In the presence of God (overflow)

In Your presence I am made whole

I am emptied to be filled again

With fresh waters flowing from the river of life

I am filled so that I can go out into the world

And share from the overflow

I need your presence

Everyday

so that I can be filled with blessing after blessing

for I am blessed to be a blessing

In Your presence I am made whole

When life has worn me out

And taken little pieces of me

I am filled again

In Your presence, God.

In Your presence I drink of Your Holy Spirit

Refreshed to the depths of my soul

Every yoke broken and burden removed

In Your presence I am made whole

Lord, I love to dwell in Your presence

Sometimes I sing

Sometimes I pray

Sometimes I meditate on Your word

And sometimes I just sit silently

To be filled

In Your presence

- Likeleli Tebello Mphutlane

Surrender

"And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness" Therefore I will most gladly rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me"

2 Corinthians 12:9

I have been meditating on this scripture for the past few days, it completely humbles me.

About a week ago a friend of mine reminded me to be kind to myself. He told me this because I was a bit stressed out about a situation I had gotten myself into (the details are really not that interesting nor are they that important - I promise) and I felt that it was such a weakness inherent in me that I would never be able to overcome it and therefore I was doomed for life...hectic, I know!!! I admit that I was feeling unusually overwhelmed and I was probably just overreacting. But the point is, I was so aware of my weaknesses and I felt overwhelmed by them.

Well, good thing that I am blessed with wise friends, but even much better is that God made me "stumble" upon this scripture because it brought me to my knees.

I don't know if this ever happens to you but sometimes I will read a scripture that I have read a thousand times before and the words will almost bounce off the pages with relevance and revelation and all of a sudden IT JUST MAKES SENSE.

The scripture made me aware that no amount of weakness should ever make me feel overwhelmed, because weakness is the breeding ground for the power of God. When I am weak, two things happen:

1. He is strong - and His strength is magnified more than ever

2. I have the opportunity to draw from His strength as the power of Christ rests on me.

Our weaknesses, if given over to God, are an opportunity for Him to be glorified. When we get to a point of realising and understanding that we can only overcome some things by His power then we reach a point of surrender and humility. Allowing God to be exalted, to take control and to even exalt us Himself.

Luke 14:11, "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted".

There's no doubt that our weaknesses humble us, but we don't have to feel bad about this fact, we just need to find confidence in the fact that humility positions us to be exalted. And this should bring us joy.

So I'm learning, slowly but there's progress, that everytime I am reminded of how human and imperfect I am, I should also remember that I have a God, who is Supernatural and perfect and who loves to display His strength in my weaknesses.

Prayer:

Thank you, Lord that Your grace is enough for me - it is truly all I need!!! Thank you for loving me enough to cover my weaknesses. Your love leaves me feeling overwhelmed with care and protection. It is a good feeling to have.

I pray for everyone who has no idea what your love feels like, reveal to them the powerful love you displayed in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son", and may all that get to hear/read or find out of this great love believe in it, as John 3:16 says, "that whoesoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life".

Celebrating Women: Pastor Nyretta Boshoff

Pastor Nyretta Boshoff is the wife of Pastor At Boshoff (founder of Christian Revival Church, a network of churches all around South Africa and internationally with a mandate to “Win the Lost at any cost) and mother of three beautiful children: Angelique, David and Chanelle Boshoff.

As co-founder of CRC, pastor Nyretta is in charge of the Creative Arts department in CRC, she directs the music ministry of the congregations in Bloemfontein and Pretoria and is the executive producer of the music releases of CRC’s house-own praise and worship albums.

Under her leadership, the CRC Radiation Band won the MTN South African Music Awards (SAMAs) for Best Contemporary Christian Album in 2011 for their CD “With all my heart”, an achievement that has put Bloemfontein gospel music on the map.

She is also heading the Adopt-a-Crèche Project which was created to assist under-resourced day care centres in the local communities to ensure that they comply with government standards and regulations. The level of support that is provided include maintenance and upgrading of existing buildings (mostly shacks); provision of basic toiletries, stationary, furniture and equipment; the supply of basic clothing, blankets, schoolbags, and other much needed items. The women who care for these children are also trained.

