Weekly Devotion

We have been discussing the different things in our lives that take up our time unnecessarily. These are things that will not stand the test of time when we truly face storms in our lives. There are so many, but I am simply touching on a few. Another one that most of you most probably have guessed is the television. Let me explain.

3. The television

I know most of us love the television, love watching movies and love to relax in front of it. Now once again, that in itself is not bad. Television could be an excellent source of information and could also be used to bring family and friends together to watch certain events, such as the Olympic Games, World cups, concerts etc.

Now as I said, I don't have a problem with television per se. I love watching sport, especially rugby and tennis, as I enjoy encouraging my favorite team/player. But I have a problem with it in two areas, number one, when it takes the time of your family and number two when you passively allow any and all information that presents itself into your mind. Let me explain.

I don't think my first reason needs much explaining, but let me just clarify. We as a family stopped our satellite television at the end of last year and I cannot tell you how much more time we have for one another now. My husband comes home from work and now he has time to play with the children outside, we sit at the table and eat and tell one another of our day, we even have time to read inspirational books and we feel sleepy by the time we go to bed and not have flashes of what we just watched on television disturbing our rest. We will activate the television again when the rugby season begins, but then we will discipline ourselves to watch only the game and maybe enjoy a movie/ programme together over weekends.

Now I am not saying you should all switch off your televisions. If you love watching documentaries/news/educational programs/sports etc, by all means do it. Just keep in mind that your family comes first and if these programs take excessive time, analyze your situation and make the changes needed to give your family the time and attention they deserve.

My second problem that I have with television is that it influences your mind. I am not going into much detail about your mind, as I can write a whole book about it, but for now know that your mind is a battlefield between what the devil wants to put in it and what God wants you to think. There are so many verses in the Bible about your mind, and it all boils down to the following:

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do." Proverbs 4:23.

In other words, guard your thoughts, as it will affect your actions and ultimately your whole life. Now when you are watching television, you want to lay back and relax and not think of anything else. But the problem is that you put your guard down and passively allow everything on the television to enter your mind. It dulls the brain and allows things in, that you would under normal circumstances not entertain in your mind. These thoughts would slowly worm their way into your mind and strategically place them wherever your weakness is. For example you are not happy with your body, now you will see beautiful women on the television and automatically feel inferior. Or in the soapies you will see the perfect model of a man and you will start to compare him with your husband and begin to feel that your husband is not good enough. You will see affairs prevalent in almost every movie, it will start to look attractive to you and lure you in to possibly doing the same thing. You will hear curse words being spoken and the Lord's Name used in vain, and before you know it, one slips out when you are angry. Or you worry easily and now on the news you see all the devastating things going on in the world and you tense up and sleep with the lights on, because you fear the worst to happen to you. I can go on and on, but I am sure you get the picture.

My point is this, be careful what you place in your heart.  Be careful what you watch, it becomes your thoughts, your thoughts come out of your mouth and influences what you do, your actions can become habits and your habits build your character, essentially who you are. So in actual fact, wrong images on television can influence your character and pull you away from the Lord and all He has for you. Be careful. Rather focus on what is good and pure and of good report, it will build you up, fill you with the joy of the Lord and give you peace which surpasses all understanding.

"Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." Philippians 4:8

Lord Jesus, help us to look up to You and seek You in everything. Help us to discern different images on television and only look at what is good and pleasing in Your sight. You are our Lord and God and ultimately we would like to grow closer to You and leave out everything that could hinder our progress. Amen

We are busy with a series about the three little pigs. And we have been asking ourselves the following question: What are our lives built out of, straw, sticks or bricks? I spoke last week about the first straw that I believe can fill up our time, and that is the internet and social media. I truly believe that if left unguarded, it can quickly replace the more important things in our lives. And when the first storm in our lives blow, the time spent on the internet will not help us to weather it successfully.

The second thing that I would like to discuss which can consume time unnecessarily is people.

