Posted on by thornstocrowns

Intentional encounters: Make the time

In the 24 hours we have in the day, we can do as much as we possibly can. Before bed, we may think where did the time go? Time does have a way of slipping by us so easily and we oftentimes tend to lack the intentionality of our time. Typically, what usually suffers is our intentional time spent meeting with God. We have limited our encounter with God to only our Sabbath days when there are so many more opportunities for us to meet with him in our daily 24 hours. I am guilty of this sometimes, I get caught up in my own timetable, and making time to meet with the Lord becomes difficult. In these situations, being intentional about connecting with the Lord helps take away the focus from our own timetable to then connect with God. Making the time, and preparing to have an encounter with God does change the day-to-day. If you are struggling with intentionally encountering the Lord, please keep reading.

INTENTIONAL about your time with the Lord

By definition, to be intentional is doing something on purpose. When we think of ‘purpose’ of this blog post we must think of preparation to successfully meet with the Lord. I was speaking with a dear friend of mine and she was sharing her amazing encounters with the Lord. She told me how before these many encounters with the Lord through confirming scriptures, dreams, and visions, she took time to prepare herself. She did a Daniel’s fast for 21 days and was intentional about how she spent her time. In her preparation, she ensured that her food planning was well-curated and this helped her avoid the temptation of meat and animal products. Every day during the 21 days she spent an hour in prayer. She went even further to put away all distractions, things such as social media accounts, TV shows, etc. All this was intentional and well thought through, I can’t go into detail about her beautiful encounters with the Lord in these 21 days, but rest assured it was great! While you may not be thinking about a 21-day Daniel fast as a means to encounter the Lord, you can still be intentional in your daily encounter with the Lord. Understand that God wants to be connected with you, he wants to spend time with you. How then can you be intentional about your time spent with him?

  • Start your day with devotion and prayer.
  • Listen to praise and worship music.
  • Study your Bible and seek understanding.
  • Listen to a podcast/sermon on a specific topic you want to gain more understanding from.
  • Write your prayers and thoughts by journaling.
  • Create times when you fast and pray.
  • Create absolute quiet time where you can just focus on your time with the Lord with no distractions (especially your smartphone). Allow yourself to quiet the noise of each busy day.

These are a few things that I do that help me intentionally make time to spend with the Lord. You may look at the list and think these feel like chores, and honestly when I have fed my flesh more than my spirit, they have felt like chores to me too. Almost like a to-do list that I am supposed to check off and feel great about my accomplishments at the end of my day. But these intentional things listed above are far from feeling like chores when continuously done with the purpose in mind that we get to encounter God. The idea of intimately connecting with our creator holds greater significance when we make the time to do these things. We intentionally prepare ourselves for an encounter knowing that he too wants to commune with us. In our intentionality, we find the very thing that we so desperately need. 

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8

Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face continually [longing to be in His presence].

1 Chronicles 16:11 AMP

The scriptures invite us to draw near to God and to continually Seek his face. May your intentions to seek God and draw closer to him be pure and true. It will surprise you what God can do with your intentional ways to encounter him daily. Encountering God does do so much for one’s journey, I can testify to how being intentional has helped my closeness to God. In your intentions to encounter the Lord, your faith is built, you are strengthened, you establish discipline and most importantly deepen your relationship with God. Intentionally making time for the Lord means that you recognize his significance in your life! If it has been a while since encountered the Lord and want to re-establish your connection start with making time for him in your day. He is waiting for you and eager to draw nearer to you as well.

It is time for you to take your rightful place. It is time to trade thorns for crowns!

Much love,

Xholiwe

Posted on by thornstocrowns

To love God and to love his people

The Gospel when studied gives us such great understanding of God’s love for us. I remember my very first memory verse as a child was John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave us his beloved son. Such great love! We are often reminded that God loves us through his word and as we continue to be taught of his love in the church. I was fairly new to my now home church when my pastor said the mission of the church for new members was to love God, love his people, and make disciples. I have fixated my thoughts this week on what it means to love God and his people. Often times we get so enamored by God’s love, which is great! But we then forget that we are to love him and love his people. How then do we love God and love his people?

Loving God

Loving God should be easy, at least that is what I think. God’s love is not something we have to earn because it is given freely. Why then do people find it hard to love him? Well, there are several things that can stop us from loving God, but I will share the obvious one which is the sinful nature of man. It can be quite hard to love God when sin pulls us away from knowing God and inevitably loving him. Another thing that makes it hard for us to love God is loving him wholeheartedly. There are many competing things in our lives that can easily distract us from fully loving God. But to love God requires all of our heart and not some of it. (read Mark 12:30). I think of David when it comes to loving God, a man after God’s own heart. Was David sinful? yes, aren’t we all? But his heart ran after God relentlessly even in his sin, he loved God. The Psalmist as he is fondly known, through his many highs and lows showed us how to love God. How then can we love God;

  • Be obedient to God’s commands
  • Be intentional with your time spent daily with God (in your waking, your work, your routine tasks) make God part of your day.
  • Love his people.
  • Intimately pray to him, no need to rush. Have a conversation with God.
  • Like David, worship and praise him at every chance you get.
  • Mediate on his word and allow him to bring a greater understanding of it to you.
  • Love him with all of your heart!

