Listen to God's Word in you personal quiet time...

Psalm 119:18: Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.
From Luke 24:32-45: 32 They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

If you look at the passages above they have two things in common: The verb "open" and the fact that "God does it".

We need the help of the Holy Spirit when we come to personal devotions, or as many people call it: “Quiet Times”:

- The Spirit can open our eyes, because we're often too preoccupied to notice Truth.
- The Spirit can open our hearts, because they can be hard.
- The Spirit can open the Scriptures to us, because they are God-breathed and not just human literature.

So.... Tip#1: Always ask God to help you as you have your Quiet Time!

After much thought and many questions around this topic, I decided to share some practical hints around having a daily devotional time. Many people call them Quiet Times. While most of us know that you should have them, they simply don't know how.

WHAT IS QUIET TIME: A simple daily time where we draw near to God.

PURPOSE: To worship God and recalibrate our lives.

ACTIONS: Slow down, Quiet down, Reflect on Truth, Worship and Pray.

KEY VALUES: Simple, Regular, Sustainable and Honest

A typical Quiet Time lasts 10 – 20 minutes and involves:

1. Slow down, stop the racing mind, become aware of God's presence.
2. Pray for God's help to hear Him and His message.
3. Read Scripture (not a book about Scripture – no other book is God inspired, only the Bible. Books about the Bible should be used for Bible study and not for devotions. Just read the Bible, God’s own Word to you, listen what God says - and reflect on it)
4. Reflect on where you are right now, hear what God is saying to your soul. Allow God to open your heart and your eyes.
5. Worship and Pray.

Expect God to speak to you. His Word is God-breathed and his Holy Spirit prefers to speak life into our lives through God’s book! Therefore, remember Tip#1 – Always ask God to help you as you have your Quiet Time!


(Thanks to the Rev Theo Groeneveld whose devotions on this topic gave direction to the thoughts in this series on Quiet Times)

New life by the Spirit, through the Word!

It is God’s plan to bring new life into our lives by the Holy Spirit and through the Word of God. Something mysterious and beautiful happens when we place ourselves under the Word: the Spirit produces faith and makes us born again.

God's people must put themselves under the Word. They must come to God’s place of worship. They must involve themselves in Bible Study. They must set aside a regular time for personal devotions. Our God is almighty. He can do anything. By the Holy Spirit and through the Word he brings life to a sinner whose spirit is dead and dry. He is able to bring his life to the most fallen of saints!

2 Tim. 3: 16& 17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man (and woman) of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Dear Lord, bring me into the glorious life of the risen Christ by your God-breathed Word! Amen.

EASTER SUNDAY: the Lord has risen indeed!

A few women, dear friends of Jesus, were numb with grief and filled with bitter disappointment after his death. They went to the tomb on Sunday morning and found the stone rolled away. They entered the tomb and looked around for the body of Jesus and could not find it.
Scripture tells us "they were wondering about this." They were confused and perplexed and had no idea of what happened - of what was going on.

Two angels appeared to them and told them that Christ has risen. The angels reminded the women of Christ's predictions about the cross and the grave, the crucifixion and the resurrection. "Remember?" they asked. Then they remembered his words and understood what Jesus had said to them: that He must die and must be raised. Then they believed that Jesus truly is alive. (Luke 24:8)

On Easter Sunday the veil is lifted. Finally people can see and believe the message of Christ, the message that: (Lk 24:7) the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.

"Remember how he told you," said the angels. Then the women remembered and understood the full message of salvation. Only then did they believe and their sorrow was changed into joy.

The message of Easter always turns sorrow into joy, death into life, defeat into victory. For the disciples of Christ, Easter was a wonderful, beautiful, exciting surprise.
Surprise, death! Surprise, sin! Surprise, mourning disciples! Surprise, modern man! Surprise! He's alive! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

(Rom 4:25) He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Jesus buried

Today is Maundy Thursday. Maundy literally means “washing feet” and refers to the night when Jesus and the disciples were together for the last time, when he and they stood in the shadow of the cross, when he washed their feet and instituted the Holy Supper.
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On this Thursday night before Good Friday, we traditionally celebrate the “Tenebrae Service”. Tenebrae is the Latin word for darkness. We meet tonight at 19:00 (7pm) at the Centurion West Presbyterian Church for this beautiful and meaningful service with lots of symbolism.

Tonight we will be asked to meditate on the meaning of the suffering of Christ for our lives through an experience that relates to the gloom he faced and endured. The gradual extinguishing of the lights during this service is symbolic of the advancing darkness that came over Jesus: with the flight of the disciples, the bitter hate of his enemies, the looming shadow of the cross. The moments of total darkness during the service recalls the time when he was in the tomb. The relighting of the central candle is a prophecy of Easter so soon to dawn.

