Jack Viljoen's Message Book

About Us | South Cape and Klein Karoo Diary

2011-12-23T00:01:00.000+02:00

About Us | South Cape and Klein Karoo Diary

De Rust wins Town of the Year 2011 for South Africa.

2011-08-21T16:55:00.001+02:00

Wow! Not only did De Rust win the competition for the Best Town in the Western Cape, but went on to win the best Town of the Year 2011 for the whole of South Africa and Namibia. Second place went to Parys and third was Swakopmund in Namibia.

Our new sign boards at both entrances to our town.

Yesterday the town celebrated with a carnival. Processions down the main road, street party with stalls selling everything from ice cream to candles and a concert featuring some of South Africa's top singers.

We ran a Face Painting and Street Art stall which attracted a lot of interest by the kids. Photos of the day can be viewed at De Rust Celebrates.

The sponsors of the competition were: Rapport Newspaper, kykNet/Kwela and Leopard's Leap Wines. De Rust gets R2 million worth of advertising by Rapport and Kwela (great for tourism) and training for 50 people in the hospitality industry (waiters mainly) from Leopard's Leap.

For the voters the prizes were: 1st name drawn, a new VW Polo Vivo, 2nd person drawn 7 nights at a holiday spa in Mauritius, and third prize ten 18 ltr special edition bottles of wine.

Enjoy the photos, and if you are a local person then please pass the link on.

Regards,

Jack.

De Rust, Western Cape, South Africa.

2011-07-05T14:17:00.000+02:00

Our quaint little village of De Rust is in the top three of the "Best Town Of The Year" competition in the Western Cape. In the past two weeks we have been visited by teams from The Rapport Newspaper and the Kwela TV show.

Besides all of the beautiful surrounding attractions like Meiringspoort with its waterfall, the majestic Swartberg and Kammanassie Mountains with nature reserves and hiking trails, De Rust has maintained its old world charm. Its unspoiled, old world Victorian vibe is relatively untouched.

Donkey carts are the chosen form of transport for the locals and no one seems to mind the "exhaust" droppings left behind. Much more eco-friendly than petrol and diesel fumes :-).

Need something from the local grocery store... you just walk. Want to visit a friend on the other side of town... you just walk. "Town" is only about 1 kilometer by 1 kilometer.

De Rust is home to some of South Africa's well known artists and their works, together with other artists, are displayed in the local art galleries.

We also host a number of sporting events during the year like the Meieringspoort Half Marathon (coming up in October again), Stomp Drift Dam Angling Competition, mountain bike challenges etc.

Biking Clubs also make use of De Rust as a stop over during their rallies.

It is not unusual to see vintage cars lining the main street at various times of the year.

The results of the competition will be made known later in July this year.

Well done De Rust for getting to this stage of the competition!!!

A very happy and contented resident.

Family and Friends - Special Blessings.

2011-01-02T16:11:00.001+02:00

We have just said goodbye to Pierre and Jackie, and their two children Liam and Erin. They were passing through on their way home to Himeville in Natal, having spent a lovely holiday at Gamka Kloof here in the Western Cape.

Pierre represents an overseas organisation that supplies funding and equipment to rural schools. He brought us a crate of materials for a school that we are helping in our area. There will be many smiling faces at the Rooirivier School when they start back in mid January. New tooth brushes, pencils, pens, erasers, crayons, colour pencils and calculators.

Two other preschools in our area will also be blessed with pencils etc.

It was good to catch up on all the news from Pierre. His parents are good friends of ours.

From the 6th to the 16th of December we had my son Daryl and his family with us. It was great to see them all; Cindy his wife and my four grandchildren. Our girls loved having all the kids around. They had a ball. Day trips to the beach and the waterfall at Meiringspoort, where our daughter Hannah had her 6th Birthday party as well on the 15th. More friends from town joined us. Hannah chose the venue as it is her favourite swimming spot. On the 7th we had Emily's 3rd Birthday party at home with the family and friends. Daryl took all the kids on the famous De Rust Donkey Cart ride that morning.

It was special having Daryl's family here for Emily and Hannah's Birthday parties as our children have always been good friends. After we moved to De Rust they really missed one another. Skype is a blessing.

On the 13th we fetched Suzanne Morin, a friend from Canada, at the airport in George. We had a great time. A trip to the beach at Victoria Bay and a drive over the Swartberg Pass and of course a trip to the waterfall. Then back to the airport on 20th in the morning for happy/sad farewells.

On the afternoon of the 20th Kathryn's brother, Brian, arrived. He left on the 21st and Kathryn's parents arrived. They were followed by Kathryn's other brother Duncan, his wife Lize and little Timothy on the 23rd.

Brian and his girlfriend Anneli came back on the 24th and we all spent a lovely Christmas day together. We were joined by Kathryn's uncle Peter and aunt June. They live on a farm 30 kilometres out of town.

On the morning of the 28th everyone left on their journey home.

It was a wonderful time. I want to stress that it is so important to maintain good relationships with family and friends, especially for the young children. Extended family is vital for our children.

I thank to Lord for these special times.

With much love,

Jack.

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2010-11-25T17:22:00.000+02:00

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Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hosting.

Jack.

Cape Pioneer Trek - MTB Race.

2010-11-01T18:18:00.004+02:00

On Wednesday afternoon 20th October I helped out at the final water table at the finish line of Stage 3 in De Rust. Man were those riders exhausted. We had people sticking their feet in buckets of ice! Downing water and coke; two, three and four cups. Then eating humongous helpings of pasta and kiche.

The local church hall looked like a war zone! There were about 30 physiotherapists working on sore muscles. The "patients" all lying on tables were in agony. They call this fun??? There were about 20 riders who never started Stage 4 the next day.

That night we served dinner to the riders. What a spread! Two of the restaurants in town and a number of local ladies provided the food.

We left De Rust at about 6:15am on Thursday 21st October to set up the first water tables about 25 kms out on the Beaufort West Road. We drove through the beautiful Meiringspoort. Always spectacular. You see different aspects in different light.

As we finished setting up our tables and sponsors' banners, gazebos and the like the local farmer's wife came and invited us for coffee and rusks. Most welcome as there was a icy cold wind blowing.

After coffee we loaded the tables with water, coke, energy replacement and bananas. Later some ladies arrived and packed out mini koeksusters, custard tarts, peanuts.

The front riders came in about 9am and didn't even stop. Just grabbed some water as they road through. Super fit these guys.

Anyway I was appointed to the chain lube gang. Whilst the riders were feasting and drinking myself and Frans were lubing their bicycle chains.

There was a great vibe at our station. Lots of jokes between us and the riders. Sadly a couple of competitors dropped out here and also a few kilometres down the road. The previous day's stage to De Rust had been gruelling with temperatures as high as 41C and averaging 33C over the whole distance.

The last riders came through at about 11am. Not competing any longer just enjoying the ride and scenery... muscles just too tired to push it.

It was a great day. The ground crews were well prepared and equipped thanks to the many sponsors.

Jack.

P.S. Check out the race details and photos here: http://www.capepioneer.co.za

De Rust/Meieringspoort Marathon.

2010-10-16T10:44:00.000+02:00

Great excitement in our little village this weekend.

The annual marathon has just finished. The village is buzzing with about 4000 people. All the accommodation establishments are full; the locals open their houses to take in the overflow.

Great excitement for our three girls as our house is on the route. We are about 1km from the finish. We sat outside on the side walk eating breakfast and cheering the runners/walkers on. There were over 1500 entries for both the 10km and 21km races.

They run through the beautiful Meieringspoort for about 19,5km and then enter the village. The route is absolutely flat... until they turn into the village. The last kilometre is up hill for about 900metres and then downhill for the last 100 metres.

The girls learned some new Afrikaans words from one of our neigbours, "Amper daar" - "Almost there." They were clapping and cheering the runners on. Quite cute.

Great carnival atmosphere at the finishing point with refreshment stalls doing crazy business.

Kathryn helped at one of the tea/coffee stalls yesterday.

Next week we have the Pioneer Classic, a big mountain bike race. I will be helping out at one of the water points along the route.

Time Flies.

2010-10-05T11:36:00.003+02:00

Almost a year ago we were planning a trip to visit our friends, John and Dorothy, in Montreal. Unfortunately our visas were denied.

Then in March of this year we did a trip to St Francis Bay via Matatiele where we stayed a week with an old friend of mine, Nicky Maartens. We spent three months in St Francis looking after a Bed and Breakfast business for friends of ours who went to the UK to visit family. A working holiday for me but great fun for the whole family.

During the three months we visited Kathryn's uncle and aunt on a farm in De Rust, first for a long weekend and the on our way back home for a week. It snowed one night and we woke up at 3:30 in the morning to a white world. We got our three girls out of bed, dressed them up warmly and went outside. They had never seen snow before. What excitement! We built a snow man and had a snow ball fight. Then inside for some hot choc and coffee. The girls were too excited to go back to sleep and so we all stayed up and watched the sunrise.

That visit to De Rust got us to finally make up our minds concerning a decision we had been putting off for some time. Move back into the country. De Rust was the place. We went back home packed up and were back in De Rust at the end of July. What a great decision. We are loving it. Such a beautiful little hamlet. Peaceful and safe, especially for our young daughters. Hey the locals even leave their cars parked out in the street all night... not even locked.

More later. The reason we felt to move to De Rust.

Testimony Part 2.

2010-01-02T09:14:00.002+02:00

As I drove away from St. Stephen’s Anglican Church on that Friday afternoon my mind was racing. Why had I stopped? Why had I gone inside to enquire? What was happening with me? What was I going to do with the service times that I had gotten from the minister’s wife?

When Val arrived home I found myself announcing to her with all boldness and conviction that we were going to church on Sunday. Well you could have knocked her over with a feather. When she asked why, I told her about my afternoon, and said I don’t know why but we are going. Well I was anyway.

Sunday morning 26th August 1978. I will never forget that date! It was the day that turned my life around 180 degrees.

We arrived as a family at about 08:45 am. The sidewalk on both sides of the road outside the church building was packed with cars. I didn’t know that going to church was this popular. We parked the car and walked up the driveway to the small building. I noticed an elderly lady watching us as we approached.

She had that same countenance as Ozzie and Ruth. A glow!

She came forward to greet us with outstretched arms, gave Val and me a big hug (what was with these people – just like Ozzie and Ruth), and introduced herself as Olive Bird. I introduced our family. After fussing over Nadia and Daryl she turned, looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Jack the Lord has a great plan for your life.”

Who is the Lord… my life? I was quite happy with the way things were. Nice home in a lovely suburb. Brand new Audi. Working for myself. What could be better? Little did I know?

