About developing a healthy focus

It is often said that the things we focus on will grow, whether negative (self-pity, worry, pain, lack) or positive (success, gratefulness, friends, creativity).

👉Focusing on something is like looking through a magnifying glass; it enlarges the focal point and blurs the rest.

We decide, day in, and day out, where we put our magnifying glass. Are we fixing our eyes on the positive or the negative? The choice is ours, always!

Read more about this topic HERE (my new blog) and make sure to sign up! 

About the reform of education...

When president-elect Donald Trump announced the reform of the Department of Education, I was thrilled. Why? Because I think something is fundamentally wrong with the things they have been teaching kids at school.

According to the UN the purpose of education is 'to promote the full development of the human personality and to strengthen respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.'

Read more about this topic HERE (my new blog) and make sure to sign up!

Ten Core Values for the Christian life (10)

And so, we have come to the end of this blog series, the tenth commandment: You shall not covet (Exodus 20:17).

The full text says: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."

Let's make this simple: You shall not desire anything that isn't yours to begin with.

Maybe you're thinking: “Oh, I don’t envy my neighbor, his house, car, or wife. I don’t desire what someone else has.” But come to think of it, what do you desire? What are the desires of your heart? Are you passionate about the right things?

I believe the message behind the last commandment is both bold and obvious and of great value for today: ➤Don’t be envious of what others have, go after what God has for you!

The Bible says that nothing we desire can compare with wisdom, which is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing we can ever desire can compare with wisdom. Isn't that the very thing we should go after then?

👉The core value I have attached to the tenth commandment is WISDOM.

We do not desire the things of this world but seek spiritual virtues such as wisdom.

🕂🕂🕂🕂🕂

For more on this topic, read my book 'MY NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE' (Digging deeper to find the treasure that will satisfy the longing of your heart). This book is available on Amazon in your country.

Are you a treasure seeker?

Job seekers, thrill seekers, freedom seekers, truth seekers... they are everywhere. What about treasure seekers? 

There was a time when we were backpacking all over the world. I found joy in collecting rocks, stones, and sea shells. I would fill my backpack with such treasures and then complain that it was too heavy to carry 😏

Most of the time I ended up tossing my treasures, lightening my load, and realizing life was easier that way.

I know, I know what the Bible says about collecting too much stuff: Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal (Matthew 6:19-20).

How do we store up our treasures in heaven? Why? Isn't heaven full of treasures? Maybe I will get the answers one day, who knows.

One thing I do know: God is not against treasures. Jesus is God's greatest treasure, and He sent Him down to live among mankind. He shared His greatest treasure with us. And I discovered that God wants us to go on a treasure hunt! Seriously.

The Bible says about Jesus: In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). I don't know about you, but I can't really grasp that truth. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus.

In a world where wisdom and knowledge have degraded to nothing more than a false pretense, I want to be a treasure seeker for the wisdom from above! Simply because stuff will lose its value and disappear but wisdom will last forever.

↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠↠

COMMANDMENT

You shall not covet

BOOK

My Neighbor's House

CORE VALUE

Wisdom

We do not desire the things of this world but seek after spiritual virtues such as wisdom.

The value of listening (5)

Father God is calling you and me today to listen, just as much as Salomon called his children to listen thousands of years ago.

Every time I read 'Listen' in the Book of Proverbs, that's what I do. I stop reading and I listen. I wait before reading on, quieting my mind. 

Oh, we have such a tendency (I know I have) to read too fast, almost hurrying through the pages. Well, with the Book of Proverbs, you can't. Let's take a look at Proverbs 8;6-7,

Listen to me! For I have important things to tell you. Everything I say is right, for I speak the truth and detest every kind of deception.

Wisdom, Jesus Christ the wisdom of God, is calling us to listen. He wants to share important things with us. How wonderful, how exciting! I whisper a short breath prayer before moving on... Holy Spirit, talk to me.