2. People

Now let me explain this carefully. Here I am talking about people that can waste your time and wear you down. I am not talking about the people closest to you that form part of the bricks in your life. After all Jesus said that the second biggest commandment is to love one another and our great commission is to go out and tell people about Jesus and His wonderful saving power. So I am not saying that you must forsake that, but I would like to talk about friendships and there comes a time when it is better to break a certain friendship than to keep it. Let me explain at the hand of examples. I have heard countless times people say something to the extent of:

"I don't really find any joy in spending time with this person, but before I know it we have a coffee date. Afterwards I feel drained and I didn't enjoy it at all, but I couldn't say no." or

"I feel that we have had a relationship for 10 years already, I cannot accept that we have grown apart. Even though I don't enjoy our time together anymore, I am going to keep the friendship going." Or

"Before I can help myself I am at the coffee machine at work gossiping about some of the people in the office. I don't really have time to gossip, but before I can help myself I am there catching up on the latest news." Or

"I know that person is not good for me. Whenever we are together we do things that we normally wouldn't do on our own, but I can't muster up the courage to get that person out of my life." Or

"I know I need to spend more time with my family, but I need to interact and spend time with these guys in order to be promoted."

Now I don't have to tell you this, but I think you all realize deep down that when the real storms and difficult times in your lives come, these 'friends' will wither away like dew in the sun and at the next coffee break at work they will be gossiping about you.

We all know inherently that we should let them go, but I know that it is sometimes easier said than done. But the fact of the matter is that they are not good for you. They might not be 'wicked' people, but they do have an influence on you. When I started working I worked at a company where it was the norm to get drunk at every social event (and there was a lot!). And you know what, even though I didn't join them, it was not before long I began to accept their behavior and be less appalled by it. I started to accept it as the norm and not the exception. I even thought it was funny at times. And later on I realized that they were having a very bad effect on me. As a child of God I wasn't supposed to join them at every social and stay until late with them, because it was not good for me and it was not good for my relationship with the Lord.

So yes, I know it is difficult, but at the end of the day it is more important to honor God than people. But don't just take my word for it; let's see what the Lord says in His Word about friendships.

"The godly are cautious in friendship, the wicked lead them astray." Proverbs12:26

"Whoever walks with the wise will become wise; whoever walks with fools will suffer harm." Proverbs13:20

"Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with scoffers." Psalm 1:1

"Don't team up with those who are unbelievers. How can goodness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the Devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?...Therefore, come out from them, says the Lord. Don't touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:14-15; 17 - 18

I guess I can go on with more verses as there are quite a number concerning this issue. The point I would like to make is this. People are social beings and we were created that way. And when you do social, make sure it is with someone that will build you up, that will make you feel refreshed after the chat, someone that is positive and especially someone who loves the Lord and that will be there when the first storm comes to rock your house. Someone that will support you through thick and thin.

Don't waste time on people who only wear you down and who take up your precious time, instead focus on those people that form part of the bricks in your life. But I will talk about them later, for now, choose your friends carefully; they have a major impact on your life.

Lord Jesus, please give us the courage to end relationships that are not good for us. Give us the desire to spend time with You instead. Help us to prioritize and rather spend quality time with the people closest to us, those who are truly important. Amen

Last week I started with a new series about the three little pigs. One built his house of straw, one with sticks and the only one who kept on standing was the house built with bricks. I also asked the question whether your life was filled with straw, sticks or bricks? Which one consumes most of your time? I hope you spent some time last week answering that question for yourself.

This week I want to start with the straw that can fill one's life and eat at the time that you ought to be spending on the bricks. I am only going to discuss three main elements that I feel steal most of our time. There are obviously much more than these, but these are the ones I feel is most common amongst people. Whilst reading them, analyze your own life and identify the straw that steals your joy.