Olive ushered us inside and I was planning a back row seat. No chance. That place was packed… wall to wall people. And man, what a vibe. I was always taught that you didn’t talk inside a church building. Maybe whisper if it was urgent. But this! These people were alive in the utmost sense of the word. There must have been about 180 folk packed in there and they were all talking at once, out loud. And happy with faces all aglow. Like a big family reunion.

Enter Batman. You know… the guy who dresses like mother but you call him father. I take it this must be Allan the minister. No formal procession, he just walks down the aisle greeting folks like he was one of them. They really seem pleased to see him and vice versa. I still did not know what brought me to this place but I was beginning to feel comfortable. This was… well nice.

Allan gets to the front, welcomes everyone, prays and then the next thing we have piano, organ and guitar breaking into an upbeat song. Spontaneously all jump to their feet, start clapping in time to the music and doing a sort of dance. Not the way I danced at parties and clubs. It was a sort of happy little jig. I found myself joining in dancing, clapping and singing along with them. The words to the song were projected onto a big screen, and just as well because no one could hold a song book in their hands.

The songs were all about Jesus and “Father God”. The tempo slows down after about three or four songs and the people seem to be awestruck. Raising their hands above there heads as if reaching out to Someone. It is as though they were singing a love song and it would not be many days before I would be doing the same thing. Fully understanding this act of love and adoration.

This was no ordinary Anglican Church. Oh they did some of the things I remembered from twenty years ago. You know like the announcements, the prayers for the sick, the collection, scripture readings and the sermon but they did them with feeling and meaning. Almost as though they were communicating with a real being some where. This was real, not recital. This was alive. This was exciting. This was doing something on the inside of me. I did not understand.

At the end of the sermon Allan said something like, “If anyone would like to know more about this Jesus that we have been talking about then please come back into the building after you have had a cup of tea”. He dismissed us with a prayer.

Pouring out of that building was a mass of joyful, bubbling people. The tea time was just as vibrant as the service had been. The people just could not stop talking about Jesus. Many folk came to introduce themselves. Genuine. Laid back. Nothing planned. I could sense a real loving concern for us.

Allan made a call for those who were interested to come back into the church. With no hesitation at all I started for the door with Val following close behind. I was on a mission not of my own petition. A jolly young man also dressed in his clerical garb invited us to take a seat or rather a pew. Rob sat on the pew in front of us, turned around and leaned over the backrest of his pew. With a big warm smile on his face he asked, “What would you like to know about Jesus?” Neither he nor Val were expecting what happened next.

Tears just started streaming down my cheeks and then I began to sob uncontrollably. Nadia and Daryl who had been playing with the other youngsters outside came in to see what was wrong with their dad. They had never seen me cry before. (This by the way, men crying or rather not crying, is a big problem in society. More about this in a later chapter.) Val reassured them that I was alright and they ran out to play again.

No one said a word as I just continued to cry for what seemed to be an eternity. When I managed to stop sobbing Rob said not to worry it was the Lord touching me. I don’t think he actually knew what to do or say. We left without any further words being spoken. I spent a very subdued afternoon and evening. No beers!

Monday morning shortly after eight o’clock found me knocking on Allan’s door. He immediately invited me in. I don’t know what he was busy with but I am sure that he realised that I needed answers. He was right. I wanted to know what had happened to me yesterday. Today I felt different. I just had this tremendous peace within me. But why? He gave me a little booklet entitled “The Gospel According to St. John” and asked me to read it and then come back to see him.

Without knowing it I was holding in my hand a portion of the Bible. I really was un-churched. I had never possessed a Bible or so I thought. Until in 2002 when I moved down to Ficksburg in the Eastern Free State I discovered a King James Bible in one of my boxes. On the fly page was this inscription, To Jackie, with love from Mum and Dad 1956. I have no idea what the occasion was and since both my parents have already passed away I cannot not ask. I was thirteen back then.

Well I read the booklet, going over passages and chapters again and again. I needed to understand what was happening. Over the next two weeks the penny began to drop. An understanding of being born again began to take root within me. I finally got to the end of the booklet and there was a prayer. I amsure you know it or something similar. On 4^th September 1978 I prayed that prayer and in so doing I verbalised the fact that I had chosen to make Jesus Christ the Lord of my life.

Olive Bird was right. God did have a plan for my life and it was not too long before he started revealing that plan to me. I was on the most exciting journey of my life.

The road has not always been smooth. I have experienced that scripture that says strait is the gate and narrow is the path… the two words narrow and strait in the Greek imply that the entrance and the path travelled are filled with obstacles.

Many Christians try by all means to bypass these obstacles but never with success. You see God put those there for a purpose. That purpose is to bring us to maturity in our walk with Him and in our dealings with people. Not to punish us.

Without this maturity we will never truly see God and experience all that He has prepared for us.

Today God our Heavenly Father is busy preparing a people who will become the Church that He has in His heart. The Church that Jesus is building. A church without walls. A church built upon the only true foundation… Jesus. A church where Jesus is the head and the Holy Spirit is in control. A church that overflows with the love of God which He continually pours into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. A church which knows no discrimination of any kind, where kings and paupers sit side by side bonded together by God’s unconditional love.

That is the church of my dreams. It is a journey into the Heart of God, there to discover His eternal plan for the body of Christ. I invite you to join me on this exciting journey.

May the love of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you always.

With much love,

Jack.

Testimony

2009-12-28T21:01:00.004+02:00

I really feel the need to publish my testimony here on the blog. While writing my testimony for publication a few years ago, I sensed the Lord saying that there was far more to it than just my experience of being born again. A book was birthed out of this, recording my walk with the Lord over the past 31 years. This from chapter two of the book, which is far from finished.

Each life yielded to the Lord and under the control of the Holy Spirit is another chapter in the book of Acts. It will only be completed when Jesus returns to fetch His Bride. And so it is with my life's story. The story of how God used an ordinary man to achieve a part of His purpose. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours.

Chapter 2 The Story Begins

Driving home one sunny, late winter’s afternoon in August, a sign caught my eye. It read “St. Stephens Anglican Church”. I had driven this route many times before but on this Friday afternoon I had an inner urge to stop. At the time I did not realise it but now I know that it was a divine appointment.

I think it was the “Anglican” bit that triggered it. My mind flashed back some twenty years to my confirmation in the Anglican Church. At the family “celebration meal” after the service my dad bless his soul, he is now with the Lord, said that I could now make my own decision about whether or not to go to church. We were not a church going family but did the “right” things.

My decision was made. A resounding NO! After all, I had gotten absolutely nothing out of it. When I got up from the altar rail on that Sunday I felt no different from the day our catechism classes started. I never even felt a sense of duty towards my parents or God. As a matter of fact all I knew about God was what I had “learned” in catechism classes and recited, rote fashion, in the creed.

Now twenty years later, I stopped the car, reversed and drove into the entrance of the property. Without hesitation and not knowing why, I got out of the car, went up to the front door and knocked.

A young woman, about my age, opened the door and politely asked if she could help me. For a few seconds I was phased. I couldn’t remember what you called the main man. “Could I see the err…” I stammered. “… my husband Allan” she helped me out. “Is he the err… “, she helped me again “…yes the minster, but he is not in right now”.

“Thanks” I said, “I will call again”. Whew! I was off the hook. But as I turned to leave she asked whether she could be of assistance. Before I knew it I was asking what time the Sunday services were. Seven am, nine am and six pm. I thanked her and made a hurried exit.

What was happening? I had not attended a church service, by choice, for twenty years. Why this sudden interest in church? Little did I realise at the time but God had been planting seeds in my heart.

About five years prior to this my dad, who now had become a regular church attendee, put me on a guilt trip about my two children. So to keep him happy, Val (my wife at the time) and I started attending the Free Church with my dad so that the kids could go to “Sunday school”. A month later my dad moved to the other side of town. Just the break I needed.

My decision was that on Sunday mornings Val and I would take turns in taking the kids to Sunday school. I am not sure what Val did on her Sundays but I would drop the kids off and having bought the Sunday Times newspaper on the way to the church, I would park under a shady tree and read. This only lasted about a month and then the novelty wore off. We stopped going. Do you know what? The kids never once asked if they could go again. They were just having too much fun on a Sunday at home as a family.

Then about a year before the St. Stephens episode another strange thing happened. One Sunday afternoon as I was quietly sitting and reading there was a knock at the front door. Upon answering I found an elderly lady quite distressed because her car had broken down. She asked if she could phone her husband and would I mind looking up the telephone number for her. Remember the days before mobiles?

Their surname was “van Schalkwyk” and I found the number at the address she had given me. I dialed the number for her and handed her the telephone. While she was chatting to her husband my mind started processing the info. The name Ozzie came to mind. When she had finished the call and thanked me, I asked whether she had a son about my age as the address she had given rang a bell in my mind. She said that she did and that he was married with two children. It turned out to be an old school friend that I had not seen since we left the army in 1962. It was now 1977. I asked her to give him my regards.

A few weeks later. Sunday afternoon. Enjoying a cold beer; knock at the front door. Sundays were beginning to get to me. What happened to the peace and quiet. To my surprise I opened the door to find Ozzie standing there. He was all dressed up in a suit. What was up? Had he been to a funeral? People don’t have funerals on a Sunday. No, Ozzie was on his way to church. I could not help myself, maybe the beer helped, but I burst out laughing.

Ozzie did not think it was funny. He had actually come to invite me along. I laughed again and offered him a beer. No thanks, he didn’t drink anymore. This time I almost cracked I laughed so hard. Ozzie did not think it was funny. This was definitely not the same guy I knew in the good old army days. Ozzie had been born again, whatever that meant. I declined his invitation and invited him to come around again, not on a Sunday, for a chat about the good old days. He left. Strange though, he never seemed angry or phased at all. His face was actually glowing.

I forgot all about that incident until… you guessed it, the next Sunday afternoon. Knock at the front door. Ozzie in suit inviting me to church. Me, beer in hand laughing. I decline, Ozzie leaves with peaceful look on his face. What is with this guy? He used to be a great buddy. Now he is hassling me.

Not again. Sunday afternoon. Ozzie suit. Me beer. This time I wasn’t laughing. I could see that he was serious about getting me to go to church. Did he know something I didn’t? Ok. I agreed to go once if he agreed to stop hassling me. Deal. He gave me the address and said he would wait outside for me just before six pm.

Val and I bundled the kids into the car and drove the five or six kilometers to find that the address was a Boy Scout Hall! There was Ozzie in his suit. I was dressed in an open neck shirt. Part of the deal… no dressing up. He greeted me like a long lost friend. He hugged me! Strange… a slap on the back would have been good enough.

Inside the building I found about sixty people. They were happy! Strange… I had never seen this in a church service before. There was even a guy up front with a guitar! Church? Then we were asked to settle down. We had to because the place was buzzing. Someone opened with a prayer. Ah! It was a church service. Then we were asked to stand to sing. Definitely a church service. Now what? People clapping their hands to happy songs… with a beat. Definitely not your normal church service. This I could go for. I had been a jazz/rock drummer so this part was good.