It is quite obvious that God desires to have a relationship with you. His love for you is readily available. Love God just like David, even in the highs and lows of your life, it does make a greater difference to love and be loved by God.

Loving his people

Do you know that by loving God’s people, you love him too? God commands us in his word to love one another (read Mark 12:31). The question is how do we love others if the others do not love us back? We love them anyway! Unlike God’s love that is freely given, sometimes we do not love like God does, we instead hold back our love for others. We allow resentment towards others to take precedence over loving them. We only love those who love us, but God says to love even our enemies! It is all people! The temptation to not love others can be so easily done because, unlike God, people are flawed and because of this we conclude it is perfectly okay to be loveless towards the other. But if you read your bible, you know that this is not true. The Bible shares many stories where people did not love each other and what happened later was nothing to desire. The envy of brothers led to them selling their brother into slavery. The hate towards God’s people kept them enslaved for 400 years. The deceit of receiving God’s blessing led to sibling rivalry. I could go on and on to show you how not loving one another is destructive. We can pull from all these examples and see why it is important for us to love one another. So then how do we love God’s people;

  • Pray for others. (This includes your enemies!)
  • Serve one another with integrity.
  • Extend compassion to others.
  • Do not judge others.
  • Forgive those who have wronged us.
  • Give to others sincerely.
  • Work towards living in peace with others

If you are like me and you try to imagine a world where everyone loves one another as commanded by God, that love for others can start with you and become a reality. I can admit that I sometimes fail to love others as commanded and ask God to help me love others as he does, even my enemies. I don’t always get it right, but I still seek God’s help when loving others. You can do the same too! Keep this verse in your thoughts as you love God and his people.

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (life), and with all your mind (thought, understanding), and with all your strength.’ This is the second: ‘You shall [unselfishly] [a]love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. - Mark 12:30-31-

It is the greatest command after all! To love God and to love his people! It is time for you to take your rightful place. It is time to trade thorns for crowns.

Much love,

Xholiwe

Posted on by thornstocrowns

Thoughts on Peter’s Repentance: The bitter weeping of repentance

I have been on this thought of repentance for a while now and I hope my thoughts also allow you to think of repentance much more deeply. Over the weekend I read a chapter in Andrew Murray’s book called ‘Absolute Surrender’, my dear friend recommended this book and I would highly recommend it to you. Especially if you are struggling with absolute surrender or in other words repentance to the Lord. I am far into the book, but this chapter, quite shorter than the other chapters I have read, highlighted Peter’s story. I must admit this chapter was so thought-provoking, hence me thinking my thoughts louder to you.

If you were by any chance raised in the church, as kids we infamously were taught that; Peter walked on water with Jesus, he was one of the close disciples called by Jesus, and he loved Jesus so much, that he eventually became a diligent messenger of the Gospel. I personally loved these stories and as a kid, it was a great way to establish my faith and love for Jesus. Our study school teachers may have intentionally left out the fact that Peter was flawed, just like most of us. I understand them, as a kid, I wouldn’t fully understand, but how I wish it was much clearer. Well, I now get to learn more about flaws as I figure out my own flaws with the Lord. Another famous story of Peter that was taught in Sunday school, was Peter denying Jesus. I wouldn’t fully understand the magnitude of this moment for Peter until I had denied Jesus in my actions.

Back to the book, after reading this short chapter in Andrew Murray’s book, I think, it brought much understanding to the denial and what it meant. In my thoughts I was thinking, how could Peter a man who walked on water with Jesus, gave up his career as a fisherman to follow Jesus, saw Jesus perform miracles, and defended Jesus still deny him. Andrew had the answers to my questions, he said in his book “I do not know a man in the Bible who gives us greater comfort. When we look at his character so full of failures and at what Christ made him by the power of the Holy Spirit, there is hope for every one of us.” This immediately gave me hope! As I read this, I thought of my own failures and how much at that moment I related to Peter. But if not for the power of the Holy Spirit. Maybe as you read this, you feel the same way and I hope that gives you comfort.

The turning point of Peter

Think with me for a minute, would you? Peter denied Jesus, right? something he said he wouldn’t do even when Jesus said he would. The time comes, and at the third crow of the rooster, Peter denied Jesus. This was just as Jesus had told him. He must have been devastated, disappointed, and guilted by his action. This fulfillment led Peter to weep bitterly because he knew what this meant to him. But according to Andrew Murray, he said that weeping bitterly was Peter’s turning point. What changed in Peter’s heart in this moment? Most scholars of the bible and theologians say that this was the moment of Peter’s repentance. I think this was not the idea I had for Peter’s repentance, bitter weeping? Why would a friend of Jesus weep bitterly, he should have an easy turn point, right? He worked with Jesus for three years, and he surely must not weep, what does he even have to weep about? Well, he wept bitterly because in that moment he knew that his self-will was not greater than God’s will. In his action of denying Christ, it meant that he did not deny himself. Andrew says, “There is no choice for us; we must either deny self or deny Christ. There are two great powers fighting each other – the self-nature in the power of sin and Christ in the power of God. Either of these must rule within us.” Peter in his realization of choosing self knew he denied God and this is Peter’s turning point. What is yours?