We could walk through all 31 chapters of Proverbs and find more benefits of listening, of tuning our ears to wisdom. But you get the point. The value of listening is just as big as the value of reading. Let's practice both!

Those who listen to instruction will prosper; those who trust the Lord will be joyful (Proverbs 16:20).

The value of listening (4)

According to the writings in the book of Proverbs, listening to wisdom (listening to Jesus, to His Word, to the Holy Spirit) has great benefits. Proverbs 1:33 says,

But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.

Oh, to be untroubled... don't you love that idea?

Let's move on to chapter 4 in the book of Proverbs. The heading in my NLT Bible says 'A Father's Wise Advice'. I love that chapter. It speaks so much about life 💖. Let's stop at verses 20,21 and 22 and listen:

My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.

Listen carefully to my words. Father God is calling you and me today to listen, just as much as Salomon called his children to listen thousands of years ago.

God's words bring life to those who find them. We can find words everywhere today; in the newspaper, on television, on the internet, in books, and in magazines. And yes, these words can be encouraging, inspiring, and uplifting. But none have the power to bring life. None have the power to bring healing to our whole body!

I have a deep desire to listen to His words. I hope that is your deepest desire as well. The benefits are eternally good!

The value of listening (2)

Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. Let those with understanding receive guidance (Proverbs 1:5).

The book of Proverbs is just as much about wisdom as it is about listening. And with that, I mean listening to God's voice. His voice in the written Word (the Bible) just as much as in the spoken Word (through the Holy Spirit).

King Solomon wrote and compiled most of the sayings in the book of Proverbs with the purpose of providing wisdom,  understanding, and discipline. He often addressed his son(s) or his children.

Now, it would be wonderful if we would read these saying as if God, our Father, is addressing us (which is exactly the case). Every time a sentence starts with 'My child', we should lean forward and listen.

The value of listening to God's wisdom is tremendous. As a matter of fact, 👉In 1 Corinthians 1:30, it is written that Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God for us. So, in reality, Jesus is speaking to us. I realize that needs a little adjustment in our thinking since wisdom is portrayed as a female in the book of Proverbs. But I am sure you get the point I am making.

Let's go back to the first chapter, verse 23. Wisdom is calling, → Jesus is calling!

Come and listen to my counsel. I'll share my heart with you and make you wise.

Jesus wants to share His heart with us and make us wise. I love it! What an invitation to sit at His feet and listen. Our response should be: 'Yes, here I am, I am listening.'

The value of listening (1)

Too many chiefs and no Indians. When we were in the USA, I have heard people say that often. I would like to give that saying a twist:  Too many talkers and not enough listeners.

Now, if the world would just be filled with listeners, it would get awfully quiet (well, we might finally hear the birds!). Of course, there is nothing wrong with talking... but we want our words to count, right?

Let's be honest here, there is way too much foolish and obscene talk, way too much lying and manipulating, and there are way too many useless words spoken. Let's make it our goal to speak truth with power!

👉I truly believe that being an influential speaker starts with listening. That is, listening to God's voice, to His words (I am still learning!). And since we are kind of losing the art of listening, I decided to do a blog series on the value of listening.

I will base this series on several verses in the Book of Proverbs and I will be using the New Living Translation (NLT) in case you want to read along. The short posts will surely inspire and encourage you and maybe even ignite a deeper longing to sit at His feet and listen. I hope you will join me. Proverbs 1:5 says:

Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. Let those with understanding receive guidance.

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!

Teach me (2)

Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.

I love that verse (Psalm 90:12)! In order to grow in wisdom, the cry of our hearts must be 'teach me!' This basically means admitting that we do not have the answers to all of today's issues and problems.

Society today expects us to have strong opinions, to take sides, to understand complicated matters, and to know the politically 'correct' responses to every occurring problem.

