An army of Dry Bones...

11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord,when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’” 

Ezekiel 37:11-14 

These days I've been struggling quiet a bit in the Spiritual. I have friends who are struggling also. It's like this is the time of Spiritual struggling, but even in this time I feel that God wants me to write about this.

Lately I've been feeling really stressed and a bit let down. I am now in my valley of dry bones. And when you are here you don't really see it. You think everything is going alright till you get thirsty. I got thirsty and I saw this valley. Spiritually I'm not as strong as I was before. I've lost my focus on the Lord even though everyday he shows me where to go and what to do, I've lost my path.

The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” 

Ezekiel 37:1-3

In this verse God asks the prophet if these bones can live. If there is any hope? The prophet answers in the only way his faith can allow him. Only the Lord can know. Our hope lies in Him. 

So as I sit here in this valley all my hope can be only found in Him. I guess just like a desert, God allows us to come into this valley where its all dead and creepy to show us his great power and grace. 

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

Ezekiel 37:4-10

God spoke to the prophet and told him to prophesy unto these bones. Tell them to come to life. God is talking to us today. As we struggle in our faith in a world filled with temptations and difficulties, God is calling us to speak out his word to the world. To call out to the dead hearts, the dead spirits. To lift them up and show them that there's only hope in Him. But also to speak to our own lives, our own dead hearts and our own dead spirits.  

For us who are struggling I realized that we struggle when God wants us to reach a higher level. He wants to use us but in a greater way. He doesn't want us to stay in this comfortable routine we call "Christian life". God loves to shake things up. Take this as a time to think what God is trying to teach you and learn it. Ask him to open your eyes and heart and let Him show you the next step. 

We are becoming like these dry bones. Lifeless. Spiritless. World hunger dominating, people are homeless, hopeless and sinful. Just like in this verse we are in a valley filled with dry bones. Its time to prophesy unto them. Call them out to com to live. The army of God will rise against the works of Satan and his demons. As Christians we are already in His army, we must be strong. He trains us in these struggles to reach higher levels, he teaches us strategies on how to defeat Satan and come out victorious. He has already defeated him, he knows how to and he is willing to share it with us. Lets take time with him, lets learn from him. Lets prophesy unto our own dry bones. Lets restore our hope. Lets work on our faith. 

The prophet had a strong faith, he didn't prophesy with disbelief. He didn't go after what he saw. I hear a lot from Christians saying that this world is hopeless, that they don't belong here anyway. NO! I mean yes of course we belong with our Father. We are not OF this world but we are IN this world. Our treasures aren't here, but God sent us here to be the light and salt of THIS world. We have to care more. Like I said in a previous post, lets not be just "Sunday Christians". Lets show everyday what God has done in our lives and who he is. 

Today I want to encourage you to prophesy unto your valley of dry bones. In that hopeless place. Prophesy life, that God will bring his breath of life. Maybe you are struggling in the physical stuff, like financially, maybe with school, maybe with your parents or children. Prophesy LIFE. 

You are the prophet, the Lord is talking to. You are Israel. You are his people. Prophesy his breath of life in your valley of dry bones. And rise up. Come out and do his works. Fulfill your calling. Everything you have ever been through is part of your testimony. If you must forgive, do it! If you have to let go of things that happened and hurt you in the past, take them as a lesson and not as something bad that happened. Lets rise up again and again. 

God is calling us to a higher level, answer His calling!

Be blessed and be a blessing to those around you. You are the light and salt of this world. Prophesy unto these dry bones and they will come to life!

Protect Your Calling

I have finally decided to post something again. These last few months have been a bit stressful and well as you all know when we are stressed we tend to lose focus. But today I am back again. 

7 They go from strength to strength,
    till each appears before God in Zion.

- Psalm 84:7

Earlier today I was speaking to a friend about dreams. Sometimes God uses dreams, visions, to reveal things to us. He may reveal something he wants us to do, something we should change, an answer, and so many different things. He may also reveal to us our calling. 

Everybody knows the story about Samson and Delilah. This one can be found in Judges 16. The story of Samson and Delilah is a bit of a tragic love story. And its a story that if you look around it can be seen a lot. We love repeating history! 

Today we will talk about Samson's calling. God set him apart to save His people, to save a nation. Like Samson we all have a calling. Different calling, because God has created us all so unique and different, He has a special calling for each and every single one of us. He sets us apart from birth, even if we don't know. In Judges 13:5 God sets Samson apart by telling his mother:

5 You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

- Judges 13:5

God doesn't just set him apart, like "Hey I'm gonna use you and I will tell you when to act" No, God makes him also look different from the rest. When God calls us, He doesn't want us to be like everybody else, He wants us to be different. To be spotted from far. 