Pastor Nyretta also hosts the annual CRC Women’s Conference , which is attended by women across the world and which has attracted speakers like Sam Evans (Planetshakers), Lisa Bevere (Author: Lioness Arising and Fight Like A Girl), Criselda Kananda (Metro FM), Seipati “Twasa” Seoke (Lesedi FM) and many others. She also hosts the CRC Crystal Awards, an event which has attracted talented artists in the following fields: Poetry, Photography, Fashion Design, Singing and Dancing.

I look up to pastor Nyretta as my spiritual mother, and as a woman who lives an exemplary life of dedication to the church of Christ and to her family.

Thank you for your leadership, mama. We love you!!!

To learn more about Christian Revival Church and Pastor At and Nyretta Boshoff, visit www.crc.org.za

To read inspiring posts on Pastor Nyretta’s blog, visit http://nyretta07.blogspot.com/

Sources:

www.devotedmag.co.za

www.crc.org.za

http://worshiptodaymag.wordpress.com

Celebrating women: Chantyl Mulder CA (SA)

As we all (should) know, August is Women's month, and as a tribute to the Super women all around the world, I will be profiling the women that inspire me to do great exploits in my life.

My biggest heroine currently is Chantyl Mulder CA (SA) senior executive at the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA): professional development, transformation and growth. As founder of the  Thuthuka Education, Uplifment and Bursary Fund, which offers bursaries to previously disadvantaged students to study B.Com in order to become prospective CAs(SA), Chantyl has contributed to the transformation of the growth of African and Coloured chartered accountants in South Africa.
When Thutuka was launched in 2002 there were 322 African and 222 Coloured chartered accountants in South Africa. By the end of 2010 these numbers had grown exponentially to 1 845 African and 789 Coloured CAs(SA). There are also approximately 1 700 African and Coloured students in the pipeline to becoming chartered accountants through Thuthuka initiatives

Amongst her many achievements are the following:
Ms Mulder was a Shoprite Checkers/SABC 2 "Woman of the Year Award" nominee in the Education Category in 2005.
She was also nominated for the prestigious, "Boss of the Year Award" sponsored by the MTN SA Foundation.
Winner of the 2011 Most Influential Women in Business and Government .

Above all her accolades, what inspires me about Chantyl is that she is a Christian who lives every day to glorify God. She says she fasts once a week and prays daily about the programmes that she facilitates through Thuthuka.

In www.gatewaynews.co.za, Chantyl is quoted as saying: "(my sister gave me this scripture: Isaiah 43  "Fear not, I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name , you are mine.
When you pass though the waters I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers; they will not sweep over you.
See I have called you by name and My hand of blessing is on you. I have anointed you for the task that is set before you. Fear not I will lead you and guide you. I will open doors for you to walk through them.”
This is exactly what Thuthuka and all the work I am doing in the country is all about."

"If we want to change our country, we have to educate its people" Chantyl Mulder

May the glory of God keep shining through her, and may more women rise up to serve South Africa with the same passion and courage that she carries.
I salute you, ms Mulder!!!
To read my favourite interview that Chantyl did, visit http://gatewaynews.co.za/2011/10/27/gods-favour-behind-changes-in-sa-financial-landscape/
For more on the Thuthuka Education Upliftment Fund or the Thuthuka Bursary Fund, visit www.saica.co.za.

Sources:
www.publicityupdate.com
www.destinyconnect.com
www.saica.co.za
www.gatewaynews.co.za



Who am I?

This week I turned 21 (for the third time - do the math)...and it is very common for people to reflect on "who am I?" as they grow older and older. I first asked myself this question when I turned 21. The question of "who am I?" is not only a question of identity but also a question of definition, which means that when we ask this question we want an answer that will in a few words define who we are so that we can use this definition to begin to understand ourselves and to make sense of our lives and our purpose on earth.

