This is the heading of the fourth chapter of Dancing with my Father by Sally Clarkson. I found the first paragraph of this chapter incredibly encouraging and edifying:
" In moving through life's pathway, we often miss the heavenly applause and the angelic fanfare that mark our seemingly ordinary moments. Focused on our outward performance, we overlook the spiritual reality of inner victories and heart growth as we face each day with courage. Yet our invisible God sees such moments as the significant occasions of our lives, where greatness is forged through secret choices of faith seen only by Him. p62"
How encouraging!
Love
Rosa
Thursday, April 15, 2010
David had a different heart
I am reading a book by one of my favourite authors, Sally Clarkson, called Dancing with my Father. I am loving it because it echoes something of what I have been thinking over the past year or so.
Last year I went to a show called Houtkruis which was about a a love stroy during the Reformation and most importantly about God's redemption through the cross. A well-known Afrikaans sons was sung, also called Houtkruis and this song has words which are so true. Translated it goes something like this: If David danced in front of the Ark of God, how much more should we dance before the cross. These lyrics struck something deep in my heart and has slowly but surely been changing my view of worship.
The book I'm reading also speaks about this worship act of David and how we should dance with our Father through our lives. I really want to share some passages with you as I read.
One of the passages speaks about David as a man with a different heart. She is talking to her son about the David and Goliath passage, pointing out how David had a different heart and what it means to have such a heart:
"Nate, I told my son, all the other people, thousands and thousands of them, didn't even see God in their midst when the armies came into battle and the giant confronted them everyday. They lived in fear because of what they could see with their eyes. But David saw with is heart. He saw this challenge as an opportunity to show the greatness of God. And David pleased God greatly because he didn't just say he loved God, but he showed it by his actions...p22
A person with a different heart doesn't see life as it appears on the outside. Instead, she sees life from the heart, the way God sees it. She follows what God tells her to do in her heart, not depending on what she sees with her eyes. So you need to learn how to see God with the eyes of your heart and follow what God shows you is really true. It's like looking for God's secrets as you would search for treasure. The ones who have different hearts find the treasures of heaven that God has strewn all throughout their lives so that they can always find joy wherever they are.p23
David had grasped the keys to a joyful life: to look at things through God's eyes, seeing God's reality and purposes; to search for the secrets of God as for treasure; to watch for God's shadow, His movement; His humor; His artistry everywhere, every day and to respond to it...p24
With "heart" eyes, we learn to see God's power. We also learn to believe, as David did, that as children of God the whole host of heaven is behind us. David approached Goliath in the name of the Lord of hosts. What a difference it would make if we lived as though the Lord of hosts and his army were with us every day, that He was protecting us, loving us, working His will for His good pleasure in the minutest details of our lives.p24
...David had a different heart, one that saw God every day, that praised and worshiped God without pretense of religion but from the heart in sincerity and humilty...p39"
May we also have "different hearts" that see God in every circumstance in our lives and to rejoice in Him, our only true source of joy. I really really want this attitude.
Love
Rosa
Last year I went to a show called Houtkruis which was about a a love stroy during the Reformation and most importantly about God's redemption through the cross. A well-known Afrikaans sons was sung, also called Houtkruis and this song has words which are so true. Translated it goes something like this: If David danced in front of the Ark of God, how much more should we dance before the cross. These lyrics struck something deep in my heart and has slowly but surely been changing my view of worship.
The book I'm reading also speaks about this worship act of David and how we should dance with our Father through our lives. I really want to share some passages with you as I read.
One of the passages speaks about David as a man with a different heart. She is talking to her son about the David and Goliath passage, pointing out how David had a different heart and what it means to have such a heart:
"Nate, I told my son, all the other people, thousands and thousands of them, didn't even see God in their midst when the armies came into battle and the giant confronted them everyday. They lived in fear because of what they could see with their eyes. But David saw with is heart. He saw this challenge as an opportunity to show the greatness of God. And David pleased God greatly because he didn't just say he loved God, but he showed it by his actions...p22
A person with a different heart doesn't see life as it appears on the outside. Instead, she sees life from the heart, the way God sees it. She follows what God tells her to do in her heart, not depending on what she sees with her eyes. So you need to learn how to see God with the eyes of your heart and follow what God shows you is really true. It's like looking for God's secrets as you would search for treasure. The ones who have different hearts find the treasures of heaven that God has strewn all throughout their lives so that they can always find joy wherever they are.p23
David had grasped the keys to a joyful life: to look at things through God's eyes, seeing God's reality and purposes; to search for the secrets of God as for treasure; to watch for God's shadow, His movement; His humor; His artistry everywhere, every day and to respond to it...p24
With "heart" eyes, we learn to see God's power. We also learn to believe, as David did, that as children of God the whole host of heaven is behind us. David approached Goliath in the name of the Lord of hosts. What a difference it would make if we lived as though the Lord of hosts and his army were with us every day, that He was protecting us, loving us, working His will for His good pleasure in the minutest details of our lives.p24
...David had a different heart, one that saw God every day, that praised and worshiped God without pretense of religion but from the heart in sincerity and humilty...p39"
May we also have "different hearts" that see God in every circumstance in our lives and to rejoice in Him, our only true source of joy. I really really want this attitude.