Despite all the drama and confusion in our world today, many people do not believe the Bible could be relevant and useful in order to keep us on the right path. But what was written two thousand years ago has eternal value. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says:

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 👉God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

This earth could be filled with good, benevolent works (which would make it a much better place if you ask me) if we would be open to the instructions the Bible gives us. We need to be taught to do right, because human nature wants to do wrong.

Just look at little children... we often regard them as innocent, but parents have to teach children to do right, while the wrong things come naturally (being jealous, selfish, disobedient, etc.). This is because we are born with a sinful nature, in desperate need of forgiveness and change!

What if we would fill up on spiritual truth instead of earthly knowledge? What if...?

Teach me (1)

I don’t know about you, but as I grow older I have come to realize that I am in constant need of wisdom in order to deal with life as it is right now.

We live in a crazy world that seems to have lost all sense of awe and respect for God and His teachings.

How do we respond to crisis, to government decisions that go against God’s Word, to people who are filled with fear, hatred, or doubt? How do we continue to live lives of compassion and love towards the people around us?

Browsing through my Bible I came to Psalm 90:12 where it says:

Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.

What a great scripture! Teach us to realize that life is short… not so, that we can go around preaching death, the dangers of hell, or that the end of times is near, but in order that we may grow in wisdom. I want that, I need that!

Lately, the cry of my heart has been ‘teach me Lord’. Teach me Your will and Your ways. Teach me Your decrees and Your heart… so that I may grow in wisdom. I decided to do a blog series on this topic. Throughout the Bible we can read about people of God and the cry of their hearts: teach me!

I hope you will join me on this journey and that my musings will encourage and inspire you, especially in the time we are living in right now.

New video devotions on Proverbs 3

Earlier this year I did a video series on the Psalms which I called #apsalmaday. I taped daily devotions, just two minutes each, on the psalms.

I also did a separate series on Psalms 119 consisting of 22 videos that included the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

This way of staying connected with readers, bloggers, and viewers works quite well. Especially in a time where we need all the encouragement we can get! Oh my goodness, we must help each other to stay filled with hope and faith.

So, I decided to do a new series, and well on Proverbs chapter 3. We'll be reading one verse a day and I connect it with another verse in the Bible, preferably from the New Testament. You might have a verse of your own that pops up in your mind. 👉 Let the Spirit lead you on this wisdom journey!

You can follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my YouTube channel! I hope you will.

The fear of the Lord (5)

As we have seen in the previous posts the Bible calls for believers to fear the Lord, which means to have respect and reverence for Him. First of all, because He is worthy of respect, and second because it will bring many blessings!

There is one more benefit that I like to highlight. Fearing God brings health to our bodies!

Say what?

Let's read Proverbs 3:7-8 where it says: Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Amen! I want that, I need that. Who doesn't?

Maybe you have read this blog series and you wonder how exactly do we make this practical? How do we fear the Lord on a daily basis?

The Bible teaches us how to fear the Lord in Psalm 34:12-14: Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,

• keep your tongue from evil and
• your lips from speaking lies.
• Turn from evil
• and do good;
• seek peace
• and pursue it.

Hello! If that isn't clear, I don't know what is. Fearing the Lord has a lot to do with our words, our actions, and our pursuit. Now this is truly the foundation of wisdom. Let's go back to the basics, as believers, as a church, as a worldwide movement. Sometimes we have made God's Word too complicated if you ask me.

Let's speak truth, do good, and pursue peace!

The fear of the Lord (3)

When we give our respect and admiration to people we might get disappointed, because people and their ideologies can change over time.

God, however, deserves our respect and admiration because He is faithful, truly good, and He never changes. He is the great I am!

As Creator, He is supreme over all things which means mankind is subject to Him, whether we like this or not. To respect God or in other words, to fear the Lord is a sign of true humility... but it does not mean that we get treated as slaves. On the contrary! 👉Fearing God has great blessings attached.