Then people started talking in strange languages. Weird or what? A man, maybe the minister, spoke about something from the Bible. But by this time I had gone into shut down mode. I couldn’t wait for it to end.

Afterwards, I thanked Ozzie for inviting me and said that I hoped he would keep his side of the deal. Do not invite me again. Sure he said with a big smile. That was that!

However about six months later our paths were to cross again. This time it was my choice. Val and I had been going through some serious marriage problems and once again the subject of divorce came up. A name immediately came to mind. You guessed right again… Ozzie. But I never had a contact number. Then I remembered the address I had looked up for his mom, found the number, called her and got a number for Ozzie. His name was actually Raymond according to his mom… I never knew.

I made an appointment to see him and when I arrived I found both Ozzie and his wife Ruth waiting for me. Ozzie could see that I was not happy to have a woman in on our discussion but he assured me that Ruth would remain neutral. Now this was the first time that we had actually spoken together since our army days. Apart from our greetings on the night of the church service, we never communicated.

To my surprise I found both Ozzie and Ruth to be very gentle. Ruth’s face was also aglow with that same peace that I had seen on Ozzie’s face. What was this? They read some passages out of the bible and explained how they applied to marriage. They started talking about Jesus, but I was trying to control myself from weeping. I never really heard what they were saying. Somehow I felt better about my situation and after they had prayed, yes prayed out loud for Val and me, I thanked them and left.

Strange meeting. Apart from a minister, I had never heard ordinary people pray out loud before. And when they prayed it was as though they were talking to someone who was in the room with us. I truly cannot remember what they prayed but somehow I knew that it was for real.

Our marriage stayed intact. I didn’t know why. And, I never saw Ozzie and Ruth again until maybe five years later. Why the interlude concerning Ozzie? I believe now that seeds were planted which bore fruit on the 26th August 1978.

Continued in next post. It is a bit long for one post.

With much love ,

Jack.

******************************************************************************

Work From Home - Home Birth - Home Schooling.

2008-02-10T13:40:00.001+02:00

Hi there,

Sorry about the long silence but a lot has happened in the last while. I found a good work from home opportunity and a part time job.

I was unemployed for eighteen months and during that time the Lord was faithful in providing for the needs of my family. He did this by allowing me the time to learn about the internet and through a friend I found out about how to work from home on the internet. I am still a newbie but making progress. I also did a lot of handyman work for people.

Also in July last year I was offered a job doing bookkeeping for a company and was provided with a better PC than I had. My boss had a DSL connection installed for me at home and guess what? Yep, I now work from home doing books and IM.

On a more personal level our third daughter, Emily Beth, was born on the 7th December 2007. A precious gift from Jesus. She weighed in at 3,49kg with a big mop of dark hair. Kathryn, my wife, gave birth at home in our bath. What a beautiful experience. I can recommend a home birth with a good midwife anytime. Very intimate and personal.

Kathryn is now home schooling our other two girls, Sarah and Hannah. What a pleasure it is to be able to work from home and be part of the daily development of my children.

Still more exciting news is that we have at last found a group of people who love Jesus and desire nothing more than a deep relationship with him. See article posted in January 2007 "The Church of my Dreams." My prayer for you if you read this post is that the Lord will also show you His real Body - His Church.

We are truly blessed right now by what the Lord is doing in our lives.

With much love,

Jack.

He is the Vine and we are the Branches – Fruit of the Spirit.

2007-06-29T08:48:00.000+02:00

The church that is in the Father’s heart is like the vine. The Lord Jesus is that vine, He is the church. For in Him are all things. He is the Life of the vine and without His life the vine would not have life, the life imparted by the Holy Spirit. We are the branches that spring forth out of the Vine and only have life insofar as we are joined to the Vine. The life that we have comes from the very life of the Vine. And, the fruit that we bear is the fruit that comes from Him, for that fruit is His very nature that He imparts to us. This is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that we read about in Galatians.

So to is the church that has been in the Father’s heart since eternity past. The Lord Jesus Christ, and He alone is the Head of the Church His body. We are the members of that body, placed there by the Holy Spirit at the moment of rebirth. And there baptized, submerged, into His Body we are to bear fruit as we are joined to the Head, Jesus.

More than just being the Head, Jesus is also the Chief Cornerstone or foundation and in Him the whole body is built up to be a dwelling place for the Father. There is no place for man-made institutions here. This is the work of the Holy Spirit as He continuously points us to Jesus and not to traditions of man.

The fruit that we are to bear can only be produced in one place, and that place is the Body of Christ – the church that Jesus is building. And that fruit dear fellow believer is: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. This fruit cannot be produced in any training schools designed by man. There is no discipleship training school on the face of this earth that can teach you how to produce this fruit.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to work in us to build us up into the fullness of Christ, so to it is His work to produce this fruit in us but… it can only take place when we are members of the Body of Christ. This is not “Church Membership” as most know it. It is not a piece of paper - it is a Life and a lifestyle, and that is Christ in us the hope of glory. The very Life of God being lived in us by Jesus His Son. Nothing less!!! The apostle Paul declared this in Galatians when he said that he no longer lives but Christ lives in him.

If you do not have the assurance that Christ lives in you then no matter what “church” you belong to, no matter what denomination or house church movement, you are lost, cut off from the Vine, and are in desperate need of Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God. For in Him alone will you find your place in God’s family and have the assurance of eternal life. And only there can you produce the right kind of fruit.

This is serious. Chances are 90% that you are trapped in some or other institutional church. There you have been fed with the teachings and traditions of men that have nullified the true Word of God in your life. You have no chance of really knowing God your heavenly Father. You may have learned and know about Him, and then possibly the wrong things, but you do not know Him by experience in your heart. Do not be coerced into believing that it is only through membership of a “church” that you have salvation. That is a lie from your enemy the devil.

Do not believe that you have to go out and witness, lead others to Christ, to be able to bear fruit in the Kingdom of God or to earn your place in heaven one day.

Do not believe that because you were raised in a “Christian” home and have always attended church that you are saved.

Jesus said in John 17:3, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” And this knowing is experiential and not head knowledge.

Nothing can bring you into a personal relationship with God your Father but your own heart. No special prayer, no membership classes, no nothing but an honest and open heart. This brings the power of the Holy Spirit to work in your heart.

You see dear friend, God has poured out His Spirit on ALL MANKIND. The purpose being that when ANYONE turns to the Lord with an open heart, the Holy Spirit is right there to immediately come in, and when He does the most wonderful thing takes place. He transports you into the open, waiting arms of a loving God. He introduces you to Jesus Christ your Saviour and Lord. You are taken into the fellowship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. At one and the same time you become a part of the Family of God, the Body of Christ and the future Bride of Christ.

Is that not absolutely amazing. How does that happen? Why does it happen? For God so loved the world (all the inhabitants) that He sent Jesus to pay the price for your soul by dying the terrible death of crucifixion. Then He raised Jesus from the dead to be the start of a new creation; a creation that would not have to try to live by their own strength. But… a new creation that would live by the life of His Son Jesus Christ.

In doing this He opened the way back to Himself. He, God your Father, desires to have a personal, one to one relationship with you. He no longer desires, as in Old Testament times and in institutional churches today, to have to work through a mediator like Moses, the Kings and prophets or pastors, bishops and the like. In fact He never did plan for it to be that way. That was man’s decision and still is to this day. The same pattern. His Holy Spirit is the guarantee that He left us because it is He, the Holy Spirit that carries out the will of the Father today. The Lord Jesus did His part and His work on earth is finished. All we need do is just accept what He did for us and embrace His Life which He so freely gives. You cannot live the Christian life.

No matter what your standing in life is: millionaire or pauper, church goer or atheist, prostitute, drug lord, thief, murderer, upper class or bum; GOD LOVES YOU. He has made the way onto this relationship so easy; all that it requires is an honest heart; and then He will shower you with His love by the Holy Spirit which He so freely gives to us.

I challenge you today to be honest with God.

Are you an atheist? Well tell God that you do not believe that there are any gods, let alone the only true God. Tell Him you believe in your own strength and knowledge to get you through life and when you die… that’s it. Tell Him you believe in evolution and that you came from an ape. Show Him all the written theories of learned scientists. You may even get angry at Him for daring to challenge your intellect with all the twaddle you have read in this article. Go on – tell Him. You don’t even have to go down on your knees. All you need to do is just be honest with Him. That’s it. Resist Him all you want, just be honest. Then just wait and you will be surprised at what will happen. Afraid to do it? Then obviously you do believe that God exists.

Are you enjoying your life so much that you do not have time for God? Tell Him. Be honest and tell Him you want to wait a few more years and then you will think about it. Life is too much fun doing whatever it is you are busy with. Be honest with Him… tell Him how you feel.

God appreciates honesty, in fact He hates hypocrisy. You don’t need to use any special language as He understands all. Just talk to Him from an honest heart. Anyone can talk to God. You do not need any special qualification except an honest heart. Just tell Him how you feel about what you are doing and how you feel about Him.

I would like to end this article with a short extract from Watchman Nee’s book “A Table in the Wilderness.”

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They that dwell under His shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn and blossom as the vine. Hosea 14:7

Who ever gave much thought to vine-blossom. It is in fact one of the shortest-lived flowers, scarcely noticed before it is gone and has already turned to fruit. In nature we may recognise three types of plants; those which flower but bear no fruit at all; those, such as the peach, which are remarkable both for their blossom and for their fruit; and those like the vine, whose blossoms are of small account, and which men prize only for their fruit. Evidently God places here a high valuation on the last of these.

How tempted we are to display what is impressive to men, a blossom to be admired! But the Father has set us as branches in the Vine. There, what He seeks above all is fruit-bearing.

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Think hard and deep about this and be blessed.

With much love,

Jack Viljoen.

jack@tcitfh.co.za

http://http://www.tcitfh.co.za

http://www.hypervre.com/?affiliate=65980

http://hop.clickbank.net/?jackpepper/bryxen1

A Table in the Wilderness

2007-05-25T09:20:00.000+02:00

Hi there,

I have found a remarkable book by Watchman Nee called “A Table in the Wilderness.” Daily meditations from the ministry of Watchman Nee.

It is packed with absolute gems of revelation from the Word. These short teachings of Watchman Nee are, to say the least, eye opening… no mind blowing. He has such a deep grasp of the Word of God and above all, a real testimony of living by an indwelling Lord.

Furthermore, he had real understanding of what the church, the body of Christ, was meant to be and how it should function… under the lordship of Jesus alone. As each believer accepts that he only has life by the Son and surrenders all to his indwelling Lord; that believer is then joined to Christ’s body, the church. The Holy Spirit baptizes you into the body in exactly the place that you need to be, and there you are to function, continually seeking to honour the Head of the body viz. Christ. In fact you need to honour the whole body, for truly the whole body is Christ as the parts cannot be separated from the head.