1. 1. The internet and social media

Now before some of you want to stone me for saying this, please hear me out first. The internet and social media is a wonderful thing. Information is at hand, we can handle all our transactions through it, we can stay in touch with people who live in another part of the world, we can learn so much, we can stay in touch with world events and news, we can make money through using the internet and so I can go on and on. It is no doubt a good thing, you wouldn't even be able to read my blog if it wasn't for the internet. I cannot imagine a corporate world without the internet, it is totally unthinkable and it makes me wonder sometimes what our clever human race will think of next. But for now the internet is an irreplaceable part of our lives and social media an avenue to communicate with friends and loved ones far away.

But as anything in our lives, it can become too much. If the internet and especially social media replaces your contact with human beings around you, I have a problem with it. I would like to point out a few examples to bring my statement across.

A friend of mine works at a design company. She loves working there, but when I asked her about the people working with her she said they are okay. When I asked her to elaborate further, she simply said, "Well, they don't talk much really. When they want to ask/tell me something they email me even though I am sitting right next to them." Now I found that very interesting. God made us as human beings who interact with one another, who need one another. He made each of us with unique qualities that communicate with one another in interesting manners. He didn't make us loners who cannot look someone else in the eyes. We are human beings, made for interaction and if that interaction is through a cold computer, whilst we have the alternative to be polite and talk to the person right next to us, I have a problem with it.

Another example is when I went to say hallo to a friend of mine, her sister was visiting her from overseas. But the whole time I was there she was on Facebook.  The whole time updating her status and checking the status of everyone she knew to see if something changed in the meantime. I barely got a nod. Now I don't have a problem with Facebook per se, but when it is more important than the people around you, and most importantly your family around you, then I have a problem. She was on Facebook most of her stay with her sister and it made her sister feel less important than all her 'friends' on Facebook, which is very sad to me.

Also I have heard numerous times examples of men coming home from work, who slumps in front of the internet to search the net for the latest news and trends. I am not talking about men that come home that still need to finish work; I am talking about men putting general news on the internet and social media in front of their wives and children. The children are keen to spend some time with their father they haven't seen all day and the wife would like to chat about things with her husband, but he prefers the internet above them. I have a problem with that. Nothing should come ahead of your family, except God.

My husband has a coffee shop and he frequently tells me how couples don't talk to one another anymore. Whilst waiting for their order they are busy on their phones the whole time. Their phones consume the time that they could have related to one another and spend quality time together.

Last, but definitely not least, think about the time you spend on the internet, and now I am not talking about your working hours/ hours paying bills etc, but the physical time you spend simply 'surfing the net' or 'staying connected on social media'. Is it more than the time you spend with the Lord? If it is, then you need to start looking for ways to decrease your time because (maybe unknowingly) you are creating an idol, you are idolizing and valuing the internet and social media more than God. In the Old Testament times it was easy to recognize an idol and it is easy for us to condemn them today for worshipping dead wooden images. But today the internet can also be classified as a 'dead wooden image'.

It is with examples such as these that the internet and social media becomes straw to me. When the first wolf comes and blows at your house, in other words, if something comes and rattles your life, the internet will blow away very quickly. You need something more solid to keep you standing, and there is nothing more solid than our Rock, Jesus. Rather make time to spend with Him. It is definitely more lasting than your last 'tweet'!

Lord please give us the strength to value You and our family more than the internet and social media. It sounds so easy, but it is not. Please help us; we don't want an idol above You Lord. You are our all in all! Amen.

The next couple of weeks we are going to discuss the story of the three little pigs. I know it might sound strange to you that I chose a topic like this for my devotions, but please bear with me. You will be blessed by all the lessons we can learn from them. I know I have been blessed just writing it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Now I am sure that most of you know the story of the three little pigs. But for those of you who don't, in short it is about three little piggy brothers who still lived with their mother. When it was time to leave the house she gave them some advice, told them to build strong houses for themselves and saw them on their way.

The first piggy was a bit lazy and took the easiest route. He built himself a house of straw. He finished the house very quickly and immediately started to live there. It was not long before the wolf in the vicinity smelled the little pig and without any trouble blew his house away in order to eat him. Luckily for the little piggy he was quick enough to get away from the nasty wolf.

