Being Obsessed To Worldly Things

Loving Others More Than Things

"I have the right to do anything," you say--but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything"--but I will not be mastered by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12 NIV).

Prophecy Update: Please find this under the 'Latest Prophecy' tab!

This is an important message and the Lord is warning that people worry more about the things they don't have and as a result they neglect their salvation in pursuit of such things (Matthew 6:21).  The modern age and the availability of countless items makes it impossible for us to resist  the 'better' or 'improved' version of what we were used to. In a bid to enhance our appetites for more things, marketers and sales people just know how to skillfully create a demand for their products and leaving us guilty if we don't follow the trend and be part of the collective. While it is not wrong to shop the things we need, we equally need to guard against obsessive shopping on unnecessary things and neglect to feed and help the less fortunate (Mark 4:19; Matthew 25:31-40). 

Tough Times Ahead

We would like to stress, more than ever and especially the times in which we are living currently, Christians need to trust in the Lord for their daily needs (1 Kings 17:4). It is true, the science of economics have made us more need conscience than us seeking the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). Like we emphasized in earlier articles recently, the whole world will be facing a stiff test in months to come and no one alive will escape including Christians if their lives are not fully yielded and found in Christ our Lord (Luke 21:36). Also, you may ridicule or dislike the warnings here but you need to hear this dear brethren. The Lord has revealed to us that there are some tough times ahead and He is the only WAY of escape (Revelations 3:10). 

Being Freed From Obsession

Let's continue, now from the Scriptures we learned that the Lord demands unquestionable obedience from us and worldly things should not blind or cause us to walk half-heartedly (Luke 12:19), if we do allow distractions we would have run this race in vain and lose the very purpose why we decided to follow the Lord in the first place, which is our salvation and the redemption of our souls (1 Corinthians 9:27; 1 Peter 1:9). Furthermore, as we warned previously in our Priority Judgement Vision that the Lord will be considering the things we were supposed to do as Christians in order to determine our rewards and our entry into His Kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 2:6; 1 Corinthians 3:12; Matthew 25:30).

As Christians, we should therefore strive not to be mastered by anything. In this article, we need to clearly distinguish between idolizing things and being captured by things. If we are captured by things our minds and efforts are channelled to enjoy and appreciate the things we have (Luke 12:19) and if we idolize things we would not want to be without the thing (s) we idolize and desire.

A few years ago, our children became colour conscious and each one of them chose his and her favourite colour and almost any item they bought has to resemble their favourite colour. In other words, they wanted to be identified by their colour of choice. As a matter of fact, this whole colour thing became so serious to some of our children that if anybody made any negative statement or any negative association to their favourite colour that would completely ruin one’s relationship with them. Additionally, does this not remind us of the rich young man, who was captured by his great wealth that he refused to sell his possessions and follow the Lord, instead the young man valued his things more than the Lord and His passion to save the lost (Matthew 19:21-22; Luke 19:10).

Furthermore, and being still just developing children, the Lord gently warned them not to make a big deal about colours and that such things should not be regarded more important than people. What the Lord meant is that worldly things should never substitute a Christian’s love for others. In other words, we should appreciate the value of the thing(s) to the extent of its enjoyment without harming our relationship with God and others (Galatians 6:4). Imperatively and as Christians, we should never regard things more important than people (1 Peter 2:13-25).The reality is, the unfortunate situation is that some Christians are in the habit of placing worldly things above humans and this is displeasing to the Lord (Matthew 22:39).

I can remember an incident involving a very dear brother in the Lord who refused to help a sister in need while offering a lie as an excuse. As a result of this, the Lord was greatly displeased and He rebuked the brother saying that he should not have lied and that we should always be willing and ready to help others (Proverbs 3:27).

In conclusion, let us pray and follow the voice of faith to determine how we ought to please the Lord.
If you would like to accept the Lord Jesus and His abundant and unfailing love for you, here is a suggested Prayer of Sincere Repentance to get you started. For any questions or comments on this article or our ministry, please contact us.

Blesssings,
Brother Glenn.

YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE POOR AMONGST YOU!

 CARING FOR THE POOR

"The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me" (MATTHEW 24:11).

In times like these, we pray and look to the brethren for help and support! We prayed and the Lord ENCOURAGED us to share online with the brethren.

Brief background: South Africa is a very unequal society with a deeply rooted sin of racism and whoever holds political power exercises control over some government resources and often it would favor the race in majority. 

Additionally, our work serves people across all walks of life. We believe all people are created equally and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself told us that He will always love all people equally. We are following our Lord's lead to love and serve all people equally (Galatians 3:28-29). From this it is easy for you to discern that our motives are not driven by selfish ambitions but to serve. While it may take a lifetime to bring about change, present and future generations stands to benefit. Moses, the man of God, did not enter the promised land but his prayers, tests and trials benefit both that generation he lead and future generations (Exodus 3:10-11). As a testimony, the Lord Jesus Christ once said, that whatever work we do in His name is important, because it serves to benefit others and brings glory to His name!

Therefore, the recourse we have are the laws to fight and defend the rights of the poor especially those who have no legal voice (Proverbs 31:8-10; Isaiah 1:17). We are committed to our work in the body of Christ, however we have a conscience and we will not turn a blind-eye to injustice and unfair treatment of those who are unable to access the courts for justice (Matthew 7:12). Often, it is the poor who lose out on their belongings because they have no financial resources to 'bite' back legally. Because Brother Glenn and his family suffered such prejudice a few years ago, he decided to embark onto a law career to make a change and help both Christian and non-Christians in legal matters.  

As a ministry, we say, thank you very much for the blessings and support you have provided over the years to this family and ministry. We acknowledge that with a profound gratitude. Currently as a family we find ourselves a in very unfamiliar circumstances as a result of this move.  Brother Glenn started studying towards an LLB degree back in 2015 and graduated in 2022. 

We then prayed and trusted the Lord over a period of 3 years starting in 2021 to bless him with an opportunity for articles of clerkship and those prayers were answered during January this year. 

As it is, the articles of clerkship rules state that he (Brother Glenn) should not engage in any other job activity for this entire year (Starting February 2024)and solely concentrate on his articles and as a result of this, it is denying him an income. Previously, Brother Glenn was running a car diagnostic and key programming business from home, which he is still doing but being away from home makes it impossible for him to attend to the same while serving his articles. 

As a result, this is leading to his family not being adequately supported as he has to cater for both sides. Meaning, he will have to provide for transportation, food and accommodation for himself in the town he serves his articles while he needs to provide the same for the family in Johannesburg. We thus plead for any financial assistance for the Van Rooyen family. 

This family has and is still laboring intensively to the body of Christ around the world and in their home Country, we thus humbly urge you as members of the body of believers to pray and consider providing a helping hand. You may use our 'donation' tab to help or send Brother Glenn an email to:glenn.vanrooyen2@gmail.com for any further information.

Trusting you find this in order in Jesus' name

Blessings

Brother Glenn and Ministry