Watchman Nee was born in China in 1903. He committed his life to the Lord at age seventeen and after thirty two years of faithful service he was arrested by the Communists, falsely accused and imprisoned. Twenty years later, in 1972, he went to be with his Lord. At the time of his arrest in 1952 approximately 400 local churches had been planted in China through his work

He was a prolific writer and authored many books. The Last words he wrote were on a small piece of paper found under his pillow in his cell, and they were…

"Christ is the Son of God who died for the redemption of sinners and resurrected after three days. This is the greatest truth in the universe. I die because of my belief in Christ. Watchman Nee."

I publish below one of the daily meditations from the book, “A Table in the Wilderness”.

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“I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him who sent me.” John 6:38.

God’s will for me must not be made subject to my own temperament. When we know a man’s make-up it is often all too easy to guess what “guidance” he will get, because his natural proclivities intrude so subtly upon the leading of God. Too much so called guidance among us is little more than personal bias. A timid brother is “guided” to take a back seat. A forward brother is “guided” to take a front seat. Each claims to be led of the Lord. Is he? Or is his temperament ruling him?

The pure will of God demands of me that what I am temperamentally shall be set aside. I should be so Spirit-filled that the man beside me cannot foresee, on grounds of my temperament alone, how God will lead me. Oh let me beware of slanting the will of God in the direction of my own natural leanings!

Even the Lord Jesus, whose own will was surely faultless, nevertheless set it aside in favour of the Father’s who sent Him. If He should do that, how much more must I!

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This is something so vital in the church today that every professing Christian ought to take seriously the matter of total surrender to the Father! Without this, the church can be little more than a puppet in the hands of the enemy.

If the carnal nature of man is ruling his life then the Holy Spirit is not, and if the Holy Spirit is not leading a man’s life then he is under the control of the enemy. Remember that Satan disguises himself as angel of light and deceives many.

The apostle Paul urges us to be continually filled with the Spirit in order that we will not satisfy the desires of our carnal nature.

The Lord Jesus said that He sent us the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth and to speak the very words of God to us. Should we settle for listening to the words of mere man when we can hear the voice of our Father? Jesus said my sheep know my voice and they follow me.

Take time to seek the Father’s will, surrendering all. Seek Him with a pure motive, and that should be simply to know Him better; not for any personal gain like status, position or recognition by man. Least of all for material things. Your Heavenly Father knows what you have need of, but He tells us to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and then these things shall be added.

If you are not sure how to do this and you have a real desire to enter into this personal, intimate relationship with your Heavenly Father, then contact me at the address below and I will gladly assist you.

With much love,

Jack Viljoen.
The Church in the Father’s Heart.

http://www.tcitfh.co.za

http://www.inhousechurch.com

Forgiveness: Release from hurts, despair, hopelessness and depression Posted By : Jack Viljoen

2007-04-03T11:46:00.001+02:00

The story of Martie’s experience in dealing with unforgiveness towards her mother in law had the perfect ending. This is not always the case. Bitterness could have taken root so deeply on both sides that it almost seems impossible for reconciliation. Hopelessness and despair, which also lead to depression, can play havoc with the mind.

Control, domination and manipulation are other factors which cause great difficulty in dealing with the issue of unforgiveness. When faced with this kind of opposition the “victim” feels powerless and cannot see a way out. This is a terrible condition to be in.

Now I wish to say this. The Word of God is not a magical formula. It works as a whole. You cannot name it and claim it. By that I mean that there are those who latch on to one of the promises in God’s Word and keep on confessing it in the belief that it is going to produce the desired result. Or, they receive a “word” of prophecy and attempt to build their lives around it. Beware! The word can become and idol. See what the Lord says in Ezekiel 14:1 – 5. This can bring you to destruction in order that you may turn back to God, not His Word only.

Let me give you an example which fits in with our discussion of unforgiveness and bitterness. People get caught up in the teaching on prosperity and hear the preacher saying that you must believe the Word, stand on the Word, confess the Word and it will come to pass. Now there is nothing wrong with that except for one thing; the hearers of that word have not walked the same road as the speaker. He has most probably worked through the issues in his life. He has or is practicing forgiveness. He does not harbour any bitterness in his heart. He does not speak bad about other people and the most important thing; he is walking in God’s love and has a relationship with the Lord. And, all of this is only possible when one is filled with the Holy Spirit and living daily in His presence.

People will confess the scripture in Mark 11:22 – 24 where Jesus said “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.” There are two immediate problems with this type of practice. The first being that they leave out verse 25 where Jesus says “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” This is paramount to having God’s Word produce fruit in your life. You see, without God’s forgiveness of your sins He does not even hear your prayer or confession. Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” So unless you forgive others their sin against you God cannot and will not forgive your sin. Stalemate.

The other problem with this confessing, naming and claiming game is this. We need to be asking and believing in accordance with God’s will. 1 John 5:14 – 15 says “This is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.” Can you see the results of unforgiveness. If we ask of God with unforgiveness in our hearts He does not hear us, and we can claim whatever scriptures we please; it is not going to work. This is not some magical system for getting things from our heavenly Father. We are talking about real life issues here. In James 4:1– 3 the Word says “What causes quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill (hate) and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (Self-centered).

As a result of asking incorrectly, many people don’t receive and are then angry with God. How sad? Our Father takes great delight in blessing His children. Why do we play games with Him by trying to manipulate Him with His very own words? The scripture in James says that if we ask according to His will then we know that He hears us and will grant the request. It is God’s will that we forgive? Therefore if we ask Him to help us forgive someone, do you think He will? Sure, it’s His will. But if we are still harbouring bitterness or even hurt in our hearts when we ask then He will not answer. Your request should first be, “Father give me a love for so and so and take away these bad feelings and thoughts.” Matthew 5:48 says we are to love our enemies. It is in God’s will. Let’s move on to our topic of unforgiveness.

We are going to cover two situations that appear as though asking forgiveness just doesn’t work, or we don’t know how to deal with it when:
• the person who hurt us has died.
• the other party refuses to forgive, or says they forgive but do not seek reconciliation.
.

Someone who has offended you or whom you have offended has died and you know that you have not made right. What now? Must you continue to live with that guilt feeling? No; there is a way out! The situations are numerous but here are a few examples:
• between spouses who cheated on one another; tolerated but never forgiven, now one has died
• between parents and children; drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, wrong partner choices, divorce
• between business partners
• between bust-up lovers

These issues sometimes go way back into the past but were never dealt with.

Scenario 1
A mother feels remorse over the fact that her daughter has been killed in a car accident. She messed up when she found out that her daughter was pregnant, many years before, and dealt so badly with the issue that she turned her daughter against her. Now the daughter is gone. The mom is burdened with guilt because her pride kept her from humbly seeking forgiveness from her daughter. For “pregnant” read drugs, alcohol, wrong choice of partner or whatever. You get the picture. If only…

Scenario 2.
Every time you see him you boil with anger. He used you. You lived together; shared things; had good times; and then he left you for someone else. You both moved on. Both now happily married with families. But you never forgave; you harbour bitterness; still feel abused. Then you hear that he has died of a heart attack. What now? Maybe you say, “Good riddance.” But that is the bitterness reacting and the dangerous thing is that your feelings could be projected onto your husband. Well He is a Man, and maybe he will cheat on you? You start manipulating and trying to control his life. You become domineering and he begins withdrawing. Your marriage starts crumbling. Remember that all of this happens in the subconscious so chances are that you are not even aware of what is going on. All you see is your happy life going down the tube. You never dealt with the issue of forgiveness and now it has snowballed into a nightmare. I painted this scenario to show how unforgiveness can create further havoc in your life. If only…

Scenario3.
You judged another person for something they had done. Your verdict; guilty! But you never had all the facts. You did not know that they were hurting at the time, and their actions seemed the only logical way out of their predicament. Never the less, you passed judgment. Now they have passed away. The scriptures say, “Do not judge and you will not be judged.” Now you are found guilty, you have been judged. Remember my first article on Unforgiveness? You are harbouring unforgiveness and are trapped in the prison of your mind. If only…

You can write your own scripts and the bottom line will always be unforgiveness, bitterness and the downward spiral into hopelessness and despair.

What can you do? You can go for counsel and take the tablets but deep inside you know that nothing has changed. You still battle against those feelings. The tablets help you to control your feelings but you are still trapped; in bondage to your thoughts and true feelings. This kind of counsel is humanistic and mind to mind, and the tablets only serve to suppress your emotions. No real, lasting solutions with this method.

Neither do traditional Christian counseling methods work. As illustrated above, you can confess the Word until you are blue in the face but nothing changes. By repeating that you have forgiven someone is not going to work because you are attempting to take a short cut and manipulate God into “doing it.” You need to understand that our battle is not against flesh and blood (people) but against spiritual forces that play havoc with the mind and emotions. See Ephesians 6:12 and
2 Corinthians 10:1 – 5.

Dear friend, you need to go to your Heavenly Father and ask Him for a revelation of His love and forgiveness. He will point you to the Cross on which your Saviour died. That Cross is an everlasting symbol of God’s love and forgiveness. God your Father loves you so much that He gave His only Son to die, shed His precious blood and so grant forgiveness for your sin. If you will only come to Him in an attitude of humility to genuinely seek Him, you will find your Heavenly Father waiting with outstretched arms, more than willing to receive you. This is His loving kindness demonstrated towards you.

You may have been told to repent of your sin of unforgiveness but you cannot. Repent means to turn 180 degrees from what you have been doing. Repent comes from two words; “pent” meaning top or pinnacle (penthouse) and “re” meaning to return. Adam and Eve lived on the pinnacle of God’s creation; innocent and guiltless. Then came the fall! Now the Word of God says that all men are to “repent” and return to that place of intimacy with their Creator. But we cannot repent in our own strength. The scripture says that it is God’s loving kindness that leads us to repentance.

God honours His Word and if you approach Him in this way you will be sure to find Him and experience His love. Now you can say words to this effect, “Father, I have sinned against you by not forgiving (name). I repent of that that sin and ask you to forgive me. Give me your love for (name) even though he/she is no longer with us. Help me to rid my mind of all the wrong thoughts and to replace them with good thoughts about (name). I confess that I can not do this in my own strength. I need you Father, and your love.”

Use your own words if you can. Don’t worry about perfect grammar. You don’t have to use any special “religious” language or terms. God is listening to your heart because that is where the issue lies. If you find yourself crying uncontrollably, don’t try to control it. Just let it flow because that is the Holy Spirit doing a cleansing work deep inside your being. Allow Him to finish this powerful work in you. Continue praying when you can. This process can take a while; do not be in a hurry. Hopefully you will be in a quiet place alone where you will not be disturbed.