Something I've learned as a Christian is that we are set in a place of example to others. Even though we are far from perfect, and fail a lot, God wants us to be like Jesus. Even if you don't believe like I do, that he is the Son of God, that He is God, you will agree that Jesus wasn't exactly a crowd pleaser, or that he blended in perfectly with the crowd. He stood out, you could spot him from far. You knew he was coming. God wants the same for us. He calls us to be different. To be light in a world dominated by darkness. When people see us as Christians, Followers of Christ, they should see who we are following. Yes God is gracious, and YES He calls us as we are, but also God calls us to be like His son. For our ways to become His ways. 

Samson was different, he was a Nazirite. And he had a special calling from birth. He was going to save Israel. Now I know how big of a responsibility that would be, and well on my own I wouldn't be able to do anything. God gave him everything he had. The superhuman strength he possessed wasn't from working out, going to the Gym everyday, drinking protein shakes etc. His strength came from above. As long as he obeyed God.

And then along came miss Delilah. The beautiful deceiving Delilah. 

Everyone has a Delilah in their lives. We all do have something that brings us away from the path towards our calling. There is always something, there will always be a Delilah. 

Delilah can come in all shapes and sizes. It can be in your computer, your TV, your phone... Nowadays its usually something with technology. But Delilah can also be a person. Someone that tries to lead you away from the path God has set you on. Someone that leads you away from your calling into disobedience. 

Samson disobeyed God, and what did God do? God took away His strength from him. Not because God is acting like a spoiled little girl, that takes away her Barbie dolls from you because you won't do as she says, but because Samson broke the connection he had with God. When Delilah cut his hair, she didn't just cut the hair, she took away what set him apart. 

Don't let Delilah cut your hair! 

When you read the story of Samson and Delilah you go like "I know this will not end well". Why can't we do the same with the Delilahs in our lives? Why is it so hard to say " I know this isn't going to end well, Get out!".

We have to protect our calling. Satan is a roaring lion outside our doors. He is hungry, he wants to see us fail. But he will stay hungry for we will NOT fail! 

When we go through trials, God is teaching us lessons. God is making us stronger with His strength. He is showing us how to trust Him, how to let ourselves be consumed by Him in such a way that He will use us to do great things. 

Psalm 84 talks about how great it is to be in the presence of our God. It also speaks about how blessed we are if we trust in Him and if our strengths are in Him. 

In God we will go from strength to strength, till we appear before Him in Zion. How glorious that will be. God makes us stronger and stronger each day not only to fulfill His will and calling here on earth, but also to fulfill our greatest calling, to one day be in His presence.

WOW!! 

Today I want to encourage you, to beware of the Delilahs out there that are trying ever so hard to take you away from that calling. Stay strong in the Lord, He will make you stronger each day till the day that we fulfill the greatest calling!

God bless you and be a blessing to those around you!

Remember the day...

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

- John 2:19

Today is Good Friday and we remember the great sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

A day like today I think a lot about that moment. I watch all the movies, I read the verses and go to church. In a way I try to picture how it must have been to be there. If I would be one of the followers or if I would be one of those yelling "Crucify him!". 

Well to be honest when I think about how many times I have failed him, I believe I would be one of those yelling. That later when He would die, I would admit he was special, that he was different and perhaps repent.  

One passage that always echoes is this one. He said that the temple would be destroyed and in 3 days he would raise it again. Of course they thought about the building. But he was talking about his body. And He is also showing us that our body is the temple where God lives. 

16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

 -1 Corinthians 3:16

A few days ago I was praying and asking God to show me something. And I started reading Haggai. The people of Israel had to finish God's Temple, but took way to long to finish. I think maybe they liked to procrastinate, I mean 40 years in the dessert, more than that to finish the temple... Then one passage hit me. 

9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 

- Haggai 1:9

I see in this passage that God is warning us. We are so caught up into our own things, that we forget to give thought to the things of the Lord.  We don't work on his temple anymore. I see a generation coming that is more busy with the latest trend in fashion, the latest pop artist, the latest technology, but they have no idea of what is truly going on around them, even less the things concerning God. Even in the church, I see the youth with little to no heart that beats for the things of God. Taking selfies in the middle of service. I know most of them have the Bible app, but they also message their friends during service. Even respect in church has become less. 

My heart breaks to see that they care more about getting a new I-phone, than they do about taking time to read their bible. And I'm not even talking about the non-Christians. 