Peter was not the only one

Sincere repentance comes with changed actions. Peter showed us this after this turning point. He was about Jesus’s work until his very last breath. He spread the Gospel and I am certain that came with a lot of denying of self. He was human just as we are, so I could imagine that even in the temptations to choose himself, he would go back to that very moment he denied Christ. He was not a man without sin, but his actions showed that he chose Christ even when he was put to death. He was persecuted for the Gospel, yet he continued to pursue Christ. The bitter weeping meant something, it meant a change of heart, an entire purge of the choice of self.

You may be exactly where Peter was, given the choice between self or Christ. Peter was not the only one who had to fight between the two choices. If like Peter you chose self and denied Christ, do not be guilted by your actions, but instead make it your turning point. You can change the choice you made and fully accept Christ. Walk with Christ like Peter did and find Christ again. You may not have a rooster crow for the third time like Peter did, but you do know the actions of self that drew you further away from Christ. It may cause you to weep because you then realize the magnitude of your actions, but take heart, weeping bitterly is sometimes what is needed for us to remember Christ and repent. 

Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover or pretext for evil, but [use it and live] as bond-servants of God. - 1 Peter 2:16 (AMP)
for you have been born again [that is, reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose] not of seed which is perishable but [from that which is] imperishable and immortal, that is, through the living and everlasting word of God. - 1 Peter 1:23 (AMP)
Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you. - 1 Peter 5:6 (AMPC)

It is time for you to take your rightful place. It is time to trade thorns for crowns.

Much love,

Kholiwe

Posted on by thornstocrowns

Godly Convictions: The antidote to repentance

As a Christian, I have heard people say this too many times, either directly to me or to others. Those who are not of the Christian faith say our faith has a bunch of rules and obligations, surely we must be in bondage in their mind. Are we truly free while chained to the rules and obligations of your faith? A quick response to this is yes we are! I have never had a quick response to this question, because to some extent they are right, our Christian faith does have several rules and obligations. However, what they may not yet fully comprehend is the freedom that comes with these rules and obligations. Simply put, the Godly conviction (“rules and obligations”) we have lead us to repentance, over and over again. We need these Godly convictions as they are the antidote to our repentance. While it may seem that we are in bondage to others, these convictions fuel our continued walk in freedom with Christ Jesus.

What are Godly convictions?

By definition, conviction is to hold firmly to a belief or opinion. Godly convictions therefore would simply be to hold firmly to the beliefs and opinions that come from God. Where do we find these convictions? In the Bible, the very word spoken by God through people to his people (us). If let’s say one has never come across a Bible, they still innately know what is good and evil. It doesn’t take the Bible to convince them otherwise now does it? Take for example, if I was not of Christian faith and mistreated another helpless person, I would still have some innate thought that this was wrong. But if this is not a conviction I have, it would be difficult for me to want to change or in other words repent. This is why Godly convictions are important because they are catalysts that thrust us into repentance. What are some of these Godly convictions we must uphold:

  • Put must God first! – by first, this is above other gods, self, others, things, etc (read Exodus 20:3)
  • You must love others as yourself. (Matthew 22:39)
  • You must live a life different from that of the world. (read 1 John 2: 15-17)
  • You must live a life of genuine servitude. (read Romans 12:1)
  • You must forgive others (read Mark 11:25)

I could list several more Godly convictions, but there are many, and the Bible has them all. I wanted to share these 5 in particular because these are the core Godly Convictions that have to this day pushed me and others towards repentance of our sins.

Godly convictions in action

The question of bondage to these Godly convictions may come up, and sometimes, it is just so hard to answer them. However, what would help answer these questions is an already-written story in the Bible. There are many stories of people who held firmly to their Godly convictions. One of my favorite Bible stories is that of Daniel, talk about living a life differently from the world he lived in. He could have like most conformed to the Babylonian ways of life, but he took his Godly convictions and put them in action. In his story, we notice that not many took it well, to the extent that they requested he be punished. He was punished for putting God first, think about how strong his beliefs were that even the food sacrificed to idols, he would not eat. When punished in the lions’ den, an amazing thing happens, God keeps him safe. He comes out of the den of lions alive! People hear of Daniel’s God and in my head, I can’t help but imagine that there were several people who said I need to repent from idol worshipping and worship the God of Daniel. (read Daniel 6:26-27). What a beautiful story! There are many other notable people that put their Godly convictions in action and we see their repentance or that of others through them. Here are a few;

  • Job – Even in great suffering Job held firm his beliefs and opinions of God. I am sure those that saw Job fully restored, had to repent.
  • Samson- He struggled with getting with the wrong women, only towards the end of his life were he lost it all that his Godly convictions were evident and they helped him repent before his immediate death.
  • David – Anionted by God to be King, David was the least amongst them, but he had Godly convictions and through out the Psalms we see it. The many times he would seek repentance for his sins. This is because he had such a reverence for God. The Bible says he was a man after God’s heart. I can tell from his story that this man’s was relentless in his beliefs.
  • Paul – need I say more? I write so much about Paul because talk about thorns to crowns! You would think he is the only character I know in the bible. Paul went from persecuting Christians to leading them to Christ! Paul’s repentance story is so different. He went from having no Godly convictions to being so transformed that that was all he could talk about. Many came to repentance and believing in Jesus because Paul took his Godly convictions quite seriously. Just read all the books written by him. His message of repentance is quite evident.