Should you be disturbed, say by a crying baby, just maintain a quiet inner peace and continue talking to your Father and tend to your infant’s needs. Maybe just thank Him for what He is doing in you and express your love for Him. Do you know that you can talk to your Father from your heart, your spirit, no matter what you are doing? It is similar to the way in which you talk to yourself, only now you are not talking to your mind, you are talking to God!

If you are able to draw aside and find a quiet place to be alone and continue talking to your Father, you are in for a wonderful surprise. YOU WILL BEGIN TO HEAR HIM ANSWER YOU. Yes my friend your Heavenly Father seeks a relationship with you, and a relationship is a two way thing. All you need to do is talk to Him for a while and then be quiet. This is the difficult part because our minds are so busy. Get the car fixed, what to make for supper, return those missed phone calls; a hundred things flood your mind. Don’t fight it. Just keep focusing on your Father.

You will hear His beautiful words of love for you and His forgiveness. He will encourage you like no other person can. He really loves you. Forget about what you have been taught about this “god” waiting to punish you for your sins. That is utter twaddle. Your Father is first of all a God of love. God is Love. There is no punishment in this life; consequences yes; we all pay the price for disobedience. But with His forgiveness comes His mercy and His grace. GLORY! Once He has forgiven you He forgets your sin. Now He wants you to experience His Love for you. He desires to show you His will for your life. Embrace Him, thank Him, love Him and revel in His beautiful presence!

Let’s move on to that issue of unforgiveness. The person who caused the offence is gone and you are left with the consequences of that unforgiveness; bitterness, guilt and despair. You cannot change what happened but you can allow the Lord to change your heart; and He will.

I think that is enough for one article and so I will deal with the other two issues in subsequent articles. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you feel that you need more counsel. My desire is to see people made whole by the healing power of God’s infallible Word in the power of the Holy Spirit.

With much love,

Jack Viljoen
jack@tcitfh.co.za
http://www.tcitfh.co.za
http://jackviljoensmessagebook.blogspot.com

Brother Yun from China

2007-03-29T12:07:00.000+02:00

One of the big discussions on the Christian net at present is the book "The Heavenly Man" by Brother Yun.

As usual the "critics" are out in full force. Strange isn't it that when ever someone steps out from the institutional crowd they get attacked. It would appear that most are doubting all the wonderful miracles God performed in Yun's life. I don't want to get into all the negative stuff, but if your heart is open to the Holy Spirit then I recommend that you read the book. You will be blessed and like most will see that he only glorifies God and never himself. His accusers are false prophets.

Oh how the Father’s Heart must be saddened and the Holy Spirit grieved by this whole issue. The Cross on which our Saviour died is the greatest symbol of Love, Forgiveness and Sacrifice. Which of brother Yun’s accusers have demonstrated any of these?

One day we will all stand before the Lord and give an account of every idle word we have spoken. His accusers should fall to their knees and ask God’s forgiveness, beg His mercy and ask to be filled with His love. Brother Yun has already forgiven them and they should now publically, via the internet, apologise to him.

My heart was blessed and I was truly humbled by his story and yes, I believe every word because my Father, and not Yun, was glorified. With every miracle, with every agonising blow all I could say was, “My God is faithful.”

My wife and I have been deeply challenged by the example of Yun’s life. For a long time now we have been asking the Lord to bring us to that place of total surrender to His will. We desire nothing but Jesus and to follow Him.

Living in an affluent society does not make that easy as people frown upon you, claiming that you are not being accountable or responsible and, wait for it… respectable! That is the problem in the western church today. It is too respectable to be humble before the Lord. Pleasing man is more important than pleasing our heavenly Father.

Brother Yun, I bless you in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I also bless your persecutors and pray for a revelation of the Father’s Heart for them.

Jesus is building His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Glory!

With much love,

Jack Viljoen.
The Church in the Father’s Heart.

The Father's Heart of Love for His Church

2007-02-23T15:27:00.000+02:00

The Father's Heart of love for his church, the bride that he is preparing for the Lord Jesus, winds like a thread of gold through his Word. Because God is Love, everything that he is doing in the earth today flows from that love.

Even in the Old Testament we see the Father's heart of love for his people. He has always been jealous for his creation. In Deuteronomy 7 we read that the covenant that he established with them was a covenant of love. Just a pity they did not see it; could have spared themselves from all the drama they caused.

In Jeremiah 31:3 we find these beautiful words, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness."

Romans 5:5 we find these words, "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."

Let us not miss out because we do not pursue His love. Paul prayed this beatiful prayer for the church in Ephesus.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Take this prayer and make it your own. Meditate upon it until it becomes a part of your inner most being. Love transports us into the realm of the Father's heart. His love will move us to accomplish all that he wills.

Paul uses four dimensions to describe the love of Christ; wide, long, high and deep. We live in the first three dimensions, and it is only as we move closer to the Father's heart of love that we begin to understand the unfathomless depth of that love. The closer we draw to him the deeper we go into his rest, that place of perfect peace and love. The heavenly blessedness in which God dwells by his Spirit.

May you be encouraged in your heart to know that your heavenly Father wants to bless you with the full understanding and experience of his love.

The desire of the Father's heart for the church is that we take this love to a hurting and lost world. As we live the message of his love we will begin to discover the church that the father has in his heart.

With much love,

Jack Viljoen.
The Church in the Father's Heart.

Forgiveness: When the Other Person is Unforgiving.

2007-02-15T11:38:00.000+02:00

So far in this series on forgiveness we have dealt with practicing forgiveness in two situations. The first being towards some one who has hurt us, and when we sought forgiveness they responded positively and the situation was resolved.

Secondly, we looked at how to deal with forgiveness towards some one who has died. We saw that how applying God’s Word to our hearts we can come out at a place of victory. Today we will look at how to deal with a situation where the other party refuses to forgive. But, before we do that, I would like to share the following.

CHRISTIANITY IS RELATIONSHIP – NOT RELIGION AND RITUALS.

As I shared in the previous article, God’s Word is not some magical formula; it is a lifestyle. Thinking that we can simply do something once and then it will “stay done” is a fallacy. We need to keep on doing the Word, applying it daily to our lives, until it becomes a part of us. Seeking God and desiring to live daily in His presence is key to successful living. Again the key here is doing the Word with your heavenly Father’s guidance which He so freely gives us by His Holy Spirit. Do not just recite the scripture in a rote fashion. This is like a repetitive, ritualistic repertoire and is absolutely abhorrent to the Lord. See what Jesus said in Matthew 6:7, “… do not use vain repetitive prayers…” Even the prayer that Jesus gives us from Matthew 6:9 (commonly known as the Lord’s Prayer) is not meant to be recited in this fashion. Jesus gave us an outline; we are to expand on it in our own personal daily time with the Father as He leads us by the Holy Spirit. More on prayer in later articles. Please read my article on Relationship with the Father which you can find at http://www.tcitfh.co.za. Look under Previous Messages.

Many preachers quote John 8:32 saying that you will know the truth (God’s Word) and the truth will set you free. WRONG!!! Many people build up an arsenal of scripture that they “know” and quote, get no where and then become angry at God. I just pray that these so called men of God would get their act together and stop misleading thousands of God’s children. What Jesus actually said begins in verse 31. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. THEN you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Can you see the difference, and why misquoting Jesus gets so many into trouble? Too many “Christians” believe too easily what they hear without knowing what the Word actually says.

The scriptures say that we are to meditate on the Word day and night. Meditate means to ponder, mull over, muse, deliberate, chew over, reflect on and actually digest and allow the word to become a part of your being. Then you ask the Holy Spirit to help you apply the word to your life; you begin to do it, live it out daily. THEN you will be set free by the word that has become a very part of you.

James says in chapter 1; 22 – 25, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.”

The Word says that your enemy, the devil, goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The only time he can devour you is when you are “not living the Word.” Devour means to ensnare you into falling short of God’s best for your life and bring you into that downward spiral of hopelessness and despair. Do not give him a foothold in your life. Live daily in the presence of God, communing with Him and doing His Word in the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s get on to today’s discussion.

How do you deal with unforgiving people?

Firstly, you need to read the first two articles on Unforgiveness in order to understand the Biblical background concerning forgiveness. The scriptures shared in those two articles form the basis of this teaching and I will build upon that foundation. One thing that I will repeat, because it is so fundamental to the whole issue of forgiveness, is that both parties in any situation are guilty of sin until they seek reconciliation. No matter that you were the victim of gossip, slander or even some fabricated story, you are held in bondage until you have attempted to “make right.”

One key factor in true forgiveness is that there will always be reconciliation. If you say to some one that you forgive them but thereafter try to avoid contact, or even to start working at rebuilding a relationship, then you have not truly forgiven from your heart. You are still holding onto some hurt or bitterness. You need to go back to the Lord and ask Him to give you grace to truly forgive and to put a love in your heart for that person. Maybe you don’t want to do this, well ask the Lord to give you the desire to be able to love that person. It is possible, if you really want to do it. Most people don’t really want to do this as it is, or so they think, easier to just continue to ignore the situation hoping it will go away. I have bad news for those people; it never does go away. It gets worse and begins to fester; then turns into bitterness; before you realize it you are in a downward spiral which could end up in depression and worse. Unless the Word of God is applied fully to any situation it never gets better. Period.

The problem with most people in this kind of situation is that, although they say they have forgiven, they keep on talking bad about the one they are supposed to have forgiven. Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Let me share with you how God your Heavenly Father deals with you when you come to Him asking for forgiveness, and from time to time we all need to. We are not yet perfect and still miss the mark almost daily.

When you have sinned and you go to your Heavenly Father, His Word is very clear. In 1 John 1: 8-9 we read, “If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Furthermore your Heavenly Father declares that he will remove your sins from you as far as the east is from the west. Do you grasp that! If He had said as far as the north is from the south then you can travel in either direction and arrive at either the north or south pole. But if you travel from east to west you will never arrive at “the west” and vice versa. Think about that. Your sins are gone. I other words missing; forgotten.

God also says that he buries your sins in the bottom of the ocean and forgets them. If you bring up the same subject again he says, “I don’t know what you are talking about! I don’t remember that.” Isn’t that wonderful? You see God is a loving Heavenly Father and doesn’t want to keep you in bondage; rather He wants you to be free.

He, God, never talks bad about you. In fact He has nothing but good thoughts towards you and encouraging words to say about you. And that, dear hurt one, is how we are supposed to deal with those who have hurt us. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Does that sound like some one who wants to punish you by keeping you in bondage? No! His people were in bondage in Babylon and He was preparing to bring them out. The same way that you are in bondage to your sins: He wants to deliver you; set you free and give you renewed hope. God told the exiles to pray for their oppressors, not curse them. They were to have the right heart attitude. Read also verses 7 – 8.