These days lets put our focus back on God. Let us have a revival. Lets not be the type of Christians that only know the cliche verses. Let us know the promises of God, His warnings, His decrees, EVERYTHING. We have a hunger that will not be filled with the latest trends, those are distractions. Only Jesus is the way the truth and the life, only He can give us the bread that will take away the hunger, and the water that will take away our thirst. 

Today I want to encourage you to STOP! I know this world demands a lot from you. I know how it feels to have so many things calling for your attention and barely having time to have a date with God. But please do it! He wants to be with you, and he wants you to make time for him. He wants to speak to you, show you the way. His way, His plans for your life. Plans He had since before you were born, since the moment he was waving you into your mother's womb. He knows your deepest darkest secret, he knows the greatest desires of your heart. He knows everything about you, and still He chose on a day like this to surrender His life, He took a stand for us. He took our place, so that we wouldn't get a punishment we truly deserved. He took it all. He paid it all. And 3 days later He rose victorious, He conquered Death! He gives us life!

Think about it today, meditate on His word. Ask Him to reveal to you what he wants, what he plans, and ask him for a revival in you. Today is the day!

God bless you and be a blessing to those around you!

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He is Able!

16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us[c] from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” 

- Daniel 3: 16-18

There's a movie coming soon called "God's not dead" and according to the trailer it's about a guy that goes to a philosophy class and the teacher says "there is no God" and whoever disagrees has to debate why. Well this guy, a Christian, disagrees and has to explain why. I haven't seen the movie, but trailers nowadays leave little to wonder. Either way today I want to talk about this. Not the movie, but what if one day you meet a person that makes you "defend" God? There are religious debates going on everywhere and everyday between believers and non-believers, but most of it is whether or not we come from monkeys... But what if one day someone tells you " There is no God" and you as a believer that there is a God, what would you do? What would you say? 

Well we know what some would say. In this chapter from the Book of Daniel, we see that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had to take a stand. They would either bow down and worship the king and his gods, or they would stand and worship the one and only God. 

Sometimes we are afraid of standing up for God, even more if it means we could die if we do. I mean sometimes we even hesitate to stand up for God just because we might loose a friend, or some person we don't even know might make fun of us. Or what if someone challenges you to demonstrate that God exists by a miracle like a healing? What if that person doesn't get healed? These are things I also struggle with, daily. But then this particular verse gives me courage. These three guys stood before the king and told him NO! We will not bow down to your statue or your gods. Why? Because I believe in the one and only God, the mighty One! He can save us from death. And my favorite part:

 "But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” 

WOW! So if the king was just a random guy saying, "well prove that God exists by making this person be healed" and you pray for this person and he isn't healed because God's will is different. We should be able to trust in Him and stand up for him. These guys answered it, and this is the way we should think. Even when God doesn't do it our way, even then I will trust in Him. Even then He is able always!

But what happens next is just what God does. He doesn't leave you hanging. He shows his power:

25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

27"....They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. "

They took a stand for God and He saved them. Even better, He was there with them. God doesn't leave you, to see what you will do from far. He is there with you. He is standing right there, and when you take a stand for Him, He will even stand in your place. Jesus showed us, when He went on a cross to die in our place to pay for our sins. He did this in advance to show us that whenever we are in need of Him, whenever we need him to stand beside us, He is there. He is always there.

Today I want to encourage you to never back down from your faith. Even though I've been a Christian for many many years, I'm still a baby. I still need to grow so much and each day I want to know more and more and be closer and closer to God. Paul said this is a marathon, in the end of it we will get our prize, to finally be with our Lord. But for now I encourage you to stand for Him, He is already standing for you.

Be Blessed and be a Blessing for those around you.

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Just like the rest...

I love reading and one of my favorite books of all times is 1984. It's a bit of a cliche and a classic. I bet most people who like reading and have actually read this book and also Brave New World, fall in love with them instantly. Unless you HAD to read it as a school assignment maybe then you might not have great memories of it, but I loved them both.

As I was re-reading these books I realized something they have in common. Besides being books about an utopia, maybe not the best ideal, but well it might happen, these books have one particular thing in common. Even after fighting to not become just like everyone else in their society, in the end they do. Sorry if I'm a spoiler for those who haven't read these books, but trust me just because you know the end, the book is still worth reading.

So I want to write today about this. That's why I have titled this post "Just like the rest".

As a Christian, I'm very familiar with the phrase: You were called out to be the difference.
We aren't just meant to be different, we ought to be the difference.

