This week’s reading:

Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.
You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.
The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.
You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors.
But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple.

Psalm 5:1-7

Waiting in expectation for the Lord is probably one the most difficult things we can do.
This can often be heavy because the things we sometimes request from Him are very serious.

However, there is another side to it.

Isn’t one of the most fulfilling things to know that our God, the Righteous One, wants to be close to us.
He knows our frame, mind, heart and He is with us every step of the way!
Whilst ‘rats’ may jump ship at first sign, when the proverbial hits the fan, He is right alongside of us.
In the same way He is alongside us when we are having fun, feeling great and doing some cool things!

Have some fun with Him this week...He is the Lord of good times too.

Blessings

This week’s reading:

To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed:
Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers - not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

1 Peter 5:1-4

Thanks for the awesome weekend. God is indeed doing amazing things with NR.

May you be blessed as you serve Him, at home, at work and at NR.

Have a good one

Two wolves

How true is this!!!!

TWO WOLVES

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

"One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

"The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Prayer

This week’s reading:

The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king!

Nehemiah 2:4-5


- Before you do anything, don't forget to pray.
- In every situation you can call on God in prayer.
- You have the liberty to call on God at any and all times.
- Even in stressful situations, He hears your quick and urgent prayers.

Have a blessed week

Hope

This week’s reading:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Romans 5:1-5


Eish! All roads at NR lead to dealing with faith at the moment! Must be on God’s hear t for us.

Faith is living out hope, knowing that everything small thing we do for Him matters, because God does not want the world to be hurting, lost and confused. He certainly wants to free it from sin!

The work that NR is doing through each one of us is bringing that hope to a concrete manifestation in the lives of those that we are able to reach.
The awesome thing is that as we grow spiritually, and in numbers, we will be able to be greater agents of hope.

Worship

This week’s reading:

"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

John 4:19-26

Liezel read from passage this morning in the NR Staff devotions.
I have read this passage many times but something just clicked for me today.
God is spirit and we need to worship Him in spirit and truth.

What does this mean?

For me:

‘In Spirit’ means God is to be worshipped, not only in church, but in every place His Spirit dwells:

- In us
- In our homes
- In our workplaces
- In our cars
- Everywhere!

‘In Truth’ means:

- Him only
- When we confront our own weakness and sin
- When we recognise we are in the middle of the struggle between God and Satan
- That the world needs a Saviour more than anything else
- The Truth is found in Jesus, His teachings, His life, death and Resurrection
- When we are able to sing, pray and move in the Spirit

May you worship God in Spirit and Truth.

Blessings

God's Promise

This week’s reading :


Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Colossians 3:1-4

This word of encouragement comes with a promise.
1. Work to be Christ-like
2. Then we will share in His glory

This promise is related to our taking our responsibility seriously.

My prayer is that we will continually work to be Christ like in all that we do.