True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life (Proverbs 22:4)

You gotta be kidding me. Riches, honor, and long life! Who doesn't want that? And there is more, believe it or not. God is outrageous in blessing people who fear Him 😍

• Those who fear the Lord are secure; he will be a refuge for their children. Fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain; it offers escape from the snares of death (Proverbs 14:26-27). The fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain! Does that sound negative, or scary, or religious? Of course not, it will be the joy in our lives to honor the Lord.
• Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need (Psalm 34:9). Oh my goodness, to have all you need, to never lack any good thing... that will end all worries and all anxiety, right?
• For the angel of the Lord is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him (psalm 34:7). Hey, we live in a crazy and wicked world, we need a guard who surrounds and defends us!

All these great blessings for fearing God, isn't it wonderful? There are other reasons why we should fear the Lord as well, more about that in the next blog post.

The fear of the Lord (2)

Proverbs 9:10 says: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

This world is in dire need of wisdom, supernatural wisdom! So, if it begins with the fear of the Lord, it makes sense that we have to find out what that means exactly, right?!

Well, the fear of the Lord or the fear of God does not mean that we should be afraid of God, that we should have an unhealthy or slavish fear. The Hebrew word for fear as mentioned in Proverbs 9:10 is יראה (yirah) and it means reverence or awe.

About the first believers, it is written that they lived in the fear of the Lord (Acts 9:31): Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

It is clear they did not live in fear, for they enjoyed a time of peace and were encouraged. They had reverence for God, which means: deep respect, high regard, admiration, worship.

👉Why should we fear the Lord? Because He is the Creator of all things and all people, and He is holy, just, righteous, loving, kind, patient, gracious, and forgiving. If we humble ourselves and stop acting like we have it all together, but instead acknowledge Him as supreme God, He will bless us:

True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life (Proverbs 22:4).

Oh my goodness, one has to be crazy not to fear the Lord! It is not just that the Lord deserves our admiration, there are many blessings attached. More about that in the next blog post.

The fear of the Lord (1)

I think many people will agree with me as I say that there is a huge lack of wisdom nowadays. Oh my goodness, the plans and decisions governments, political leaders, organizations, and corporations are making... some are so far out, that they would be funny if they weren't so sad.

'Where is wisdom in all of this?' I quite often hear people say this and it made me think of something the Bible teaches in Proverbs 9:10: 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Hm, let's turn that around for once. 👉Where there is no wisdom, there is no fear of the Lord. That makes sense, doesn't it? It would be unbiblical to expect great wisdom from people who do not fear God.

So, let's stop blaming people for making unwise decisions if they have no fear of the Lord. According to the Word of God wise and unwise decisions are connected to the spiritual state people are in.

Now, the fear of the Lord, what exactly does that mean? How do we know whether we fear the Lord or not? What does the Bible teach us about the fear of the Lord? I decided to write a series of short blogs about this topic. God alone knows how much we need this. May wisdom increase as we learn to fear God!

I hope you want to join me in reading and sharing these blog posts.

If you could ask for one thing

If you could ask one thing of the Lord, what would it be? Restoration of health or finances? Peace in your country or in your heart? Family members to turn to God? The answer to that question is probably different for everyone.

A long time ago, God asked King Solomon that question and the King answered: 'Give me wisdom and knowledge that I may lead Your people'. And so King Solomon became the wisest man that ever lived and God added wealth, possessions, and honor like no other king ever had (you can read that amazing story in 2 Chronicles 1).

Health is important, but so are peace and wisdom. I was reading Psalm 19 in my New Living Translation and I noticed God offers all that we need, in His Word. Take a look at verses 7 and 8.

• The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. Oh my goodness, how I need that every day! My health depends on a thriving soul!
• The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. Yes, please Lord, yes, let it be me!
• The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. I know the joy of the Lord will be my strength, I need it!
• The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living. I must have this in an ever-changing world that seems to have gone insane.

Such riches in God's Word: instructions, decrees (laws), commandments, and commands. 👉We may not always embrace such terms, but they are filled with spiritual riches. I discovered that in my own life when I started my writing journey.