In the mean time the second little piggy made a little more effort in building his house. He used sticks to build his house. He took a bit longer than his brother did in building his house, but soon enough he was finished and enjoying his completed product. Once again it was not long before the wolf sniffed him out and with a little more effort blew his house away as well. The wolf was very hungry by now, but the little pig managed to escape amongst the heaps of sticks lying around.

The third little pig was wiser and had more resilience than his brothers and decided to build a proper house with bricks and cement. He took much longer than his brothers did in building the house, but he made sure that everything was hundred percent in place with a proper foundation to support his structure. Eventually he finished his house. He was so impressed with his handwork and enjoyed living there. In the mean time the nasty wolf was almost starving from hunger and smelled the piggy from afar. He hurried over to his house and tried to blow the house down, but as much as he tried he couldn't even make a dent in any part of the house. He realized he had to make another plan, and before long he saw that he can climb onto the roof and wriggle himself down the chimney into the little piggy's house. He didn't waste any time and immediately put his plan into action. But the piggy was one step ahead of him; he realized what the wolf was planning to do. So in the meantime he put a big pot full of boiling water in the fireplace and when the wolf came down the chimney, he gave a loud yoooowwll as his bum burned with the boiling water. He immediately rushed out of the little piggy's house, never to return.

The two other piggy's heard the noise and rushed to see what had happened. Their brother was glad to see them and invited them to come and live with him which they readily accepted. They all lived happily ever after.

Now you may wonder why I am telling you this old story. Well, I am going to talk in depth about the lessons that we can learn from these three little piggys and the choices they made. But for now, stop and think for a moment, what is your house - in other words, your life - made of? Is it built with straw, sticks or bricks? Do you spend most of your time on straw, sticks or bricks? Think about it, I will discuss it in more detail over the next few weeks, but sit back somewhere during this week and answer the question for yourself. Jesus came and told us that we must build our house on a solid rock; otherwise our house will collapse at the first storm that comes our way. On what is your house built? With what is it built? Are you spending most of your time on things that have no eternal value, the straw in this life? Or are you building with bricks? I am sure you all inherently want to say your life is full of bricks, things that will last even if the wolf comes and tries to take it away. But is it really? Is that where you focus all your time and attention? We will work through it during the next couple of weeks, but be honest with yourself. Being honest is normally the first step towards change. May this change be one that glorifies Him and help you to serve Him better.

Father, we want to build houses that will last. We want to focus on things that have eternal value and not on the straw of this life. Your Word tells us that we must focus our attention on what is going on in Heaven and not on what goes down here on earth. Please help us to do just that. In Jesus' Name. Amen

"…set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power. Let Heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth." Colossians 3:1, 2

Abraham married again close to the end of his life. He married Keturah and she bore him six sons. God had blessed a man with no descendants to a man with eight sons in total! He was truly blessed. And when the time came for him to die, he left everything to Isaac, but he gave gifts to all his other sons too. He died at the ripe old age of 175. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the same cave as Sarah, the cave of Machpelah.

He truly was a blessed man and after his death:

"After Abraham's death, God poured out rich blessings on Isaac." Genesis 25:11

Abraham had a rich, full, blessed life and God was continuing these blessings on Isaac, due to the promises He had made to Abraham.

What can we learn from Abraham's life? Well, I think first of all he obeyed God. When God told him to move from his home country, he did. He didn't know where he was going, but God looked after him. He built altars to the Lord everywhere he went and made sure that he and his household stay close to the Lord. He pleaded for the godless cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and cared for his nephew, Lot, even though Lot didn't do much to earn the favour. He also rescued Lot once and didn't hesitate to take on a whole army, because he knew God was with him. He was honest in his business dealings and he had a positive influence on all he met. He was an effective witness to God and gave Him all the glory for his riches.

He believed God when God made a covenant with him and followed through on his side of the covenant, namely to circumcise the men in household, immediately. He didn't waver in his faith. He also acted immediately when God told him to go and sacrifice Isaac. He believed that God will revive Isaac from the dead if he sacrificed him. He placed God first above all. He also believed that God will help him in finding the right wife for Isaac. He trusted God for that and God helped him to find the perfect one.