To wrap this up, you must also have your story to tell. If you are of christian faith, your Godly convictions should be evident in your life and should always push you towards repentance. You may not be thrown in a lions’ den like Daniel, but you must hold firm to your beliefs and opinions of God even when it is not well accepted by others. If you are not of christian faith, but are thinking about it, then use these Godly convictions to push you towards repentance. It is time for you to take your rightful place, it is time to trade thorns for crowns!

Much love!

Xholiwe

Posted on by thornstocrowns

The Sobering Thoughts of Good Friday

After attending a Good Friday service yesterday at my home church, I couldn’t help but take my thoughts to the moments Jesus Christ said his last words and took his final breath on the cross. I love to have these moments of sobering thoughts because that final breath on that cross holds such great significance. With every passing Good Friday that I have walked with the Lord and deepened my relationship with him, it becomes much clearer to me that what he did was far too great to be taken lightly. I hope as you remember what Jesus did for you on that cross, these sobering thoughts can help you understand the magnitude of his death for us.

Sobering thoughts of his teachings and MIracles

Jesus did not start his full teachings until he was thirty. It was only after his baptism that he began to read of his teaching and miracles (read Matthew 3: 13-17). He was the son of God but humbly allowed a man to baptize him. Even man felt unworthy, yet he allowed it. When he began to teach and perform miracles people could not resist hearing him teach or bearing witness to his miracles. Why was this significant before? Unlike what was taught to them, this was different, his teaching dealt with the heart and sinful nature of man. He did not address people to condemn them but called them to repentance. From the start, his purpose was to reconcile them with God through his teachings. I have been studying the sermon on the mount with my Bible study group, which I consider one of Jesus’s greatest sermons by the way. From this sermon can get a full scope of his reconciliation message between God and man. In Matthew 7:29 it says the crowds that gathered at the mount concluded that he taught with authority, unlike the teachers of religious law. Similarly, those who bore witness to his miracles were never the same again. How could these very same people who sat under his teachings and saw his miracles still watch him be crucified? The sobering thought here is Jesus was humble, taught with authority, and performed miracles all for the sole purpose of reconciliation. He came to change the narrative of the old through his teaching. The greatest teacher I know to date. It is something people needed to sit under and bear witness that truly the Messiah was on earth.

sOBERING THOUGHTS OF god WITH US

Before his death and resurrection, through Christ Jesus, God was with us. Emmanuel! God was with his people (read Matthew 1:23). He was born and grew up just like you and I. He was cared for by his earthly parents as some of us. He felt like you and I, joy, sadness, pain, and other emotions. He formed relationships and lived with mankind on Earth. He worked! can you imagine that, he actually worked and probably at the end of the day needed to rest from a day’s work, just like we do. How can we not see the magnitude of his purpose to reconcile us with God? For God so loved the world that he gave us his son Jesus! And through Jesus, people were with God. The sobering thought here is that God was no longer only reached by one man, or by one group, but all could come to freely and be near God through Christ Jesus!

sOBERING THOUGHTS OF gOD’S WILL THROUGH CHRIST

We read several times in the gospels that Jesus even after miracles happened, asked that it not be shared. It was not yet time. The timing of it all was not up to him, it was as God willed. He was on earth to do the Lord’s will. It was God’s will that his son would die on the cross for us all. Because of God’s will the timing of everything was important and what happened during Jesus’s time had to happen, what happened before the cross was God’s will;

  • Jesus born of a virgin.
  • Jesus saved from Herod’s order to kill male children.
  • The baptism of Jesus.
  • Jesus being tempted by the devil.
  • Jesus’s teachings and miracles.
  • His disciples who followed him and would later spread the gospel.
  • The denial of his teachings by teachers of religious law.
  • The hostility and fear of the Roman Empire.
  • The sharing of the last meal and washing his disciples’ feet.
  • The betrayal of Judas.

All of it was in the will of God. However, before the cross, Jesus in great anguish asked if this crucifixion could pass him by, yet if not, that God’s will would come to pass. And so it did. The son of God was arrested to be crucified, even Peter’s wrath could not stop the will of God. For what crime? There was no crime he had committed, but declare he is the Messiah that those of old have spoken about. The sobering thought here is that Jesus came to do God’s will for you and me! He at the hands of the very people he came to save, was arrested to be crucified. He freely gave himself to the will of God. The more you sit with this thought, the more it reminds you of how great Good Friday means for you.

The sobering thought of the cross

I looked at the cross yesterday during our Good Friday service and tears ran down my face. As Christians, that symbolic cross we look at is a reminder that the son of man, came down from heaven to render us free from sin and shame. He took the suffering and the brutal pain of the cross so that we would be free. His act of such great love and sacrifice allowed us to be reconciled with God. Even when we think we are undeserving of the act of love on that cross, he did it! Jesus felt the pain of the cross and as he hung, he called out to his father, he cried out as darkness settled on earth. In a loud voice, he said “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?). He was surrounded by the world and some of the people of the world did not know what all this meant for them. Jesus in the last of his life asked that God would forgive them for they did not know what they were doing (read Luke 23:34). Jesus even in his death remembered that it was for the people he came to die for and even though they did not know it, he asked God to forgive them. This very same forgiveness is why we are here, forgiven for our sins. Thank you, Lord. Jesus committed his spirit to God and said it was finished (read John 19:30). What was finished? The will of his Father! The sobering thought here is that Jesus fulfilled the will of God, it was finished. What does that mean for those that were present then and what does it mean now for us? Because Jesus gave himself as a living sacrifice for all humanity, we can freely come to God. If we confess that Jesus died on the cross for us all. When repent and accept Jesus as our savior, our reconciliation is established through the cross where Jesus died. The greatest act of love! Keep these sobering thoughts with you as you go into celebrating his resurrection. He has risen! He is alive!

