My #oneword for 2024

Somewhere at the beginning of December, while journaling, I got the feeling that my #oneword for 2024 was going to be EXPAND.

Yeah, expand as in the prayer of Jabez. He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” And then the Bible says: and God granted him his request. (You can read that in 1 Chronicles 4:10). Expand it will be.

But also expand as in Psalm 119:32, I will pursue your commands, for you expand my understanding. I love the fact that verse 32 is the last verse of the fourth stanza of that psalm. It is the section of Psalm 119 that represents the fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. That letter is (dalet) ד which means 'door'.

Whether I will be praying for God to expand my territory or my understanding or both, the main thing is that He is the One who opens doors. Doors for my mind, my work, my ministry, and my dreams.

I like the idea of expansion, as long as it is not my waist or weight 😁. I like the idea of God and I working on something. Maybe He will show me more, maybe He will show me where we are going!

Do you have a #oneword for 2024? I would love to hear it.

Teach me (5)

In my previous blog post (part 4 in this series) we looked at Psalm 86:11. David wrote 'Teach me Your ways' and he added a request for purity of heart. Oh, may that be our prayer as well.

I truly believe it is a godly attribute when we desire to be taught. We can read the request for wisdom over and over again throughout the Bible. it was the cry of our forefathers: Teach me. Let's look at Psalm 119:66,

I believe in your commands; now teach me good judgment and knowledge.

Do we believe in the Lord's commands? His command to love Him above all else, to love others as ourselves, not to worry, to forgive others as we have been forgiven...? I am just naming a few. If the answer is yes, let's go on.

Teach me good judgment and knowledge. Not just judgment, but good judgment. I think we are in dire need of that. There is so much going on in the world; it is often hard to figure out what is real and what is fake. 👉We need good judgment, not so that we can judge people, but rather that we will be able to judge circumstances.

The same is true for knowledge. We do not need more knowledge so we can brag about how clever we are. No, we rather need knowledge about the ways of the Lord. Why? Because the ways of the world lead to death, we can see that all around us, but God's ways lead to life! 

Check out my Psalm 119 daily devotions on YouTube!

Journey through Psalm 119

We live in crazy times and if it wasn't for the warnings in God's Word, we would be caught by surprise and probably without hope. Thank God for His Word, thank God that we are the people of hope in a world gone insane.

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure (Hebrews 6:19a).

With news stations blaring 24/7, it might be difficult to concentrate on the Word of God. I would like to invite you therefore to join me on a contemplative journey through Psalm 119.

That's right, Psalm 119. It is the longest psalm and also the longest single chapter in the entire Bible. With 176 verses in total, it is quite a long read. But do you know that this psalm is actually chopped up in 22 paragraphs, so-called stanza's, of just eight verses each?

Now that makes reading a lot easier. In this new video series we will read 8 verses a day. Each video meditation is just 2 minutes, so it won't take a lot of your time.... but what a way to start (or end) your day.

👉As a bonus, we are going to learn the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, as each paragraph in this psalm corresponds with a letter of that alphabet. How cool is that? Spiritual and practical food in one bite.

So, find a place of silence, invite the Holy Spirit to teach you, get your Bible and notebook, watch the introduction video and you're ready to go on a journey.🔥You will be blessed, encouraged, and inspired. I promise!

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