But Abraham also made mistakes. He lied twice and said that Sarah was his sister and gave her to the kings of the day. And of course he and Sarah tried to force God's hand and had a child through Hagar, instead of waiting on God to deliver on His promises. He was just a human as we are today. But God was faithful to him and even helped him with the mistakes he made. And in the New Testament we never read anything about Abraham's mistakes, we read about his faith and how he trusted God above all else. Isn't that just wonderful? God doesn't remember our mistakes, but chooses to focus on our positive points! And even if we make mistakes, He will help us through them!

There's so much to learn from Abraham's life and I hope you can take some of these lessons and apply them to your life. I know I have certainly learned a lot!

Therefore I would like to end of this series with a blessing. I want to pronounce the following blessing on your life and I hope that you take it and make it your own:

May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob bless you and keep you. May His face shine with favour towards you. May He look after you just as He did with Abraham. May you be blessed just as Abraham was. You are his spiritual children and therefore all God's promises made to Abraham are  yours too. May these blessings rain on you, may it invigorate you, and may it sustain you and give you the strength to obey God just like Abraham did. May you make a difference on all those around you just like Abraham did and may God give you His Shalom peace and keep you safe from all harm. In Jesus' Name. Amen

Eliezer, Abraham's servant was sent by Abraham to go to his home country and find a wife for Isaac amongst his relatives. The mission was handed over into God's capable hands as we have seen. And as God ordained it, Eliezer was led right to Rebekah, the granddaughter of Abraham's brother Nahor. Eliezer gave all glory to God for helping him.

Now when Rebecca realised that Eliezer came from Abraham she rushed back home to tell her family. In her haste she forgot to take Eliezer with her. But once her brother, Laban, heard the story, he rushed out to the well and invited Eliezer to come to them. They treated him like royalty and were especially hospitable to him. God was in the whole process and looked after Eliezer.

Once Eliezer and his camels were settled in he insisted on telling them why he came. He didn't even want to eat before he told them his reason for coming. Laban agreed and allowed Eliezer to tell the whole story, which he did. Eliezer told them everything, from his oath that he made with Abraham, to his prayer, to Rebehah's kind actions. And after he told them he didn't waste any time in asking for Rebekah's hand in marriage to his master's son, Isaac. And Laban and Bethuel's reply was:

"The Lord has obviously brought you here, so what can we say? Here is Rebekah; take her and go. Yes, let her be the wife of your master's son, as the Lord has directed." Genesis 24:50, 51

The Lord was in the process the whole way. There was no resistance from her brother or father. God had paved the way. Eliezer was so glad that he immediately bowed down to the ground again and worshipped God. He was overjoyed and didn't care what anyone thought. He saw God's hand in all of this and gave Him all the glory. And s we've seen last week we can also learn from his wonderful example and thank God for His hand in our lives!

Then Eliezer wanted to return to his master the very next day, but Rebekah's mother wanted her to stay another ten days. But when Eliezer continued to insist on leaving the following day, Rebekah agreed to leave with him. It must have been very difficult for her. Here she had to leave her family, her friends, all she ever knew to go with a stranger to a far off land. And she knew that she will probably never see them or have contact with them ever again. It must have been very difficult. They didn't have phones, Skype and internet as we have today. When she had to say goodbye, it was most probably for good. But she recognised God's hand in this and He gave her the strength and the courage to go.

Sometimes God will also ask something of us that is difficult to do. He might ask us to move, He might ask us to change careers, He might ask us to stay right where we are even though we are frustrated or He might ask us to give up certain dreams that we have that is not in line of His will. Whatever the case may be, sometimes God asks us to do certain things. We must learn from Rebekah and act upon what God is asking of us without hesitation. She was obedient and followed His will and He looked after her. We see that God allowed her to take her childhood nurse with her, which must have been a consolation. We see a blessing pronounced on her:

"Our sister, may you become the mother of many millions! May your descendants overcome all their enemies." Genesis 24:60

And indeed that happened. She was married to one of the patriarchs of the Jewish nation. She was the mother of Jacob, later named Israel and she was married to a man who loved her very much. She was a special comfort to Isaac after his mother's death and he adored her. She was the mother of the Jewish nation, of Israel, from whom our Lord and Saviour came. She will be remembered forever.