So then, before you attempt to go and make right, and you really do need to, make sure that your heart is right. Only when you have set your heart right with God’s help, and only then, should you go in an attitude of love and ask forgiveness. Remember now how God dealt with your sins, so when you go you cannot raise the issue that caused your hurt. You have forgiven them and cast their sin into the bottom of the ocean and remember them no more.

Now you simply ask the person to forgive you because you had picked up a bad attitude towards them. Most times, if your attitude truly is one of forgiveness and love, the person will respond positively and the situation will be resolved. They may even respond by confessing their sin and ask your forgiveness. Now you are in a victorious position because you have already forgiven them and you can say from your heart, “Yes I do.” That relationship is now on a positive course towards restoration and reconciliation. And this, all because you first applied God’s Word to your heart and allowed the Holy Spirit to do a deep cleansing work in you. Glory!

Now for the “problem” that arises when the other party does not want to forgive you. NO PROBLEM! Re-read the previous two paragraphs. You have, with God’s help, worked through the issue and have come out victorious.

Now you need to be careful because if they have a bad attitude towards you it can be easy to retaliate. All you need say is, “That’s fine. I have peace in my heart about the situation and trust that some day you will to.” Leave it at that and walk away. As you go, thank God for helping you maintain a good loving attitude and ask your Heavenly Father to bless them. WHAT?

That’s right, bless them. Jesus said, “…pray for those who persecute you,” read Matthew 5:43 – 48. Paul writes in Romans 12:14, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” And in verse 21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Once you have set your heart right, and keep it right by continually going before the Lord and blessing that person, it will become easier to live with the unresolved situation. The other party may even continue to say and do hurtful things but when your heart is right you will be more than able to cope with the situation; you will have victory. And you will be able to walk in continuous forgiveness.

It is at this point that you can, with the help of the Holy Spirit, consolidate your victory or you can succumb to the craftiness of the devil. You see, your enemy is going to bring subtle little doubts into your mind and try to deceive you into thinking that you have not succeeded in truly forgiving. He will keep on reminding you of how deeply you were hurt. It does not matter what the hurt was. And, if it was caused by your spouse, your parents or anyone with whom you have regular contact then the battle becomes more intense.

Remember this one thing. The Word of God declares that Satan is a liar, the father of lies, and he has come to kill, steal and destroy. Every thought that is contrary to God’s Word is a lie and has its origin with the devil. You may feel unworthy, unloved or too weak to stand against these attacks but I want you to know this:

God loves you.
He has given you His Son the Lord Jesus Christ whose shed blood paid the price for your sin.
Your Heavenly Father has given you His infallible Word.
He has given you His Holy Spirit to empower you to be able to stand in victory.
Yes, you are weak but the battle is not yours it is the Lords. You need only to trust and Him and walk in obedience to His Word.
Satan is already defeated. The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished that through His death on the Cross and His resurrection.
Satan’s only weapons against you are lies and deception.
God’s Word is Truth and it will always accomplish what the Father desires.
You are more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ your Lord.
You are the apple of His eye.
God loves you.

Submit all the wrong thoughts to your Heavenly Father, His Word says to cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you. And then turn your thoughts towards Him. Think about His love, His goodness, His mercy and His grace. Tell Him how much you love Him. Thank Him for all that He is doing in your life. In other words – Worship Him.

I leave you with one last passage of God’s Word. Philippians 4:8 – 9 says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received from me – put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Read Chapter 4 from verse one to seven as well.

Please contact me at the address below and let me know how you are doing. Should you need more help, I will gladly correspond with you.

With much love,

Jack Viljoen.

The Church in the father’s Heart.

jack@tcitfh.co.za

http://www.tcitfh.co.za

P.S. If you do not have a bible, go onto the site above and you will find an excellent Bible Search Program. You can select from various translations and read what is comfortable for you. Please study and apply the scriptures that I used in this message. You will be blessed by God’s Word. You may also download the Bible Search Program for your own use.

Forgiveness: When the other person has died.

2007-02-06T15:44:00.000+02:00

Control, domination and manipulation are other factors which cause great difficulty in dealing with the issue of unforgiveness. When faced with this kind of opposition the “victim” feels powerless and cannot see a way out. This is a terrible condition to be in.

Now I wish to say this. The Word of God is not a magical formula. It works as a whole. You cannot name it and claim it. By that I mean that there are those who latch on to one of the promises in God’s Word and keep on confessing it in the belief that it is going to produce the desired result. Or, they receive a “word” of prophecy and attempt to build their lives around it. Beware! The word can become and idol. See what the Lord says in Ezekiel 14:1 – 5. This can bring you to destruction in order that you may turn back to God, not His Word only.

Let me give you an example which fits in with our discussion of unforgiveness and bitterness. People get caught up in the teaching on prosperity and hear the preacher saying that you must believe the Word, stand on the Word, confess the Word and it will come to pass. Now there is nothing wrong with that except for one thing; the hearers of that word have not walked the same road as the speaker. He has most probably worked through the issues in his life. He has or is practicing forgiveness. He does not harbour any bitterness in his heart. He does not speak bad about other people and the most important thing; he is walking in God’s love and has a relationship with the Lord. And, all of this is only possible when one is filled with the Holy Spirit and living daily in His presence.

People will confess the scripture in Mark 11:22 – 24 where Jesus said “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.” There are two immediate problems with this type of practice. The first being that they leave out verse 25 where Jesus says “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” This is paramount to having God’s Word produce fruit in your life. You see, without God’s forgiveness of your sins He does not even hear your prayer or confession. Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” So unless you forgive others their sin against you God cannot and will not forgive your sin. Stalemate.

The other problem with this confessing, naming and claiming game is this. We need to be asking and believing in accordance with God’s will. 1 John 5:14 – 15 says “This is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.” Can you see the results of unforgiveness. If we ask of God with unforgiveness in our hearts He does not hear us, and we can claim whatever scriptures we please; it is not going to work. This is not some magical system for getting things from our heavenly Father. We are talking about real life issues here. In James 4:1– 3 the Word says “What causes quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill (hate) and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (Self-centered).

As a result of asking incorrectly, many people don’t receive and are then angry with God. How sad? Our Father takes great delight in blessing His children. Why do we play games with Him by trying to manipulate Him with His very own words? The scripture in James says that if we ask according to His will then we know that He hears us and will grant the request. It is God’s will that we forgive? Therefore if we ask Him to help us forgive someone, do you think He will? Sure, it’s His will. But if we are still harbouring bitterness or even hurt in our hearts when we ask then He will not answer. Your request should first be, “Father give me a love for so and so and take away these bad feelings and thoughts.” Matthew 5:48 says we are to love our enemies. It is in God’s will. Let’s move on to our topic of unforgiveness.

We are going to cover three situations that appear as though asking forgiveness just doesn’t work, or we don’t know how to deal with it when:

the person who hurt us has died.
the other party refuses to forgive, or says they forgive but do not seek reconciliation.
the other party is under the control of a Jezebel spirit.

Someone who has offended you or whom you have offended has died and you know that you have not made right. What now? Must you continue to live with that guilt feeling? No; there is a way out! The situations are numerous but here are a few examples:

between spouses who cheated on one another; tolerated but never forgiven, now one has died
between parents and children; drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, wrong partner choices, divorce
between business partners
between bust-up lovers

These issues sometimes go way back into the past but were never dealt with. A mother feels remorse over the fact that her daughter has been killed in a car accident. She messed up when she found out that her daughter was pregnant, many years before, and dealt so badly with the issue that she turned her daughter against her. Now the daughter is gone. The mom is burdened with guilt because her pride kept her from humbly seeking forgiveness from her daughter. For “pregnant” read drugs, alcohol, wrong choice of partner or whatever. You get the picture. If only…

Every time you see him you boil with anger. He used you. You lived together; shared things; had good times; and then he left you for someone else. You both moved on. Both now happily married with families. But you never forgave; you harbour bitterness; still feel abused. Then you hear that he has died of a heart attack. What now? Maybe you say, “Good riddance.” But that is the bitterness reacting and the dangerous thing is that your feelings could be projected onto your husband. Well He is a Man, and maybe he will cheat on you? You start manipulating and trying to control his life. You become domineering and he begins withdrawing. Your marriage starts crumbling. Remember that all of this happens in the subconscious so chances are that you are not even aware of what is going on. All you see is your happy life going down the tube. You never dealt with the issue of forgiveness and now it has snowballed into a nightmare. I painted this scenario to show how unforgiveness can create further havoc in your life. If only…

You judged another person for something they had done. Your verdict; guilty! But you never had all the facts. You did not know that they were hurting at the time, and their actions seemed the only logical way out of their predicament. Never the less, you passed judgment. Now they have passed away. The scriptures say, “Do not judge and you will not be judged.” Now you are found guilty, you have been judged. Remember my first article on Unforgiveness? You are harbouring unforgiveness and are trapped in the prison of your mind. If only…

You can write your own scripts and the bottom line will always be unforgiveness, bitterness and the downward spiral into hopelessness and despair.

What can you do? You can go for counsel and take the tablets but deep inside you know that nothing has changed. You still battle against those feelings. The tablets help you to control your feelings but you are still trapped; in bondage to your thoughts and true feelings. This kind of counsel is humanistic and mind to mind, and the tablets only serve to suppress your emotions. No real, lasting solutions with this method.

Neither do traditional Christian counseling methods work. As illustrated above, you can confess the Word until you are blue in the face but nothing changes. By repeating that you have forgiven someone is not going to work because you are attempting to take a short cut and manipulate God into “doing it.” You need to understand that our battle is not against flesh and blood (people) but against spiritual forces that play havoc with the mind and emotions. See Ephesians 6:12 and

2 Corinthians 10:1 – 5.

Dear friend, you need to go to your Heavenly Father and ask Him for a revelation of His love and forgiveness. He will point you to the Cross on which your Saviour died. That Cross is an everlasting symbol of God’s love and forgiveness. God your Father loves you so much that He gave His only Son to die, shed His precious blood and so grant forgiveness for your sin. If you will only come to Him in an attitude of humility to genuinely seek Him, you will find your Heavenly Father waiting with outstretched arms, more than willing to receive you. This is His loving kindness demonstrated towards you.

You may have been told to repent of your sin of unforgiveness but you cannot. Repent means to turn 180 degrees from what you have been doing. Repent comes from two words; “pent” meaning top or pinnacle (penthouse) and “re” meaning to return. Adam and Eve lived on the pinnacle of God’s creation; innocent and guiltless. Then came the fall! Now the Word of God says that all men are to “repent” and return to that place of intimacy with their Creator. But we cannot repent in our own strength. The scripture says that it is God’s loving kindness that leads us to repentance.