Much love,

Xholiwe

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The purpose of stagnant waters

When we think of stagnant waters, we don’t think of things that are fresh and alive. On the contrary, we think of the dangers of stagnant water bodies and some of us follow the instructions not to be near or in stagnant water bodies. It is for our health anyway, right? According to my Google search, stagnant waters are a breeding ground for insects and bacteria that carry diseases, the water is filled with dead things and water-borne diseases thrive in these waters. What good can come from stagnant waters? In a physical and literal sense, nothing good can come from stagnant waters. For the purpose of this blog, I wanted to use stagnant water as an illustration of our spiritual stagnation. While we know nothing good comes from it in the physical, what good can come from stagnant waters in your spiritual life? If any?! What can God do with your stagnant waters and make them purposeful?

What is stagnant water in the spiritual life?

Similar to actual stagnant waters, there are many dangers of us coming near or in these types of waters. The stagnant water in a spiritual aspect is the death of faith and hope. With the death of faith and hope, there is a high likelihood that sin and doubt breed and start to grow in our lives. In a spiritual sense because of the death of faith and hope there is no longer any movement on our spiritual walk. The waters don’t move, so don’t we. The Bible does instruct us to not get into stagnant water, a place where faith and hope die, but many of us find ourselves there for so many reasons. Here are a few of them; hurt/disappointment, loss, fear, complacency, self-righteousness, and laziness. What was the reason that made you get into stagnant waters? In other words, what killed your faith and hope?

When it starts to STINK

Stagnant waters eventually start to stink. If you have ever walked past a place with stagnant waters, you know exactly what I am talking about. It is quite hard to ignore the awful smell. In many similarities with stagnant waters in our spiritual lives, our stagnant paddles of water begin to stink. We can spend all our lives ignoring the smell of it, and allow people around us to also get affected by the smell of it. If there are people who love you well, they will let you know it stinks and they can all smell it. They may even encourage you to clean up and get rid of the smell. However, it does come down to you deciding if you want to live your life void of faith and hope, and instead allowing sin and doubt to thrive within you. Here is where you may want to think what is the purpose of this stagnant water if nothing good comes from it? All you have is sin and doubt and whatever little faith and hope you had is dead. You are unable to move forward but sit there in misery. I understand where you are because I too have been there where stagnant water seemed like a better place to live my life. I knew what my Bible said about how life without faith and hope feels and looks like, but I had already killed it enough. Death surrounded me, where could I bring back to life faith and hope while I tried to move in unmovable water? Well, this is where the purpose of stagnant water steps in!

The purpose of stagnant water

Stagnant waters save as a reminder to tell us this is not where we used to be. We are reminded that there was a time when our lives were filled with faith and hope. Understandably, some circumstances killed our faith and hope, but surely this is not where you want to remain. If the awful smell of sin and doubt eventually gets to you, you then decide enough is enough! It is time to get back to thriving in living waters. If you have lived long enough in stagnant waters, stepping out will not be easy, in fact, it will be quite scary. But there is good news! You do not have to do this alone! Someone has been waiting for you to get out of there, his name is Jesus Christ. And to ease you into stepping out, he starts with you small, he is not even trying to overwhelm you.

In his word from Matthew 17:20, he says your faith can be as tiny as a mustard seed. Think with me for a second, a mustard seed is extremely tiny and that is what can help you get out of these stagnant waters? You can’t pass up this offer! Activate your faith and allow Jesus to bring you out of these waters you have made your home. After you have activated your faith remember that you can’t take your sin and doubt where there is life, those things can not thrive in living waters. Repent from your sin and doubt and begin to build your faith and hope in Jesus. It will surprise you how much making this decision will greatly impact your life. So do you still think only bad things come from stagnant water now? Well, I hope not, because many of us came out of stagnant water, and Jesus our living water turned things around for us. We are no longer surrounded by dead things, but life and, we can move freely!

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them

John 7:38 (NIV)

This verse reminds us that there is a way out of our stagnant waters, and it is through believing in Jesus. In other words, it is having faith and hope in Jesus. There is hope that once we taste the living water, no longer shall we thirst for the old stinky waters (Read John 4 v 10-14). Now that is some good news! I urge you to step out from those stagnant waters, there is hope on the other side. It is time for you to take your rightful place! It is time to trade thorns for crowns.

Much love,

Xholiwe

Posted on by thornstocrowns

The failures of the flesh and heart: Strengthened by God

If I am not reading the Bible, you will catch me watching personal testimonies, I love to hear real-life testimonies and I could go on for hours just listening to how God restored people back to him. Many of these testimonies deal with the failures flesh and the heart. One thing in common for most of those who share is that they were at their end of giving up and they looked to God for strength. God gave them the strength to carry when the failures of their flesh and heart failed them. The verse Psalms 73:26 says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” I thought of expanding on this just because we too have been in a place where the failures of of flesh and hearts could only be restored by the strength of the Lord.