On Good Friday we meet again, at 09:30, to remember his crucifixion and death for our sake when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
Looking forward to share this spiritual pilgrimage over the next four days with you!


Devotion for Maundy Thursday.
Jesus is Placed in the Tomb

Luke 23:50-54: Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph… This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning.

The burial of Jesus makes it absolutely clear that Jesus really died on the cross. It also explains the place from which Jesus was raised.

The Sabbath was beginning, Luke wrote. Jesus “rested” in the tomb, because all his work of suffering for us was done. It may seem that everything is lost, but he would rise again.
It was on the Friday that he died.
But Sunday is coming…

We died with Christ and our old sinful man is buried with him. A new man, the new day, is imminent.
The resurrection Sunday of our life in Jesus, is soon to dawn.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, we remember that you really died. You experienced the ultimate penalty for our sin, for my sin. Your real death opened up the door for me to experience real life. Faced with such a merciful mystery, I cry: "Amazing love! How can it be, that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?" Amen!

Jesus died on the cross

Luke 23:44-47: It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.”

Because Jesus was innocent, not just of crimes that deserved crucifixion, but of all wrongdoing, he was able to make many righteous by dying for our sins. He became the spotless, atoning sacrifice for all – yes for me.

We should learn of Jesus how to die! The Saviour committed his spirit into the hands of his Father in death, because he, the spotless Lamb of God had been in the Father's hands all through his life!

At death you also can commit your spirit into the hands of God, but only if you have already committed your spirit to God during life. Have you done this? Have you committed your spirit, the control centre of your life, into the hands of God? For only then, at the last hour, are you also able to say, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

Calvary’s mournful mountain climb;
there, adoring at his feet,
mark the miracle of time,
God’s own sacrifice complete;
it is finished, hear Him cry;
learn of Jesus Christ to die.

Ps. Join us tomorrow night (19:00) when we will during the beautiful Tenebrae service, full of symbolism and an emotional experience of Jesus’ suffering and death, learn of Jesus to love God sacrificially and to die in peace.
Also attend the Communion Service on Good Friday (09:30), because the Master said: Do this, until I come again, in remembrance of me.
Then our hearts will be prepared for the joy of Eastertide, the pure bliss of the believer who can sincerely say on Easter Sunday: Jesus has risen indeed!

Jesus on the Cross, His Mother, and His Disciple

John 19:26-27 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

This cannot merely be a word to a distressed Mary. A deeper meaning is suggested by the verse that follows: "Later, knowing that all was now completed ..." (vs 28a). These words and actions of Jesus completed the work that the Father has given him to do. Making Mary the mother of the Beloved Disciple and making the Beloved Disciple the son of Mary somehow and in some way completed the work that the Father had sent Jesus to do.

Notice what happens. Jesus is on the cross. Below Him are two of those who still believe in Him. Beneath the cross of Jesus a new family is created. The blood of Christ forms a new home. Through his redemptive work upon the cross Jesus forges a new family of the redeemed. We know it as the Church!

Now you and I should do two things. First, we must praise God for the blessed family of believers formed beneath the cross of Jesus! Second, we must do whatever it takes to make the church into more of what Jesus wants her to be: a family of true believers who loves, cares for, and supports each and every one of us.

Jesus Promises His Kingdom to the crucified Thief

Luke 23:43: One of the criminals who were hanged said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

The crosses were only a few feet apart. The Lord immediately heard the cry of the repentant man. Remember the promise of Christ, "whoever comes to me I will never drive away" (Jn 6:37).
We see here that this promise is the truth. The thief asked Jesus to remember him, but Jesus said, "you will be with me."

I urge you to turn to Jesus in repentance and in faith. We know the power of Christ the Saviour. Even then, even there dying in pain, he had the power to redeem from hell and open the gates of Paradise. Never doubt the ability of our Saviour to save you. If a dying Saviour could save so powerfully, how powerful is a Saviour who rose from death in triumph, never more to die!

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your mercy. Thank you for hearing my cries and responding, remembering even me. Thank you for the promise I have of Paradise beyond this life. In your presence there will be fullness of joy. Amen.

HOLY WEEK AND EASTER SERVICES AT THE CENTURION WEST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH:
Maundy Thursday 9 April – Tenebrae Service at 19:00
Good Friday 10 April – Communion Service, English at 09:30

EASTER SUNDAY SERVICE - 12 April, 09:30!You are challenged to complete the pilgrimage from Thursday night to Sunday Morning by attending all the services and see what the Lord will do to help you grow spiritually, being more intimate in your walk with Him, from day to day!!
All who desire to worship Christ, following Him on the way of the cross, are more than welcome to join us!!!

(186 Aletta Ave, Raslouw, Centurion, South Africa)