God honours His Word and if you approach Him in this way you will be sure to find Him and experience His love. Now you can say words to this effect, “Father, I have sinned against you by not forgiving (name). I repent of that that sin and ask you to forgive me. Give me your love for (name) even though he/she is no longer with us. Help me to rid my mind of all the wrong thoughts and to replace them with good thoughts about (name). I confess that I can not do this in my own strength. I need you Father, and your love.”

Use your own words if you can. Don’t worry about perfect grammar. You don’t have to use any special “religious” language or terms. God is listening to your heart because that is where the issue lies. If you find yourself crying uncontrollably, don’t try to control it. Just let it flow because that is the Holy Spirit doing a cleansing work deep inside your being. Allow Him to finish this powerful work in you. Continue praying when you can. This process can take a while; do not be in a hurry. Hopefully you will be in a quiet place alone where you will not be disturbed.

Should you be disturbed, say by a crying baby, just maintain a quiet inner peace and continue talking to your Father and tend to your infant’s needs. Maybe just thank Him for what He is doing in you and express your love for Him. Do you know that you can talk to your Father from your heart, your spirit, no matter what you are doing? It is similar to the way in which you talk to yourself, only now you are not talking to your mind, you are talking to God!

If you are able to draw aside and find a quiet place to be alone and continue talking to your Father, you are in for a wonderful surprise. YOU WILL BEGIN TO HEAR HIM ANSWER YOU. Yes my friend your Heavenly Father seeks a relationship with you, and a relationship is a two way thing. All you need to do is talk to Him for a while and then be quiet. This is the difficult part because our minds are so busy. Get the car fixed, what to make for supper, return those missed phone calls; a hundred things flood your mind. Don’t fight it. Just keep focusing on your Father.

You will hear His beautiful words of love for you and His forgiveness. He will encourage you like no other person can. He really loves you. Forget about what you have been taught about this “god” waiting to punish you for your sins. That is utter twaddle. Your Father is first of all a God of love. God is Love. There is no punishment in this life; consequences yes; we all pay the price for disobedience. But with His forgiveness comes His mercy and His grace. GLORY! Once He has forgiven you He forgets your sin. Now He wants you to experience His Love for you. He desires to show you His will for your life. Embrace Him, thank Him, love Him and revel in His beautiful presence!

Let’s move on to that issue of unforgiveness. The person who caused the offence is gone and you are left with the consequences of that unforgiveness; bitterness, guilt and despair. You cannot change what happened but you can allow the Lord to change your heart; and He will.

I think that is enough for one article and so I will deal with the other two issues in subsequent articles. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you feel that you need more counsel. My desire is to see people made whole by the healing power of God’s infallible Word in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Bless you,

Jack Viljoen

jack@tcitfh.co.za

http://www.tcitfh.co.za

http://jackviljoensmessagebook.blogspot.com

Forgiveness

2007-01-30T11:32:00.000+02:00

The church is a sad testimony to the world. There is so much that does not conform to the teachings of Jesus and the other New Testament writers. And, worst of all, the leaders of the numerous institutions are more interested in their reputations, membership numbers and finance than they are in the well being of “their flocks”. Their image in the media is of utmost importance.

Whilst the flock is struggling with all kinds of personal issues the leaders are preaching “well prepared” sermons that contain no life-changing message. Furthermore, when it comes to counseling they use methods from psychology studied during their “preparation for the ministry”. They counsel from the mind to the mind. But the issues of life are issues of the heart and hence are spiritual in essence. Therefore mans’ methods are absolutely powerless when it comes to life issues.

Why is it that in the church, the divorce statistics are higher than those in the world? Suicide, child abuse and poor, if not non-existent, inter-personal relationships are accepted as normal behaviour patterns. Is this the Kingdom of God that Jesus taught about? I think not.

Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts, for the heart is the wellspring of life. In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul talks about two kinds of wisdom; human and spiritual. We know about the human kind of wisdom, but Paul says that if we do not have the Holy Spirit we cannot receive the wisdom that comes from God because it is spiritually discerned. And, only the Godly kind of wisdom has any power to bring change and healing to the human nature and emotions. The sad part in this situation is that the majority of the church institutions are founded upon humanistic principles which exclude the Holy Spirit, and are therefore powerless to help anyone.

This brings us to the subject of this article. Unforgiveness.

You have been hurt; maybe only once or perhaps many times. You have sworn never to forgive or you have tried to forgive but cannot. You can face the perpetrators and put up a brave front. But you are wearing a mask. You have to hide your true feelings because, usually those who have hurt you are close; like family members. Inside you there is turmoil. Peace evades you. Bitterness is beginning to take root. You secretly plot revenge but you just cannot bring yourself to do it. Or, maybe you have tried to, and now you feel worse than before. Never the less whatever happens you are slowly losing your grip on life. You are being consumed by all sorts of wrong thinking. At the slightest provocation, of whatever kind, you fly off the handle and then feel remorseful. What makes it worse is that you feel to apologise but cannot, and so you make excuses for your behaviour and pass the blame.

Your self image is taking a beating. To compensate you begin to act “strong” even though this is not in your nature. You begin to control and manipulate those around you in order to gain the upper hand and feel “good” about yourself. You are on a downward spiral of despair.

Listen to what Jesus has to say about forgiveness:

John 20:23 “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” The words “are not forgiven” are translated from the original as “holden” or “retained.” This is the same word used in Acts 2:24 where it says that death was not able to retain Jesus when God raised Him from the dead. A very powerful word; think about it.

In the Amplified Bible John 20:23 reads “if you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven: if you retain the sins of anyone they are retained.” Now Jesus was not giving us the authority or power to forgive sin: only God has that right. There is a far deeper problem facing us here. What Jesus was actually saying in this passage of scripture is this.

If someone sins against you, no matter what the sin, we are to forgive them. Did Jesus not also teach in Matthew 6 in the Lord’s prayer, that we are to forgive? Check verse 15 which comes after the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus said “But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Serious isn’t it? Many people sight Mark 11:22 – 24 as the great prayer of faith. But you never hear them quote verse 25 which is the key to unlocking that faith. Jesus said “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins.”

Are you starting to get the message? Can you see the absolute power and release there is in forgiveness? Now back to John 20:23. If you are walking in Unforgiveness towards anyone then you have placed yourself in the bondage of Unforgiveness. You have retained the consequence of unforgiven sin, which is sin. You must understand that Unforgiveness is a sin. God requires, even commands that we forgive others just as He forgives our sin. If we do not forgive others we are sinning against our heavenly Father. And, furthermore we are making a mockery of Jesus’ blood that was shed for the forgiveness of our sin. Some would say, “but I do Not sin.” Well the Word says that you are a liar. Read 1 John chapters 1 and 2.

The other party lives oblivious to your predicament. It is not their hurtful actions that are the cause of your situation. No! It is your Unforgiveness towards them. Allow me to recount a true story that I was part of, and the beautiful results that God brought into peoples lives.

I was a group leader on a course teaching telephone counseling. A very important part of this course was helping the trainees to achieve wholeness in their lives. You cannot counsel from a position of “hurt.” Now you cannot coerce people to reveal incidences that have caused hurt in their lives but under the guidance of the Holy Spirit they do open up.

There was a lady in my group (let us call her Martie) that, although she said there was nothing in her past that had caused her to walk in unforgiveness, one day just decided to quit the course. She said that she was not worthy to help others. Self pity and a poor self image were beginning to show. A warning light went on for me. I asked her if we could have a chat at the end of that Saturday’s session. Martie agreed.

Before we started talking I prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to lead us into truth. Well I had hardly finished praying when she started blurting out a whole lot of things concerning her mother in law. Martie was in her late fifties and had been married for more than thirty years. Apparently her mother in law did not like her and was always breaking her down. She was never good enough. Her cooking was openly criticised in front of the whole family. Her baking was so “bad” that it was not fit to be eaten. Her home was never neat enough. And so the criticism went on and on for more than thirty years.

Now that was all bad enough, but Martie started recording all these wrongs done to her. Yes, she kept a black book in which she had recorded the dates and the things had had been said about her. What is more she kept reading through these things to keep them fresh in her mind. She became in her mind what her mother in law thought of her; a failure. This was amplified by the fact that her mother in law had influenced her two sisters in law in the same way. She now had three people breaking her down. All these incidents were recorded in her little black book. This was another mistake. 1 Corinthians 13 says that love does not keep a record of wrong things done to us. This was only compounding the problem. Martie’s behaviour was outside of God’s law of love.

The Word of God says we are to love our enemies because love covers over a multitude of sins. The Word also says that no weapon used against us has any power to harm us when we walk in God’s love; and perfect love castes out fear. This poor woman lived in fear of the times when the families would get together.

Now I knew her husband and he had nothing but praise for his wife. Everything he had to say was nothing but praise for her, but she could not accept it. She was a failure in her own eyes.

But worst of all she had built up bitterness and resentment towards her mother in law and two sisters in law. Martie was trapped in that downward spiral.

By the time she had finished sharing all of this with me she was sobbing her heart out. I sensed that the Lord was busy doing something in her. I then shared John 20:23 with her and explained that the only way to be released from this situation was through forgiveness. But she had forgiven them she said. She had prayed and forgiven them. She had even written it all on a sheet of paper, handed it over to the Lord and then torn the paper up and thrown it away. Nothing changed.

There is a good reason why that never worked. It is simply that, it is not the way the Word says we are to deal with these matters. Jesus said, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:23 – 24.

Then Jesus goes on to say in verses 25 – 26, “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”

Now let us apply this to our real life story above. When we have anything like bitterness or unforgiveness in our hearts we cannot worship God. Worship is the gift of our lives that we offer to God. We first need to put those things right before we can truly worship in spirit and in truth and connect with our heavenly Father. Our wrong attitudes cause a separation between us and Him. Jesus instructs us “to go” and set things right. We are to take action and do something about it. If we do not go, then our adversary (Satan) hands us over to the judge (our minds and emotions), who hands us over to the officer (demon), who throws us into prison (the negative condition of our minds).

Can you see how we place ourselves in this prison? This “prison” is that hopeless state we find ourselves in and is brought upon by not setting things right as soon as they occur; things like harbouring grudges and bitterness. The “last penny” that we have to pay is the action that needs to be taken to set the issues right. That demon will continue to torment our minds with a negative bombardment of accusations until we have paid the price of seeking reconciliation; that price is humility.

You see, when Martie never attempted to set these issues with her mother in law right, her mind gave the demonic forces the power to torment her. That is why Jesus said that we are to settle matters “quickly.” Do not give the adversary the opportunity to mess with your mind. The scriptures say “do not let the sun go down on your anger: do not give the devil a foothold.”

But Martie was never taught how to deal with conflict situations. Now do you understand my opening statements concerning the condition of the so called church? Knowing all about the prophecies in the book of Revelation and how they relate to the book of Daniel will not help you one iota when you are facing issues in your life. Church leaders are too busy impressing their congregations with their “knowledge” and not teaching them about dealing with life issues. The congregations are caught up in pampering the pastor, molly coddling the minister and pleasing the priest. No one is really seeking God for His plan and purposes for His church.

