Revelations 1:5. After Cornelius and those with him received Christ and were filled with the Holy Ghost, Peter said And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, …purifying their hearts by faith. Acts 15:8-9. It is through faith in Jesus Christ and his shed blood that sin is washed from the heart of a person. When that is the case, the tempter may come and his tests (temptations) may abound, but he finds no place in the children of God

SBS

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the Old Book passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

Psalm 49
16 Be not afraid when a man becomes rich,
when the glory of his house increases.
17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
his glory will not go down after him.
18 For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed
—and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
19 his soul will go to the generation of his fathers,
who will never again see light.
20 Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.
Our Psalmist returns to the initial concern of the saint – Fear of the wealthy. The psalmist gives us the conclusion of his thoughts, and the solution to the fear of the saint. Consider the inevitable end of those you fear.

This solution is a recurring theme in the Word, and I usually think of Psalm 73:17 when this topic comes up. I look forward to studying that psalm when we get there, but let us remain in Psalm 49 for our time together.

Notice that the psalmist refers to the possessions the rich trust in, the accumulation of goods that seem to reinforce the wisdom of his choice to trust in them. Not only does the appearance of his accumulated wealth reinforce his philosophy of idolatry, but he also counts himself blessed.

In the midst of this final portion of Psalm 49, the psalmist makes a sideways comment of receiving praise when you do well for yourself. Might this be a comparison of the rich man’s accumulated earthly wealth, with the saints accumulation of good works? Also kindly notice that the rich man convinces himself of his blessedness, where the saint receives praise, presumably from outside of himself, from others.

Yet the end is certain. We all know it, for when we attend a funeral of a friend or relative, their possessions are left behind; it is only the person who has departed, alone and separated from that which they may have trusted in.

How different for the saint, for though the saint cannot see his God, and that he is not physically with his Savior, (though we have the blessed Spirit of God to comfort us), when we pass away, we will enter into the presence of the One whom we trust.

How upside down is our experience on this earth, in that appearance and truth so often seem to conflict. It looks like the wealthy have all the cards, all the influence, all the abilities and rights, all the strength and power. Yes it certainly appears to be so, yet as we listen to the Psalmist, we can step back, get a bigger picture and realize we live in an upside down world.

The rich man who trusts in his possessions, who had the power over others in this life, his very soul has a set destination that will be lightless. Lightless.

As mentioned in a previous post, we all are deserving of a darkness, for we tend to be attracted to darkness. Consider John’s testimony in his gospel

John 3
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
We tend to hide in the darkness because of our own works. John speaks of our admitting to the wickedness of our own works in the very response we have to light. We seek to hide from exposure, because we know of the evil of our deeds. We seek darkness, and if we pile up possessions to hide the light from us, we may get what we want, a darkness as a settled state for our lives.

Note that John speaks of those who come to the light. It is those who do what is true. This is an amazing passage, for when considered with Psalm 49:19, the correlation is spot on. Those who trust in idols, their possessions and things, their wealth and riches, commit iniquity over others in order to feed their idol. Those who worship an idol do not do what is true. They do what they can. The idolater may have somewhat of a moral code he follows, may appear to be upright in his community, yet if push comes to shove, what does he do? If he were to consider our Psalm, at the very least he may gain some understanding and begin to do what is true, right and good. He may start to see light.

The Psalmist ends our passage with a final concluding statement

Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish
Understanding. Understanding from the Psalmist. We need this understanding the Psalmist provides. A clear view of our end, of a correct view of the universality of death to provide us relief from fear, guidance to truth and light for our lives.

Don’t be like the beast that simply exists, only to perish, only to end in darkness. Trust in the God who sent His Son to ransom your soul. He has provided the currency to redeem your soul and supply you light for this dark world.

SBS