Maybe we aren't exactly like these utopias, one a society dominated by fear and the other by pleasure, but we are a combination of the two. What I see around me is that some countries are dominated by fear, while others are controlled by pleasure and some just have both. And it breaks my heart to see that a lot of us don't realize yet that we are controlled. Everything is predetermined for us all to be the same. For us to like the same food, the same clothes, the same artists and the everything that is popularized by the media.

I don't want to start a conspiracy theory, but I want us to take a moment and think that times weren't that much different when Jesus walked among us, and what did he do? He was different, He was THE difference. It isn't easy to be different from the crowd, and some of us eventually give in. Those who don't are seen like freaks or are cast out from the group, but still we have to strive to be different.

Even if your not a christian you can still agree that Jesus was a revolutionary. He went against the current, he didn't conform to the norm, he was different. Even as a Jew he wasn't like the other Jews, and I'm not referring to him being THE SON OF GOD, but he acted different. And he wants the same from us.

God didn't just call us out to be different, but he showed us how we can be different. He also showed us that this world will try and convince us to be just like the rest, but we have to fight against it. Do not give in.

Usually we would say "Be yourself!", well I won't say that. Don't be yourself, be the one God wants you to be. Why? Because if you are yourself you are pleasing you, your flesh. If you surrender your flesh and your will to God's will, you will be everything he wants you to be, you will become an even better version of yourself, because all those gifts that he has put in you will be used to their full potential.

Today I want to encourage you to not be just like the rest. Be different and Love being different. Let them say what they want to say. If you don't fit in that's great! ENJOY IT! God will use YOU for greater things, but stay strong and faithful.

Be blessed and be a blessing to others!

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Be Thankful!

Hello Everyone! First of all, I would like to wish you all an awesome New Year, May all your dreams and resolutions for this year come true and all the the blessing God has planned to give you this year come to you.

Today I would like to share a bit of my life with you and maybe encourage you with a little testimony.

My mom taught my brother and I something that has become a tradition for us and maybe you can take it as part of your life as well. Maybe make it also a little tradition. I know I will pass this on to my children and hopefully they will let it live on in their children. One can only hope.

What we do every year 1 hour before the year ends and a new one starts is that we write our wishes on a piece of paper. Its not resolutions, just things we are praying that God will do in his time for the next year. Then we read the ones from the year before and we see God's Glory. These wishes are put in our Bibles.

It may seem like a simple tradition that we've taken, but it helps to grow our faith. When we look at our previous wishes and see how many things God has done for us. Maybe not all came true in our time, but all come true in Gods time.

Now a little testimony to show how this worked for me. 4 years ago one of my dogs got an ear infection, then due to not treating properly in time, because doctors had no idea what it was, it became chronic. When they finally figured out what they could use, it was to late according to the doctor. My dog would have to use medicine till the day he died, and probably loose his hearing. the infection could be controlled but not cured. Now some of you may think, well its just a dog. Well he's not. He is like my son, my baby of 13. I grew up with him, I have 3 dogs now, I grew up with 5, and I loved the ones that died and still love the ones that are alive and God has shown me grace and taught me love through those little angels.
Well so 3 years ago I wrote in my wishes for God to prove those doctors wrong, that he will heal my dog, that he wouldn't have to use medicine anymore. It didn't happen that year, but this year, when I was reading my wishes, I could remove that wish from the list. My dog is completely cured since April 2013. I went to check his ears in October and the doctor asked if I was sure he ever had an infection, his ears were clean and completely healed.

Another story from my dogs, one was born with a skin disease. When I got her we tried everything to help her, but the doctors again didn't have much hope. Well she is 13 now, her skin is beautiful, full of hair and she is the happiest dog ever. Doesn't care about anything, and with that age who would, but she is healthy. Old but healthy. Another wish I could remove from the list.

We keep these lists, as a reminder of how great God is, and how much he has blessed us. He has given us everything we ever wished for, not always in our time, when we want it, but when he wants it. Sometimes we wish for something, and he gives it to us to show us that he has something better for us, and after we learn that, he gives us the better thing.

Today I want to encourage you, that when go through your lows this year, remember all the ups God has lifted you to. He has blessed me with things that I just don't know how I could ever show him how thankful I am. And when I go through my lows, I sometimes read back on the wishes that have come true, and I just stop whining and say Thank you!

Be thankful today, and know that he will keep blessing you, just be faithful to him, and when you're going through your desserts, look up to him, and let him turn it into an oasis.

Be blessed this year, and be a blessing to those around you.