When the flesh fails

In a perfect world, the flesh would not fail, but because we live in an imperfect world, many of us experience the failures of our flesh. It is not own deteriorating health, it is the health of those we love that causes us to lose strength. The bad report from the doctor has typically left many feeling hopeless and unable to cope with the news that our flesh has failed us. In the moment we question why would this happen to us, none of us immediately think to have hope when we analyze the report. The failures of our flesh can induce fear in us as we are faced with the reality that we may lose our own strength. If we’re honest our mind immediately thinks of the worst of the situation. But do you know that even in the worst of the situation there you can draw strength? Not our own strength because that will fail us. When the flesh fails our natural strength can not be sustained. It is quite hard to sustain your own strength when your body is weak, so why not look to God for strength? (read 1 Chronicles 16:11).

When the heart fails

Unfortunately, yes, the heart does fail us as well. I know if we could, we would figure out a way on how the heart can stay intact. But as long as we live here on earth, our hearts will fail us in many ways. The heart fails when we experience all kinds of trials and tribulations here on earth and this should not catch us by surprise as Christians. Just because we are Christian doesn’t mean that we are exempt from the troubles of the world. (read Psalms 34:19). When the heart fails there is that impulse in us to figure out how we can quickly fix it and we tend to do that in our own ability and strength. In most cases, our own ability and strength have led us to feel fearful, despair, and inadequate. We are then convinced that God is not in control and that we should handle it all. We soon realize that fixing a failed heart in our own strength does not yield the results we hoped for. I say this from experience, I have in my own strength tried to remedy the aches of my heart, and while for a while I thought I fixed it, it only came back even worse. After my many failed attempts, I quickly realized that my own strength had failed me and need an assured strength. I had to turn to the Lord for his strength. You may be like me trying to have a temporary fix of the heart in your own strength, but I encourage you to turn to the Lord for strength.

LOOKING TO God For strength

From the testimonies of others to our own experiences, we can all testify that it was God’s strength that helped us through the failures of our flesh and heart. We are to look to God’s strength because unlike our own his is assured to not fail us.

It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure.

Psalms 18:32

The failures of our flesh and heart may try to convince us that all hope is lost and God’s promises to give us strength are not true. However, the Bible many times speaks of the strength the Lord gives us when we entrust him with all our failures. Below is a list of verses you can look to while seeking the strength of God;

  • Psalm 54:1
  • Psalm 46:1
  • Psalm 29:11
  • Psalm 28: 7-8
  • Psalm 37: 39
  • 2 Corinthians 4:16
  • Philippians 4:6

While there is not much we can do in our own strength, I pray that you find the strength to pray and ask God to give you his strength for all the failures you have experienced. I encourage you to shift your focus from despair to trusting the unseen strength God can give you. Let the failures of your flesh and heart know a greater strength than your own. It is time for you to take your rightful place, it is time for you to trade thorns for crowns.

Much love,

Xholiwe

Posted on by thornstocrowns

You were running a good race: Get back on track

Everyone has their favorite book of the Bible and mine happens to be Galatians amongst many others. I recently read a couple verses with a friend and spent some time reflecting on some of the verses. The entirety of this book emphasizes that people must have faith in Jesus Christ and Paul tells us of the freedom experienced when we live a life of faith in Christ over the law. The Galatians welcome his teaching on faith and freedom in Christ at the start and are doing so well, but unfortunately, in chapters 3 and 4 Paul begins to have concerns about them turned back from what he taught them. He addresses them and pleads with them not to turn back, why would they turn back? they were doing so well. (read Galatians 3:1-4; 4: 8-20).

We too are no different from the Galatians, we have received the teaching and know it to be true that there is freedom when we live our lives by having faith in Christ Jesus, but just as the Galatians, we can get persuaded to think otherwise and turn our backs on the truth. So I ask us the same question Paul asked the Galatians, Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? (Galatians 5:7 NIV)

YOU were running a good race

If you are like me and love to occasionally watch the Olympic track runners, then you might know what a good race looks like. Almost every race starts with the runner in the assigned tracks and all are signaled to start. There is usually a crowd watching in the bleachers and you can hear the many cheers as the runners accelerate. These runners have trained and put in their effort for this final moment, nothing should go bad as they sprint through their lane. It would be so disheartening to see your favorite track runner stumble and fall because someone cut into their lane. But it does happen and when it does you ask yourself what went wrong? They were doing so well! Paul must have felt the exact same way when he watched the Galatians stumble and fall.

Paul watched the Galatians train and put in their effort, he then watched them start to run their races and for a moment there, they were doing so well, and he excitedly cheered them on. He would hope that they would make it to the very end, knowing the obeying the truth he taught them. I can imagine his disappointment as he saw one after another trip and fall. He said to them, “You were running a good a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” We know who cut on the Galatians and made them trip and fall, but how about us? What is cutting in on us?

