A Christian's answer to the changes in government in South Africa.... God is God

God's Word is very clear, it's not politicians, powerbases, even registered voters that determine the outcome of rulers' powerbases. If you read Daniel, you can clearly see God's hand in what was happening.

Therefor as Christians, let us not be dismayed, anxious, concerned, full of wrath and hatred about what is happening in our South African context. Let us trust God to be God. Some notes follow about what the Bible says about God, appointing and steering rulers and the call that we need to humble ourselves and pray for our leaders. And that we will get the leaders we deserve!

GOD’S APPOINTED TIME

Habakkuk 2:2-4 (New International Version)
The LORD's Answer
2 Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

1 Corinthians 4:5 (New International Version)
5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

Acts 4: 23 – 31 (NIV)
The Believers' Prayer
23On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

" 'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 26The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. 27Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

31After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Acts 4:24 - 28 (Amplified Bible)
24And when they heard it, lifted their voices together with one united mind to God and said, O Sovereign Lord, You are He Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything that is in them 25Who by the mouth of our forefather David, Your servant and child, said through the Holy Spirit, Why did the heathen (Gentiles) become wanton and insolent and rage, and the people imagine and study and plan vain (fruitless) things [that will not succeed]?
26The kings of the earth took their stand in array [for attack] and the rulers were assembled and combined together against the Lord and against His Anointed (Christ, the Messiah).
27For in this city there actually met and plotted together against Your holy Child and Servant Jesus, Whom You consecrated by anointing, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and peoples of Israel, 28To carry out all that Your hand and Your will and purpose had predestined (predetermined) should occur.


GOD AND RULERS' HEARTS

Deuteronomy 2:30But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.

Exodus 14:8The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.

Ezra 1:1[ Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return ] In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing:

Proverbs 21:1The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

Daniel 11:27The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other, but to no avail, because an end will still come at the appointed time.

HUMBLE YOURSELF AND PRAY

2 Chronicles 7:14 (New International Version)
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land

2 Chronicles 7:14 (Amplified Bible)
14If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (The Message)
If I ever shut off the supply of rain from the skies or order the locusts to eat the crops or send a plague on my people, and my people, my God-defined people, respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives, I'll be there ready for you: I'll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health. From now on I'm alert day and night to the prayers offered at this place. Believe me, I've chosen and sanctified this Temple that you have built: My Name is stamped on it forever; my eyes are on it and my heart in it always. As for you, if you live in my presence as your father David lived, pure in heart and action, living the life I've set out for you, attentively obedient to my guidance and judgments, then I'll back your kingly rule over Israel—make it a sure thing on a sure foundation.

PRAYER FOR THOSE IN AUTHORITY

Timothy 2 (NIV)
Instructions on Worship
1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time. 7And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles. 8I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.

1 Timothy 2 (Amplified Bible)
1FIRST OF all, then, I admonish and urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be offered on behalf of all men, 2For kings and all who are in positions of authority or high responsibility, that [outwardly] we may pass a quiet and undisturbed life [and inwardly] a peaceable one in all godliness and reverence and seriousness in every way. 3For such [praying] is good and right, and [it is] pleasing and acceptable to God our Savior, 4Who wishes all men to be saved and [increasingly] to perceive and recognize and discern and know precisely and correctly the [divine] Truth.
5For there [is only] one God, and [only] one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6Who gave Himself as a ransom for all [people, a fact that was] attested to at the right and proper time. 7And of this matter I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (special messenger)--I am speaking the truth in Christ, I do not falsify [when I say this]--a teacher of the Gentiles in [the realm of] faith and truth. 8I desire therefore that in every place men should pray, without anger or quarreling or resentment or doubt [in their minds], lifting up holy hands.

1 Timothy 2 (The Message)
Simple Faith and Plain Truth
1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.
4-7He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we've learned: that there's one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.
8-10Since prayer is at the bottom of all this, what I want mostly is for men to pray—not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God. And I want women to get in there with the men in humility before God, not primping before a mirror or chasing the latest fashions but doing something beautiful for God and becoming beautiful doing it.

PRAYER FOR SOUTH AFRICA

'Heavenly Father, thank you that we can take comfort in the fact that you are in control of every situation.
We pray for godly, honest leaders for our country, South Africa
God YOU make the impossible, possible. We pray for leaders who will bring peace and reconciliation to our land.
We pray that YOUR people in South Africa will keep their eyes on YOU and that you will bless them.
Please protect all innocent South Africans from the violence in our country.
We pray this in the precious name of JESUS.' amen

JESUS THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA

Revelation 1: 4 – 8 (NIV)
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. 7Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

AMEN

God is sovereign - He does not get intimidated by politicans..

as South Africa watch the politicians play their power games and wonder what the future holds, i would like to implore you to know the God that holds the future.

it's not by accident that Pontius Pilate was the ruler in the time of Jesus, not by chance that at that point in time the whole "known" world was united with one language and a very developed road system.

if one reads Daniel, you can see God appoint and dethrone leaders. throughout the history of the Bible, it speaks about God appointing leaders and therefor also urges us to submit to their authority. The only time that Daniel for instance did not submit, was when they asked him to bow down to another god.

But this is my call, that we will pray more fervently for this country and the appointment of a Godly leadership. That we will be more vigilant in praying and hoping and believing that God is in control, also of this. And that we will stand on His word, that He is able to do so much more than what we can imagine or think. Whether it is Jacob Zuma or Mbete or any other leader, that gets appointed, do we stand as unbelievers, thinking that the rule of our country is in the hands of the masses, or do we know that God answers prayers and we will get the leader we deserve, and it will depend on our prayers and God's grace.

May God bless South Africa! And may He call His children, every one of us, to prayer, real prayer that stays faithful and waits up on God!

we all have cancer...

i saw a show tonight, by http://www.13thfloor.net/ ... it was amazing. it was called "wigs" and was about a cancer patient, but also about everyone around her. outwardly she had cancer, but inwardly all the others carried an illness inside of them. somehow it seems that we all carry some cancer inside of ourselves. that hurt, that secret, that disappointment or lack of that we do not disclose even to our closest friends and sometimes do not even admit to ourselves, even when we lie in our beds at night in the dark. those things that we hope that even God has forgotten about.

they started a site called "We all have cancer.Net" and real people with real hurts send in postcards from the show, admitting to themselves and everyone and no-one that they carry a cancer inside. it reminded me of the hurts and the secrets that i still carry inside of me... we all do.

in the show the one guy says "the cancer doesn't care, it has no grace", it doesn't choose because you are young or old or beautiful or not. and although some carry the external signs of physical cancer, the cancer within is the more deadlier. and some people if they do not deal with it, gets eaten up from the inside out, and dies, way before their earthly body gives up.

The only healer for this cancer is, Jehovah Rapha, Jesus. He has the grace and the love to cure the cancer, not matter how big it has become in your life. he came to set the captives free, to heal the sick.... one just needs to look at God's people in His Word, the murderer (Moses), the adulterer (David), the zealot (Paul), the back-stabber (Peter) to see that His grace is enough and that He can turn our cancer-filled lives into beautiful life stories . he can cure the cancer, if you let Him. what cancer are you still carrying around with you?