Silent Time

Have you only heard of the word of God?

Or have you really experienced the life that the good news offers, the personal relationship with the Lord, his love, power and guidance?

As humans we tend to categorize and judge others by outward appearances and behaviours, by what people look like, by what they say and how they behave.

Praise the Lord if you live in a place of relative freedom, in a country of democracy having a fair legal system that will judge those who do criminal things and a system that lets those live freely that have not done anything wrong. While human systems will never be perfect, yet praise the Lord if you can live under relatively good conditions.

God looks much deeper into each person’s heart: what are the person’s real intentions? Good or bad? Does a person really regret if having done wrong or only pretend?

Unlike human systems, God’s judgements are perfect and holy.

How would you react if you request something and seemingly get a harsh reply? How would you react if you requested something from the Lord in prayer and you do not get any word of comfort and rather only a short reply such as “go”?

How we react to the word of God is of essence.

The official by the time of Jesus had requested Jesus to come along with him in order to heal his son, but the reply was “go …”. How did the official react? With anger? With doubt? With pressure? The official by that time listened, believed and followed the reply that he received from Jesus.

How would you react in such a situation?

By that time, indeed the son of the official got healed.

There are so many reasons to give up in life, so much suffering, work and tasks to be done and so little time per week to accomplish all. Additionally as a believer you may experience persecution and trouble.

There are so many reasons to give up, but there is one reason not to give up. The great hope is bigger than any trouble we experience. It is not just a vague hope, rather it is confirmed by the victory that Jesus has already won. Whoever holds out to the end will be saved.

Shall we always respect the authorities?

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

What are the major findings that you discover, when you study the word of God, when you read the bible and Christian books or listen to sermons? What is the core message for you? What are the criteria to find out whether a preacher is fully in line with the word of God? Just historical facts or only useful guidelines?

There is much more to it: We can find real comfort, a fulfilled life and true hope, because we know that the message of the bible saves us, if we find Jesus Christ as our personal saviour.

What are the most important things for you in life?

Since God has already shown that he has the best intentions for us and a good long term plan for our life, and since he has won the decisive victory on the cross, so we do not need to doubt: his mercy is surely available for us, even if our life goes through a lot of difficulties and challenges, even if we loose everything in this life, we still have everything in the mercy of the Lord. Many of those who are now the last will ultimately be the first by God’s grace.

Thomas – called the twin – did not believe the words of the other disciples when they reported that they had seen the risen Lord.

Blessed are those who do not see yet and already believe the good news of God’s grace.

Even a minor wrongdoing cannot enter the kingdom of God.

No human individual is perfect.

So the question is: Do you receive God’s grace and forgiveness? Or not?

No matter how much wrong we have done or failed to do, God’s grace is bigger than our wrongdoing and his mercy is available to everyone who humbly turns to him.

Who belongs to the Lord?

It sounds as a minor or even irrelevant side note.

Yet it is so important:

The one who belongs to God, listens to God’s word.