While working on the book series about the Ten Commandments, I received a totally different perspective on God's laws and regulations. They are not restrictions, on the contrary, they offer great opportunities to heal our souls, to make us wise, to bring us joy, and to give us all the insight we will possibly need!

Wisdom and truth are lacking on both sides

Surely, you must have some thoughts about the current protests and riots in the USA, Marja…

Well, yes. Or maybe, no. I don’t know, whether I should even write about events that make no sense at all, to begin with. 

Things have been labeled (without a second thought) racism, a battle between black and white. But you know what, now that you are asking... here's my two cents worth:

I don’t think it is.

This is not about being black or white at all. This is ultimately about good and evil. About darkness and light. As a white person, I am utterly ashamed about the lack of grace the officers showed. On the other hand, if I were a black person, I would be utterly ashamed of the way my brothers and sisters have been responding. Where does that leave us?

👉Wisdom and truth are lacking on both ‘sides’. We all fall short and that, exactly that, makes us all equal.

We need God! We need His mercy and forgiveness. We do not need more hatred or revenge. We need His love!

Wisdom has a name

If there is anything that we should desire, it is wisdom. "God knows the way to wisdom," I wrote at the end of my previous blog. Yes, and that way brings us back to Proverbs 8, the chapter on wisdom.

In that chapter "wisdom" is being presented as a woman; a wonderful fact in itself 😁

If you read chapter 8 carefully, you will discover the riches hidden in wisdom. Nothing in the whole world is more precious than wisdom. The chapter also contains quite a few special statements. Just to mention a few:

• My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. All the words of my mouth are just: none of them is crooked or perverse (verse7 and 8). Who can claim such a thing?
• I love those who love me and those who seek me find me (verse 17). Where have I heard that before?
• For whoever finds Me finds life (verse 35). Who said that?

Surely, it is clear that wisdom which is more precious than gold, silver and rubies is Jesus Christ himself?! In Colossians 2: 3 it says about Him:  He is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of God's wisdom and knowledge. We need to get to know Him better in order to gain wisdom. This can be done by reading His words and asking the Holy Spirit (our Teacher) to explain what we are reading.

Jesus is the power and wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24).

[I talk about this in detail in my book My Neighbor's House].

Where to find wisdom?

In my previous blog posts, I wrote about 'coveting' and 'healthy desires'. Thou shalt not covet ... who doesn't know these words from the Bible? To covet basically means yearning to possess something or greatly desiring something (especially when it belongs to someone else).

Are all desires wrong? No of course not. That same Bible says (Proverbs 8:11) that nothing we can ever desire can be compared with wisdom. Then it makes sense that we have to go after wisdom, right?

The search for WISDOM is a wonderful adventure. Do you know who wrote about such a quest? Job. When we think about Job, we usually think of all the drama in his life, but there was also a passionate search for wisdom. Job 28:13,

👉 But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding?

Let's continue reading what he has to say about it, verses 15-20,

It cannot be bought with gold. It cannot be purchased with silver.

It’s worth more than all the gold of Ophir, greater than precious onyx or lapis lazuli.

Wisdom is more valuable than gold and crystal. It cannot be purchased with jewels mounted in fine gold.

Coral and jasper are worthless in trying to get it. The price of wisdom is far above rubies.

Precious peridot from Ethiopia cannot be exchanged for it. It’s worth more than the purest gold.

“But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding?

Quite honestly, the price of wisdom cannot be determined, it far exceeds everything of value. We live in a world where there is a lot of knowledge and science. But wisdom, true wisdom, where can it be found? In verse 23, Job says: God alone understands the way to wisdom; he knows where it can be found,

I think that is a valuable clue. Don't look for education, experience or science ... God knows the way. That takes us back to Proverbs 8, the chapter about wisdom. Several clues can be found in that very chapter. Do you see them?