When you obey God, things work out even better than you might hope or dream. Be obedient and act when God asks you to. Move with His Spirit and enjoy the anointing that comes with that. You will never be sorry that you did.

Father please give us the courage to 'go' when You say 'go' and to 'stay' when You say 'stay'. Please give us the strength to obey You and not to fear the future. Because we know that with You there is true peace, joy and freedom. Thank you for Your wonderful plans for our lives! Amen

Eliezer, the servant of Abraham was looking for a wife for Isaac in Abraham's home country amongst his relatives. He travelled all the way to the village where Nahor, Abraham's brother had settled. There at the well outside of the village he prayed that God help him on his mission. He prayed that the first woman, who will be prepared to give water to him and to his ten camels, should be the wife that God had planned for Isaac. As we saw last week, Eliezer was looking for a woman with a servant's heart.

God is faithful and looks after His children. And in this situation it was no different. While Eliezer was still praying Rebekah arrived at the well and when Eliezer asked her for a drink, she replied:

"Certainly, sir," she said, and she quickly lowered the jug for him to drink. When he had finished, she said, "I'll draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough!" So she quickly emptied the jug into the watering trough and ran down to the well again. She kept carrying water to the camels until they had finished drinking." Genesis 24:18-20

Rebekah was the one he was praying for. She not only offered to water his camels, she offered to give them water until they have had enough! And now we know how much a camel can drink. She also did her job with vigour, running to and fro the well until they had enough. She had a servant heart and was ready to help. She didn't expect to be compensated for her effort. But Eliezer wanted to bless her and gave her a gold ring for her nose and two large gold bracelets. And when he asked if they can sleep over at her father's home that night she readily agreed. She and her family were hospitable people (something we can learn from them too!). Then she told him that her grandparents were Nahor, Abraham's brother. Eliezer was so happy when he heard that and he fell to his knees and worshipped the Lord:

"Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master, Abraham," he said. "The Lord has been so kind and faithful to Abraham, for He has led me straight to my master's relatives." Genesis 24:27

Eliezer did the right thing and immediately gave all honour and praise to God. He acknowledged God's hand in this and praised and thanked Him for His help.

Often times we pray for things and when it happens we forget to say thank you. Mostly we will remember to say thank you when big things that we prayed for happen, but we tend to forget about the smaller things. I know I do sometimes. And it is not right. God loves to receive praises from His children. That is why He didn't make us robots that are forced to praise Him, because what is the joy in that? He finds joy when His children acknowledge Him and praise Him for all He does for them. Of all the ten lepers that Jesus healed only one returned to say thank you. And Jesus asked him where the other nine were, even though He knew. He simply wanted to make a point that all were supposed to come back and thank Him.

Remember when praying to thank the Lord for all the wonderful things He has done and for all His provisions for us. Thank Him and praise Him. Maybe even write down certain things you are praying for and page through that book now and again. You will be pleasantly surprised how God answered them and thank Him for it. Make thanking God a part of your daily prayer, and do it spontaneously like Eliezer did. He didn't worry what anyone thought of him. He immediately fell down and worshipped God for His kindness. Isn't that just a wonderful example to follow!

Thank you Father for all Your kindness. Thank you for listening to us and hearing our prayers. Thank you for Your abundance of grace towards us. Thank you thank you thank you. We are sorry that we forget to say it sometimes, but thank you. You are our everything, our first Love! In Jesus' Name. Amen

Abraham sent his faithful servant, Eliezer, on a mission to his home country to find a wife for Isaac. Abraham wanted a godly wife for his son and sent Eliezer back to his relatives to bring back a wife for Isaac. And as we saw last week they dedicated the mission to God and left it in His hands to help them with it.