For a long time I thought that the answer to this question of identity was to be found in ethnicity, sexuality, talent and many other labels that we are bombarded with. Everything around us says "it's either you are black or white, either you are a good person or a bad person, either you a fat or skinny, tall or short, ambitious or lazy, rich or poor" and many other things that we feel we need to fit to ourselves in order to understand our position in life's "food chain", and so we search for external things to define who we are.
This whole defining-yourself-with-the-external thing made sense to me until I read the following scripture and understood identity from a biblical context:

" I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I that lives but Christ who lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" Galatians 2:20

It was at this point that I understood that the answer to "who am I?" can only be truly found in Christ. That when I accepted Christ in my life, I (as I knew myself) died, so that Christ may become alive in me. That everything about me has been left on the Cross where Christ died, and that I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

This means that I can never define myself by my race, culture, religion, background, gender,etc - as the bible says that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female (Galations 3:26-28)

One of our biggest problems in South Africa is we want to find our identity in the external, and therefore put unnecessary emphasis on race - both negatively and positively. But the truth is that in Christ we can no longer magnify ourselves, but only who we are in Him - which is the sons and daughters of God and thefore, seeing ourselves through the eyes of a God who loved us ALL equally and gave His Son to die for ALL of us, so that we could ALL be saved when we believed (John 3:16).

So, who am I?
I am who I am in Christ and without a revelation of Jesus Christ, I am nothing. Without a relationship with Him in my life - I am nothing. Everything I am is found in God. I am everything that He says I am.

So, if you are wondering about who you are, get on your knees and ask God to reveal to you who He says you are, for our identity is only found in Him. Everything else does not define us at all!!!

So, I believe that the journey of self-discovery, begins with a search for God and a desire to know Him - not as everyone else describes Him, but as He Himself, reveals Himself to you as you spend time getting to know Him.

Be blessed.

Purpose-Driven, not crowd-driven!!!

Luke 4:42-43
"Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them.
But He said to them, "I must preach the Kingdom of God to the other cities also because for this purpose I have been sent".

Even though Jesus was popular with the crowd described in this verse, He knew that He could not stay with them because His purpose was to preach to people far beyond this crowd.
He did not stay because the crowd liked Him, He left because thats what God wanted Him to do.

Are you purpose-driven or are you a crowd-pleaser???

Our identity in Christ

I have read this scripture before, but I saw it again when someone posted something about it on facebook about 2 weeks ago, and it hit my heart like never before...I have been saying it over and over since then and today (on facebook again) someone posted another scripture that just tied in perfectly with it and I just had to share.

Galations 2:20 says: "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I that lives but Christ who lives in me. This life that I now live in the flesh, I live through faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

This scripture is such great knowledge and revelation that just fills my heart with joy.
It says that in Christ we are a new creation, that our past has died (crucified) and that Christ now lives in us, and we live through Him. Simply because He loved us enough to give His life for us.
Makes me wonder, what does God sees in us that makes Him love us enough to give His only Son to die on the cross for us. (John 3:16) What a great love!!!

Colossians 3:1-3 goes on to say: :if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting, at the right hand on God.
Set your mind on things above and not on things on earth.
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God

This means that we are no longer to focus on the things of the world, but the things of the word of God.

What are we not to focus on:
Colossians 3:5,8 fornication (consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other.), uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness (which is idolatory), anger, malice (desire to inflict injury or harm), wrath(anger usually associated with violence), blasphemy (the act of insulting or showing lack of respect for God), filthy language out of your mouth

What are we to focus on
Colossians 3:12-14 tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering ( Patiently enduring wrongs or difficulties), bearing with another, forgiving one another, love!!!

These two scriptures give us a clear idea of our identity in Christ, which is very important to know, because if we are children of a king, we ought to behave like princes and princesses!!!
A lot of people hate themselves, are angry, are in pain because they don't understand that in Christ we have a new identity, and we can no longer keep identifying with our past.
Our spirit knows this but our minds have to catch up with it, and therefore everyday we have to remind ourselves (by declaring out loud and confessing it upon our lives) that "we are crucified with Christ, it is no longer we that live but Christ who lives in us"
As long as we invite Christ in our lives to be our Lord and Saviour and turn our backs on our past, then we have the priviledge of being a new creation.

So if you have never invited Him in your life, do so now, say a little prayer "Jesus, I come before You to repent of my sins and to invite You in my life as my Lord and my Saviour. I accept Your sacrifice for me on the cross, and I accept that You died for me and rose again. Thank You that from today onwards, I am a new creation. Amen"

Now, walk in your new identity!!! God bless you!!!