Sorry, let me apologise for that statement about the leaders. They don’t know any better. That is what they are taught in their colleges and universities. They studied the letter of the law without the help of the Holy Spirit and the Bible says of itself that the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. It is only in the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit that lives are transformed, not in being bombarded with humanistic knowledge. They dissect the Word (the seed) until there is nothing left to plant in order to bring forth life. A seed must be planted whole to produce life.

Back to Martie’s story. She agreed to obey God’s Word no matter how difficult it would be. Martie’s mother in law and her two daughters lived very far away so it would not be practical for her to go and put things right. I suggested that she write letters in which she should ask forgiveness for harbouring a bad attitude towards them, without mentioning their offense.

This may seem strange to you as they were the ones who had sinned against her. Correct but, remember John 20:23, Martie had retained the consequence of unforgiveness towards them! She wrote the letters and to her amazement she received prompt replies by telephone. All three said no, they were to blame and asked her forgiveness. Much crying and reconciliation. God is faithful and as the scripture says, “He watches over his word to perform it.”

Martie was totally set free and went on to complete the course, and became an excellent telephone counselor. Guess what the problem was that her very first caller had? Right! Unforgiveness. Martie was able to counsel out of her very own life experience and God’s faithfulness. Bless the Lord. Glory.

If you are struggling in the same area then read the scriptures above and ask the Father to give you the grace to apply His word. James says that it is the doers of the Word that are blessed. Do it and watch the miracle that God our Heavenly Father will do in your situation.

I know that there are skeptics out there who would say “impossible, years of hurt just cannot be healed that fast.” They are right; when it comes to humanistic counsel and tablets. But when we trust in a miracle working God and the power of His Word the impossible becomes possible. Bless His Holy Name.

May the Lord bless you in your search for the Truth.

If you need help in this area please feel free to contact me; jack@tcitfh.co.za.

With love,

Jack Viljoen.

The Church in the Father’s Heart.

jack@tcitfh.co.za

http://www.tcitfh.co.za

P.S. Ephesians 4:32 – 5:1 and 2. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

The Church of my Dreams

2007-01-25T13:10:00.015+02:00

The priests would harvest the grain as the sun rose at the beginning of the Passover weekend. The grain would have to be crushed as it was ground to be made into the unleavened bread. It was then made into dough and baked into a loaf. Later at the meal this loaf was broken.

Today it symbolises the body of Christ that believers share in Holy Communion. Many different denominations have various ways of going about it but the symbolism remains the same. The wine represents the blood of our Saviour and the bread His Body. But what is this Body really? Many of us have experienced the blood of Christ and His forgiveness in our lives. He has reached down and plucked us out of darkness and restored our spirits. There are countless testimonies of His faithfulness and love all over the world and there is no doubt that The Holy Spirit is working in the hearts of people, drawing the broken to Himself and showing the way to Jesus, the only True Hope and real Love!

But what about the Body that was broken. Like millions, I have found His Blood and forgiveness in my life. He is my Saviour and Friend and I am so grateful for His Grace and Love! But what about the Body that was broken… The hands and feet of my Saviour? The ears to listen to my daily battles and struggles, my joys and victories? Someone to pray with and help me through experiences that they have already been through? Someone with faith when I am doubting? Where can I find that? The Body I find is dressed as the world, trying to make themselves appealing to her, to lure her and be like her. The body is perverted, serving the desires of man for greed and power, the lusts of the flesh, money. Where can I find the pure body that is living a life of sacrifice, crushed for the good of the whole, mixed together with ingredients, the water of the Spirit and kneaded together with the grace and love of the Father? A body where the grains of wheat no longer have an identity but only the whole nourishing life-giving loaf is displayed for all to see. The broken and resurrected Body of Christ.

I believe this Body is supposed to be us. Believers. Look at the New Testament. They taught each other from what they had learnt through their walk with the Lord. We’re supposed to be living letters read by all. Older women and men are supposed to teach the younger. Compassion and love should be flowing to the broken hearted. How many broken hearted are still among us?

We are that loaf, that Body of Christ. We have or are being broken, pride crushed in the work of the Holy Spirit. Self ground till it is unrecognisable, like the wheat into flour. Then grace and mercy are lovingly kneaded into the brokenness. In the fire of the Spirit, Jesus’ forgiveness, unconditional love and acceptance bring forth a whole loaf, ready to be tasted by all. We are that loaf. The loaf that is broken daily. His mercy has worked that wholeness into our lives for the good of the body, for all to taste. My experiences of Gods grace and forgiveness are like food to other believers. But just as we all need food daily, we need to feed from that broken, resurrected body in each others lives daily and collectively. That fresh bread of Gods work is going stale.

I have been walking with the Lord for many years. Yet I am still hungry. I am hungry for that daily bread. To feed from the Broken, Resurrected Body of my Saviour in His Body, Us. I am desperate. I ask Him, “How long Lord?” This is a lonely road and I don’t believe it was meant to be like that. We can walk alone. He said that His Spirit would be with us always and without that I would die. But looking at Paul and our New Testament brothers I see a life that was shared, “the fellowship of His sufferings”. This life was a joy to them in their dull existence of simply trying to find work in order to put food on the table. Sure, there was conflict and disagreement but their pride, like the wheat, was continually crushed and new loaves of grace came out in the lives of the believers as those things were submitted to the Spirit. Taste and see that the Lord is good. We are his hands and feet to serve those in need, to touch the broken hearted.

I am not talking about the structure we know as organized church. I see very little crushing going on and sharing in one another’s brokenness and the resurrection work that He has done in us. In most cases pride, position, money and power are the order of the day. The sheep sit in the pews looking and waiting longingly for their Shepherd, longing to eat of the Body of their Saviour. I am looking for the growing, thriving, organic, Body of Christ where I can be a part of that flour that is kneaded into the whole for the good of all. I have been broken and Gods unending Grace, which I am so grateful for, has come and restored me. I need to share this with others and share in their experiences. I long for that but it seems wherever we meet, people are following their own desires, lusts and plans.

Where is Jesus? Where can I meet and discuss Him, His Love, His Grace, His daily working in my life. Where are these believers who are broken and have abandoned all to be kneaded into the whole loaf and become one, without individual identity, but a powerful unity, having only one Identity: Christ. Sharing in His brokenness, His suffering and also in His resurrection. Experiencing His grace, daily together. Only Jesus, together. Is that possible? I believe it is. I just haven’t found my loaf yet…

Come Lord Jesus, come!

With much love,

Jack.

God’s Love and Grace.

2007-01-06T13:23:00.001+02:00

Human love can never endure the test of time. Actually when one looks around at the world today, real love is difficult to identify. Human love is often expressed in material ways. The giving of things is supposed to mean “I love you”. This expression of human love often hides the real motive and there is no real unconditional giving. Even the physical and sexual side of relationships have been counterfeited as the real thing.
As human beings we have been raised, most of the time, to believe that love comes as part of a reward system. If you perform in this way then I will love you and prove it with this gift. If you step out of line you step out of my love. If you don’t live up to MY standards then you don’t deserve my love. Human love is in most part granted on achievement. Human love is based on feelings and sentiment. Human love is a happiness hype. Human love is selfish and soulish. It resides in the emotions and that is why it needs to be fed. The self must be elevated. If you really loved me then… manipulative.

Human love is self-seeking. Another word for this is lust, not only the sexual kind but the lust of wanting, wanting for the sake of self gratification. Lust takes but love gives.

God so loved… that He gave. Which kind of love do you think God extends to us? In ancient writings different words were used to describe the different kinds of love. In Greek we have the words agape, phileo and eros. Most people know the third one. Well here is the meaning of each.

- Agape: seeking only the benevolence of others. Unconditional. Expecting nothing in return.

- Phileo: brotherly or social love, friendship.

- Eros: physical or sexual love.

Jesus said we are to love one another as He loves us. How does He love us? He showed us the Father’s love and then demonstrated it. He never considered Himself. He spent Himself for others. He only gave, gave, gave. Never asking anything for himself in return. Unselfish. Selfless. Sacrificial. He could not do anything else because He is God and God is love. Even when they hung Him on that cross He thought only of the good and said,”Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”. Remember that He had the power of the entire universe at His disposal. He could have done anything but He chose to forgive. That is LOVE.

When human love is put to the test it retaliates (reacts) in different ways. None of them good. Certainly there is little or no grace extended to the “offender”. LOVE COVERS A MULTITUDE OF SINS. The word “covers” means that when some one says or does something that is hurtful, not only do we not retaliate but we also do not even mention it to any other person. In other words we do nothing that will in anyway break down that person’s character. How then do we deal with the hurt? Firstly we forgive. Forgiveness is an act of love and the more intimate our relationship with our Heavenly Father is, the easier it becomes to truly forgive. This is possible for us because God is continuously pouring out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. The veil of tradition begins to crumble in the presence of God’s love. When that veil is taken away we come to realise that it is only by His grace that we are able to forgive others as He has forgiven us. Grace is God’s unmerited favour extended towards us because of His love. The greatest act of love ever was God giving His son to die, in our place, to pay the price for our sin.

God’s grace is powered and motivated by His love. It is part of His character. God is Love and love is God. HIS LOVE IS TOTALLY UNCONDITIONAL. That is something that we cannot come to grips with. Unconditional love. It is this unconditional love that overflows into grace.

Love,

Jack Viljoen.

Just to say hi!

2007-01-03T13:25:00.001+02:00

Hi all, I am new on the blog scene.

I am 63 years old and married to Kathryn who is 32 years old. We have two beautiful daughters Sarah almost four, and Hannah who has just turned two. We live in Centurion in South Africa.

The purpose of this blog is to interact with people who have a deep desire for an intimate relationship with God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We, that is Kathryn, and I are seeking to get involved in house church.

We believe the true body of Christ will be able function as our heavenly Father intended it to only when His children have the liberty to worship Him in complete simple faith. In spirit and in truth. No traditions or prepared liturgies. To live a lifestyle worthy of the calling of our Lord and Saviour. No hypocrisy. Real and honest; a genuine testimony to His love, mercy and grace.

There are many people who have been hurt by the church and others. They have dropped out and are no longer serving the Lord. They once again need to be brought back into the fold and nurtured. Also to understand that the Father is not interested in them going to church but that He desires a relationship with them as they are. Outside the walls of the Christendom of the church.

Please do not misunderstand. I am not angry or hitting at the church. Hey, I was in "full time ministry" for many years, but I have seen the light and want people to be set free. Let the churches continue, as many come to know about the Lord there. But they really need to know the real life that Jesus has called us to.

Bless you,

Jack Viljoen.