Today we will start again with the prayer of Eliezer:

"O Lord, God of my master," he prayed. "Give me success and show kindness to my master, Abraham. Help me to accomplish the purpose of my journey. See, here I am, standing beside this spring, and the young women of the village are coming out to draw water. This is my request. I will ask one of them for a drink. If she says, "Yes, certainly, and I will water your camels, too!" - let her be the one You have appointed as Isaac's wife. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master." Genesis 24:12-14

At first when I read this, I thought that the request he had was reasonable. Surely it wasn't that hard work to water the camels too? But then I read in a note in my Bible that it was custom in that day for foreigners/travellers to ask the young women to draw water for them from the well. But it wasn't custom for the young women to water the camels too. The note says that it took a lot of water to quench the thirst of one camel, up to 95 litres of water for one camel. Now Eliezer had ten camels and therefore about 950 litres were necessary to quench their thirst! Now for any young woman that is a lot of water to draw out of the well and carry to the camels! And then I understood that Eliezer was asking the Lord that he was looking for someone who will be prepared to water the camels of a stranger without any compensation. He was looking for someone with inner beauty and a servant's heart. Someone who will be willing to serve and help others.

We all spend a lot of money and time on outward appearances. We follow all the latest dieting and exercising trends and if we have enough money we will also spend it on beauty treatments. Now there is nothing wrong with looking after ourselves and being the best we can be, but how much time and effort do we spend on developing our inner beauty? We have a new person created inside of us the moment we believed in Jesus Christ and we need to let that new person grow. We need to spend time in growing this new person into the beautiful being God created him to be. This new person is lovely and desirable. I have never seen an ugly person glowing with the love, joy and peace of the Lord on the inside. People on fire for the Lord has a certain glow about them and a radiance that flows out to all those around them. People like that are attractive and lure all people in and draw them closer to God. We all need to be like that. We need to glow like Moses did after he returned from Mount Sinai. We need to spend so much time in God's presence that His beauty will become our beauty and His attractive nature become our nature. Then we can truly live out our calling here on earth, as the beautiful vessels He created us to be.

Father, we are so sorry that we look at the worldly model for what is beautiful and what is not. Rather we want to look up to You, spend time with You and be like You in this world. Then we are truly beautiful, radiating love and peace to all around. Amen

Abraham was very old by now. But before his death he wanted to make sure that Isaac get the right wife. He realised that the Canaanite women were unbelievers and he didn't want Isaac to marry one of them. And he also didn't want Isaac to leave Canaan to go back to Abraham's home country, because Abraham wanted Isaac to stay within the land promised to him by God. So Abraham sent for his oldest servant, in charge of his household, Eliezer, and asked him to travel to Abraham's relatives and find a wife for Isaac there. He bound him by an oath that he will do that. Eliezer agreed, but wanted to be relieved from his oath if he cannot find a suitable wife that will leave her family to come and marry Isaac. And Abraham agreed. But notice what Abraham says before Eliezer leaves:

"God will send His angel ahead of you, and He will see to it that you find a young woman there to be my son's wife." Genesis 24:7

Abraham trusted God to find the right wife for his son. He also believed that God will provide. And sure enough, Eliezer followed in the wonderful example set by his master. Abraham had a wonderful godly influence on his household. Not only was he an 'honoured prince' in the area, he was also highly regarded in his household and he drew them closer to God as well. As I said last week, Abraham's life is a wonderful example for us to follow.

Now Eliezer left immediately and travelled with ten camels loaded with gifts, the very best of what his master owned.  And the moment he arrived at a well just outside the village where Abraham's brother Nahor had settled, he dedicated his mission to the Lord:

"O Lord, God of my master," he prayed. "Give me success and show kindness to my master, Abraham. Help me to accomplish the purpose of my journey." Genesis 24:12

It is so wonderful to me how he and Abraham asked God's guidance in seeking a wife for Isaac. They gave the matter into God's hands and trusted Him to help them.