I think of my very own race and let’s be clear Paul uses running races quite a bit as a way to describe our spiritual journey. So let us not confuse the two as we think even about our own races (our spiritual journey). In my spiritual journey, I experienced times when I was slowed down, completely distracted, came to a stop, and was persuaded by other things. It is quite easy than you think to be persuaded by these other things, the things that cut in on us as we journey with the truth we know. Paul says that these persuasions do not come from he who calls us in verse 8 of chapter 5. Who is the “he” that Paul talks about? It is Jesus, Jesus does not call us to these different persuasions that draw us away from him. But we do get persuaded by people and things, and recognizing these persuasions is important so that you can know when you are getting off track. I know I am getting off track when I;

  1. Start to revert back to my old ways. The old ways Jesus set me free from, I begin to think and act on them.
  2. Feed into the lies of the enemy that contradict God’s word over me.
  3. Give into believing something else (ideologies) contrary to what I know is truth.
  4. Find ways to justify my wrongdoings and get comfortable with continuously doing wrong.
  5. Neglect the word of God and stop spending time in it.
  6. When I worry more and pray less.
  7. Allow my selfish ambitions and desires to overtake me and I end up losing sight of Jesus.
  8. Surround myself with people who don’t care about their spiritual journey with Jesus.

I could keep going with the list, but these are just a few of the things that can persuade us away from the truth we know. It is important now to allow these persuasions to take us away from the freedom we get to experience in knowing Jesus. We steadfastly walk with the Lord through it all (read my other blog on steadfastly walking with the Lord). How can you maintain your truth in a world full of persuasions?

  1. You stand firm on the truth that you know. Your belief in Jesus Christ should not be easily swayed.
  2. You used the word of God as you practical application to how you live your life.
  3. You immediately become aware of when you begin to get out of track.
  4. You study the word of God and hide his word in your heart.
  5. You practice your faith and remain disciplined in it.
  6. You pray earnestly.
  7. You surround yourself with people that believe in your faith and will also help you grow spiritually.
  8. You repent of your old ways and get back on track.

Run your spiritual race well and stay focused on the goal to win the race set before you! This race you can not do on your own or even worse allow people and things to cut in on you. You have found a new freedom as you live your life in with faith in Jesus Christ. Let it not be taken away from you. Guard it with your heart, don’t be easily persuaded by things that do not come from him. Instead, be persuaded by the things of the Lord. Steadfastly walk with the Lord knowing that he will guide you as you journey through this life. It is time to take your rightful place! It is time for you to trade thorns for crowns!

Much love,

Xholiwe

Posted on by thornstocrowns

God’s Bigger Picture: The picture we don’t see

Two weeks ago my aunt and I went to a painting class. My aunt is an artist and I thought it would be a great birthday outing to celebrate her. This was for her because I am convinced that painting is not my strength. I find myself trying way too hard for only the final picture to not turn out, well, not so great. I have been to several of these painting classes with friends and family so believe me when I say, I just tag along. I knew this experience with my aunt wouldn’t be any different. Once we made it to the class, the instructor already had everything in place for us, the paint, brushes, a blank canvas, and to the side was a tiny little picture of how our paintings would look once we were done. My aunt said let us take a picture of the blank canvas so that we can show people how we started and then later our final picture! Great idea! I took a photo of the blank canvas and thought nothing much of it. I was too worried about how mine would turn out anyway. Sometime this week I was reminiscent of our time painting and decided to look at our photos and looked at where we started, our progress, and our finished paintings. It was the blank canvas that led me to want to write about God’s bigger picture for us that sometimes we don’t see.

Clearly, there is nothing to see with a blank canvas and I would like to think that all of us start from there in our lives. Newborn babies are a great example of this, especially when they blankly stare into this new world and do not know what to expect. A blank canvas could turn out to be anything based on the painter’s direction. Trust me when I tell you that it could be anything because all of us in the painting class based on how we followed instructions or just tried our best (pointing fingers at me), we all had different paintings despite us all referencing the little tiny picture of the final painting. With our lives, just like each painting was different in that class, our lives are different. But one thing that is universal for all of us is God’s bigger picture. What is God’s bigger picture for us?

What is God’s bigger picture for us?

As I continue to read God’s word his bigger picture continues to be much clearer. From start to finish, his picture has been the same. This picture does not look any different, the picture is the same for the poor, for the rich, for the one who struggles with sin, for the person who doesn’t believe, for the one who believes, it is for us all. God’s bigger picture is to dwell with his people. It was the same then and is still the same now. From the creation of man in the garden, God has desired to dwell with his creation. Unfortunately, with the fall of man, this picture got distorted making it hard for us to see what God sees. We shifted our focus to our own picture, and we have missed it all together. Every plan by God has been to fulfill the bigger picture for all humanity. Even when it meant him giving his only son Christ Jesus to redeem us. He did that with us in mind so that he may dwell with us. (read Ephesians 3:16-17).

When we dwell with God, we live with him and he lives in us, this means in more modern language, we do life with him. Doing life with God is one built on trusting him and knowing that through him all is fulfilled. He knows your beginning and he knows your end (read Revelations 22:13). Think of him as the instructor of your incomplete painting/picture, he will guide you through the fear, the joy, the frustration, the excitement, the regrets, the assurance, you can name it all so that ultimately you can see what he sees. It is a beautiful picture of you and him in it. Dwelling together as it was always meant to be from the beginning.

How can I see what he sees?