Love
Rosa
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Delicious rusks
I have made my own rusk recipe and I would like to share it. I think it is absolutely delicious.
1kg of cake flour
250ml oats
350ml sugar
30ml baking powder
10ml bicarb
10 ml salt
250ml butter/margarine
500ml milk/buttermilk/yogurt (whichever you have in your fridge)
250ml oil
2 eggs
1. Mix all the dry ingredients
2. Melt butter and mix it with the milk, oil and eggs in another bowl.
3. Mix dry ingredients with "wet" ingredients.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 180 Degrees for 40minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and let it cool. Cut in fingers and dry it in oven at 100 Degrees for 2-3 hours.
Hope you enjoy them:)
1kg of cake flour
250ml oats
350ml sugar
30ml baking powder
10ml bicarb
10 ml salt
250ml butter/margarine
500ml milk/buttermilk/yogurt (whichever you have in your fridge)
250ml oil
2 eggs
1. Mix all the dry ingredients
2. Melt butter and mix it with the milk, oil and eggs in another bowl.
3. Mix dry ingredients with "wet" ingredients.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 180 Degrees for 40minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and let it cool. Cut in fingers and dry it in oven at 100 Degrees for 2-3 hours.
Hope you enjoy them:)
Friday, March 26, 2010
Passover
We celebrated our first family Passover. I googled Passover and Haggadah in order to help me find the correct order of the Passover and also everything I that I needed for example the seder plate.
I simplified the programme so that it would not be too long for two and a half year old Simeon. There were many highlights for him such as sweeping up the last bread crumbs (chamets); and hiding the afikomen and then going to look for it later; also opening the door for Elijah. But what he wanted to do most of all was blow out the candles right through the 'ceremony' and have his cup filled with juice all the time.
I would truly recommend this tradition to any other Christian family. The Passover is so meaningful for Christians. Here are some of the wonderful significances:
1. The lighting of the candles reminds us of Christ referring to Himself as the Light of the world.
2. The four cups drunk in the following order: cup of sanctification, cup of judgment, cup of redemption and cup of rejoicing, represents the process of salvation of the child of God.
3. The washing of hands symbolises how we are washed of our sins and how Christ washed the disciples feet.
4. There are three matsot which represents God, the Father; God, the Son; and God, the Spirit. The middle one (called the afikomen) is taken, broken and placed in piece of fabric and then hidden. In the same way Christ's body was "broken," and buried.
5. Each matsot is striped and pierced just as Christ was for our iniquities.
6. Later, the afikomen is searched for by the children, which symbolizes Christ's resurrection.
7. Afikomen means "that which is coming." Christ is coming again.
8. The motsot is made without yeast. Yeast represents sin. Christ was without sin.
These are just a few of the significances of Passover for the believer. In the Passover, one can show over and over again that Christ is the Lamb of God.
I simplified the programme so that it would not be too long for two and a half year old Simeon. There were many highlights for him such as sweeping up the last bread crumbs (chamets); and hiding the afikomen and then going to look for it later; also opening the door for Elijah. But what he wanted to do most of all was blow out the candles right through the 'ceremony' and have his cup filled with juice all the time.
I would truly recommend this tradition to any other Christian family. The Passover is so meaningful for Christians. Here are some of the wonderful significances:
1. The lighting of the candles reminds us of Christ referring to Himself as the Light of the world.
2. The four cups drunk in the following order: cup of sanctification, cup of judgment, cup of redemption and cup of rejoicing, represents the process of salvation of the child of God.
3. The washing of hands symbolises how we are washed of our sins and how Christ washed the disciples feet.
4. There are three matsot which represents God, the Father; God, the Son; and God, the Spirit. The middle one (called the afikomen) is taken, broken and placed in piece of fabric and then hidden. In the same way Christ's body was "broken," and buried.
5. Each matsot is striped and pierced just as Christ was for our iniquities.
6. Later, the afikomen is searched for by the children, which symbolizes Christ's resurrection.
7. Afikomen means "that which is coming." Christ is coming again.
8. The motsot is made without yeast. Yeast represents sin. Christ was without sin.
These are just a few of the significances of Passover for the believer. In the Passover, one can show over and over again that Christ is the Lamb of God.