Besides giving your life to God, the biggest choice you need to make in your life is who to marry. It is even a bigger choice than your career. And therefore God's guidance is of the utmost importance. Most people follow their feelings and marry the first person that makes them feel good about themselves only later to discover that that feeling disappeared after a while. God's advice and God's guidance in choosing the right person to marry should be your first stop. Ask God to give you the right man/woman, ask Him to guide you, ask Him for confirmation once you have found someone you liked, and stay on your knees and wait for the peace of God that transcends all understanding. God has the best spouse in mind for you. He wants the two of you to accomplish His purposes together. Give the choice over to Him. You will find that He will help you just as He helped Abraham and Eliezer. He wants to help you. Do not marry the first eligible person that comes along, but rather trust in Him for the right person.

And if you are married already and have children, be like Abraham and pray that your children will find the right person to marry one day. Your prayers can guide them and help them to find the right one.

It is such a wonderful thing if you pray, obtain God's guidance and marry the right person. A marriage built on the foundation of Jesus Christ is such a wonderful testimony to the world. It portrays how Christ is the Bridegroom and how the church is His bride, it is a testimony of how much He loves us and it is a testimony of holy matrimony that will last forever and ever.

Father please help those still seeking to find the right person to marry. Father You know what an important choice it is and I pray today that You will help them and guide them along the best pathway for their lives. May they find the right one and may they be blissfully happy and build their marriage on Your solid foundation, Jesus Christ. Amen

Sarah died at the ripe age of 127. Abraham mourned for her and wanted to have a proper burial place for her body. He was still a foreigner with no land of his own. He then did the right thing and went to the Hittite elders to ask if he can buy a piece of land from them to have as a burial place. They replied the following to him:

"Certainly, for you are an honoured prince among us. It will be a privilege to have you choose the finest of our tombs so you can bury her." Genesis 23:6

Abraham then chose the cave of Machpelah belonging to Ephron. Abraham wanted to buy it from Ephron to have as a permanent burial place. Ephron heard about it and said the following:

"No, sir," he said to Abraham, "please listen to me. I will give you the cave and the field. Here in the presence of my people, I give it to you. Go and bury your dead." Genesis 23:11

But Abraham didn't want the land for free. He knew that the descendants of Ephron can later on turn around and say that Abraham cheated their father out of land. He wanted to pay the full price.

"Well," Ephron answered, "the land is worth four hundred pieces of silver, but what is that between friends? Go ahead and bury your dead." Genesis 23:13

With a reply such as that Ephron's intentions were clear, he actually wanted the money. And Abraham did the right thing and paid him immediately. Abraham was an honourable man and did what was right.

These real life stories are recorded in the Bible to teach us important principles. It is not by chance that these events are recorded here. We need to learn from Abraham and follow his example. He was honourable in his dealings and so should we also be. All of us are involved with some or other business dealing in our lives, whether it is buying a car or a house. Whilst other Christians' full time work is to bring business dealings together. Whatever the case may be, we need to make sure that we are honest in our dealings. We need to ensure that we do not cheat the other party and that we are honourable in our intentions. Sadly we hear a lot of stories of Christians being dishonest in their dealings. The world does not want to be Christians due to the bad example some Christians set. Our main purpose on earth is to exalt God and to draw people into His Kingdom. We need to keep that in mind in everything that we do.

Abraham was an honoured prince amongst Gentiles. They could see God in his life. Can the same be said of you and me? Do our actions reflect God to others? What would our neighbours say? Are we 'honoured princes' where we live and work? Or do we simply do what is best for us and not consider the consequences towards others? God wants us to attract people to Him and not push them away. Sit somewhere quiet this week and reassess your life and make sure that your life reflects the true Light. I know I am going to do that, because in the rush of this life, I also forget what is truly important!

Father, please help us to be the reflection of Your light that we are supposed to be. Please help us to stay in humble obedience to Your Word. Fill us with more and more of Your Spirit, because only with the help of Your Spirit can we accomplish anything. In Jesus' Name. Amen