How God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, through His Word, became a reality in my life.
I am a sinner, saved by Grace!
Ephesians 2: 8-9 (Aramaic English New Testament – AENT). “For it is by His grace we are rescued, through faith; and this is not of yourselves, but it is the gift of Elohim: Not of works, or else anyone glory (in themselves). For we are His creation who are created in Y’shua (Jesus) the Mashiyach (The Messiah) for good works which Elohim has before prepared for us to walk in.”
Proverb 16: 9 (Complete Jewish Bible – CJB) says: “You may make your plans, but God directs your actions.”
In Psalms 139:16 (CJB) David states: “Your eyes could see me as an embryo, but in your book all my days were already written; my days had been shaped before any of them existed.”
Today I want to share with you how God directed this sinner, from following the ways of the world, to that of the Kingdom of His son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus, in John 6:44 (AENT), says: “No man is able to come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him. And I will raise him up in the last day.”
I grew up in Botswana, in a small village, Tshesebe, about 54 km north of Francistown and 41 km from the Zimbabwe border. I went to school in Francistown, thereafter in Zeerust and Ellisras in South Africa. I studied at the University of Potchefstroom; these days known as NWU.
At the age of 24, while farming for a big company near Francistown in Botswana, I had a shooting accident. I was flown to South Africa where I spent 3 months in traction and another 3 months in plaster. While in hospital, I had a nurse who took good care of me. During this time, my parents bought a farm in the Tuli Block, in Botswana, better known as Parr’s Halt Hotel. It is about 70km north-west from Lephalale (Ellisras). While staying on the farm at Parr’s Halt, I missed my nurse and decided to ask her to marry me, which she did. We stayed on in Parr’s Halt Hotel. At night we could often hear one of our domestic workers and her family sing praises and pray for us. Although beautiful to listen to, it did not touch my heart.
At the age of 37, I received a book written by a Professor Malan, dealing with the end times and history of Israel. It described how God kept His promises to Israel over the past 4 000 years. So many Biblical prophesies, including that of Christ, came true. This made me realise that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a real, Covenant God. The existence of God became a reality and Christianity became more than just a religion to me.
Jeremiah 29:13-14a (CJB) says: “When you seek me, you will find me, provided you seek me whole-heartedly; and I will let you find me.”
I started to seek Him wholeheartedly when I began to study His Word.
Jesus, in John 17:3 (CJB) says to His Father: “And eternal life is this: to know You, the one true God, and Him who you sent, Yeshua the Messiah”. His Word enabled me to know Him as God the Father. His Word also enabled me to know His Son, Jesus Christ.
In Matthew 22:29 (AENT) Jesus says: “You err because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of Elohim.”
Proverbs 30:4 (CJB) states: “Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has cupped the wind in the palm of his hands? Who has wrapped up the water in his cloak? Who established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you know!”
God in Exodus 20:24b (CJB): says “In every place where I cause my Name to be mentioned, I will come to you and bless you.” Not to miss out on this blessing, I decided to do some research to find out what the Name of God is.
As the Living Word of God became rooted in me, so did Ezekiel 36:26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you. I will take the stone heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” As my study progressed, I got to know the Name of His Son.
2 Cor 5:17-20 (AENT). “Whoever therefore is in the Mashiyach is a new creature: old things have passed away; 18 and all things are made new, by Elohim who has reconciled us to himself by the Mashiyach and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. 19. For Elohim was in the Mashiyach, who has reconciled the world with his majesty and did not reckon to them their sins; and who has placed in us the Word of reconciliation. 20. We are therefore ambassadors for the Mashiyach, and it is as if Elohim was pleading you by us. On behalf of the Mashiyach, therefore, we plead to you to be reconciled to Elohim.”
In Deuteronomy 18:18-19 (CJB) God says about Moses: “I will raise up from them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I order him. Whoever doesn’t listen to My words, which he will speak in My name, will have to account for himself to Me.”
In Luke 9:35 God said to three of the disciples of Jesus; “This is My Son, whom I have chosen, listen to Him.” As my wife and I were studying the teachings of Jesus as recorded in the 4 Gospels and in the Book of Acts, we realised that there is a lot of false teachings out there.
2 John 1:9. (AENT) “Everyone who transgresses and does not abide in the teaching of the Mashiyach, Elohim is not in him. And he who abides in his doctrine, he has the Father and the Son.”
John 6:38-40: “For I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. And this is His will, that of Him who sent me, that all that He has given to me I do not lose even one. For this is the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in Him, will have life that is eternal. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
I often refer to Jesus as the Messiah, as this is how He is described in some translations:
In John 1:41 Andréas Says to his brother, Simon Peter: “We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.” In some Bibles, these words are recorded in verse 42.
In a discussion with a woman mentioned in John 4: 25-26, the woman says to Jesus: “I know that Messiah is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us. Then Jesus declared: “I who speak to you am He.”
Galatians 4: 6 states: “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’ “- and that is the moment when “Our Father in heaven” really becomes “Abba, Father” to you and me!
The Gospel, also known as the Good News, entails far more than our sins are forgiven because Jesus died on the cross to save us. Christians know that when Jesus the Messiah comes again, He will come as “King of kings and Lord of Lords” – (Revelation 19:16). However, the Gospel reveals to us, that through Christ, we become part of God’s family. We acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God, while God himself, also regards those who are in Christ, as His sons.
In John 20:17b Jesus says to Maria: “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
Hebrews 2:11-12 (AENT): “For he that sanctifies, and they who are sanctified, are all of one type. Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them Brothers; as he says, “I will announce your name to my brothers; in the midst of the assembly, I will praise you.” (Quoted from Ps 22:23)
To think and imagine that Messiah, King of all Kings, calls us His brothers!
Romans 8:14 (AENT): “For they who are led by the Spirit of Elohim, they are the sons of Elohim.”
Romans 8:29 (AENT): “And He (Elohim) knew them previously; and He sealed them with the likeness of the image of His Son; that He might be the first-born of many brothers.”
Ephesians 2:19 (CJB) states: “So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family.”
Although we are expected to; “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7 as well as Matthew 22:37-40), I did not love Him as required. I confessed my shortcomings to God and asked Him to help me love Him completely.
Now, thirty-one years later, my wife and I, publicly declare that we love God with all our hearts, souls and minds.
This love we now have for God and his children did not originate from us, but from God!
Galatians 5: 22-23a (AENT). “The fruits then of the Spirit are these: Love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faith, 23. Meekness, self-control.”
James 1:17-20 (AENT) “Every good and perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of (Heavenly) Lights with who is not changing, not even the shadow of change. He saw fit and gave new birth to us by the Word of Truth, that we might be the first fruits of His creatures. And you all be, my beloved Brothers, quick to hear and slow to speak, and slow to anger: for the anger of man does not result in the righteousness of Elohim.”
I conclude:
- Ephesians 1:3-4 (AENT) “Blessed be Elohim, the Father of our Master Y’shua the Mashiyach who has blessed us with all blessings of the Spirit in heaven by the Mashiyach: According as He had previously chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we might be Set Apart and without blame before Him; and, in love, as that before our beginnings for Himself.”
- Job 42:5-6 (CJB): “I had heard about you with my ears, but now my eye sees you; therefore, I detest myself and repent in dust and ashes”.
Francois Vos