We too desire to dwell with God but as I mentioned earlier this image was distorted. The world became increasingly evil after the fall of man in the garden and this shifted our focus. However, there is a longing in all of us that sometimes can not be explained and if we dug deeper it would point to dwelling with God. Sadly, It can be hard to see what God sees when we are in a broken world that is filled with so many distractions. We may find ourselves focused on the wrong picture because when it is in front of us, it is impossible to think there is something else beyond it. If a person is presented with a picture of continuous pain, regret, fear, or loneliness, how can they believe in a bigger picture? They can only believe if presented with something different. We can only see what he sees when we re-align ourselves to his word. Reading his word daily and keeping it in our hearts for his word is truth. This means focusing on God in a world that may want so badly to draw us away from him. It is easy to fall into the trap of focusing on self and comparing our life to others in this distracted world. What this does is that it further distorts us from seeing God’s bigger picture. To see beyond this, may require you to realize that your life needs God’s guidance and much of your trust in him. (read Proverbs 3:5-6). Will you give God permission to dwell in you so that you may see clearly his bigger picture for you?

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

revelations 21:3 NIV

I hope you can see it now that God’s bigger picture is to dwell with you! He desires to live life alongside you. Trust me when I say that he is the best instructor/guide when it comes to painting a clear and meaningful picture. He wants to take that distorted image and make you see what he sees and that is a fulfilled life with him by your side. It is time for you to take your rightful place, it is time to trade thorns for crowns!

Much Love,

Xholiwe

Posted on by thornstocrowns · 1 Comment

Steadfastly walking with the Lord: Is it worth it?

I had a conversation with my friend a while back who is an avid runner. This girl runs in any type of weather, mind you we live in the Midwest so you know we experience all seasons. I asked her how she does it and never skips a beat, and she said it is her continuous walking that has helped her build this momentum over the years. This momentum has allowed her to complete several 5k races and I am always so impressed by her passion and consistency. Her passion and consistency made me think about steadfastly walking with the Lord, which she is also great at! Steadfastly walking with the Lord is quite similar to what my friend does as an avid runner. It requires continuous walking that helps build one’s momentum to even do more walking. It is the commitment to walk alongside God through every season.

Merriam-Webster defines Steadfast as firm in belief, determination, or adherence. It further breaks it down and says that steadfast implies a steady and unwavering course of love, allegiance, or conviction. Our walk with God when all summed up in one requires all the things mentioned above. Unfortunately, it does get difficult in some seasons to hold on to a steady pace and build momentum. So what do we do when start to lose our steadfastness? We examine our hearts and see if anything has changed our pace or entirely has made us quit. Several things can disrupt our steadfast walk, but in this blog, I want to highlight a few that we may experience.

Hope Deferred

Typically, when our steadfast walk with the Lord is disrupted, we know that our hope has been deferred (read Proverbs 13:12). When our hope is deferred we consciously or unconsciouly conclude on the impossibly of the desired change ,our actions begin to somtimes indicate that we have taken another route in search for hope. You may have had hope for a long time that things will get better for that difficult situation, you were trusting God and the more this hope felt far off or put off for later you, the less you felt inclined to walk with the Lord. To make matters worse, you decide to walk this alone. What a difficult walk it is when done alone. I have been there and might I tell you, it is not an easy walk. I wish at that time I could have thought of people like Abraham who steadfastly walked with the Lord even when the hope for his promised child with Sarah felt impossible. I had to pick up again on my steadfast walk with the Lord. But the good thing about the Lord is that he is ready to walk with you once you decide that your hopelessness will not take you away from steadfastly walking with him. Even when the walk may feel uncertain for you, your part is to stay firm on what you know to be true.

SIN AND SHAME

Do you remember the story of the prodigal son Jesus told? The son went on his own leaving his father to a far-off land and with the money he inherited used it wrongfully for worldly pleasure. He committed sin through how he lived his life and later shame came upon him when all his money was gone. We know the ending is a beautiful story of forgiveness, but I want us to look at this story with us in mind and our steadfast walk with the Lord. Like the prodigal son when we allow sin in our lives and are overcome by it, it is quite easy for it to disrupt our steadfast walking with the Lord.

Sin gratifies only the needs of the flesh, pushes aside the Lord and like the prodigal son takes us to a far-off land away from our Father. With sin comes the shame and feeling unworthy to walk with the Lord when all he has been doing is waiting for you to come back home. Sin and shame tell us we can’t walk steadfastly with the Lord anymore, these two things try to convince us that we are unable to continuously walk with the Lord and build momentum. Oh, what a lie from the enemy. Indeed sin and shame can cripple us from steadfastly walking with the Lord, but then because Jesus died on the cross for our sins and shame there is redemption for us! We repent from our sins and re-commit to steadfastly walking with the Lord again. We then stand firm and determined to walk with the Lord and no longer make the choices that took us away from him. (Read 2 Peter 3 v 17-18).

Is it worth it?

Walking steadfastly with God is 100% worth it! I speak for myself and for many others who have chosen to stand firm on the belief that God is truly the best to walk with on the journey of life. Even for the most difficult times, because walking with him when all is well is quite easy. However, we are to maintain our pace even when steadfastly walking with him feels difficult. Because in the end, we know that God is with us. (read Isaiah 41:10; Matthew 1:23).

5 Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose].

1 Corinthians 15:58 AMP

Be encouraged that your steadfastness in the Lord is not futile nor wasted. The reward for it is greater because you decided to stay steadfast. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12 ESV). It is time for you to take your rightful place, it is time to trade thorns for crowns!

Much Love,

Xholiwe