From the Heart by B.Demaere

Promises to Keep : Restraining Anger (Proverbs 19:11) : People with good sense restrain their anger; they earn esteem by overlooking wrongs. Proverbs is always a good book to read in the Bible.  I...

People with good sense restrain their anger; they earn esteem by overlooking wrongs. Proverbs is always a good book to read in the Bible.  It teaches about the everyday life.  The practical and social side that we are lacking in. We need help especially when it comes to anger.  I needed a lot of help about anger in my past. A quick word comes out to quickly and can do a lot of damage in a short amount of time in a marriage or a family or in any relationships. We would do well to hold a few back at times. The word "restrain" means to  prevent oneself from displaying or giving way to a strong urge or emotion. Do you feel you are no longer respected by people because of your anger the learn to be quiet and choose your words more carefully and you will be esteemed by overlooking their wrongs or whatever causes anger to rise within you. The word "overlooking" is interesting as well it means among other thing, to miss something on purpose or by mistake. So it would be bet

Promises to Keep : God is not mad at you! (Psalm 145:8-13) (Psalm 121... : The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to get angry, full of unfailing love.  The Lord is good to everyone.  He showers compassion on all his c...

The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to get angry, full of unfailing love.  The Lord is good to everyone.  He showers compassion on all his creation.  All your works will thank you, Lord, and your faithful followers will bless you.  They will talk together about the glory of your kingdom; they will celebrate examples of your power.  They will  tell about your mighty deeds and about the majesty and glory of your reign.  For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.  You rule generation after generation.  The Lord is faithful in all he says; he is gracious in all he does. It is very strange! I could read these verses over again and never think that God is mad at me for being who I am.  It only feels like God is mad at us when we are not obeying his words.  Then we feel distanced, he doesn't like sin more than we don't like the virus.  Sin has no place in his presence.  It is sin that actually gives us that feeling of separation from God.  He loves us nevertheless and this is what th

Promises to Keep : Are you satisfied? (John 6:35) John 6:35-71 : Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life.  No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again.  Those who believe in me will never thirst. ...

Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life.  No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again.  Those who believe in me will never thirst. All that Jesus ever is what the holy Presence of God is.  He is the manna from heaven.  The all-sufficient Manna from heaven.  He includes all-satisfaction.  Nothing will ever be lacking to us if we follow him in our desert.  We don't need to obey rules and religious rites because these will keep us dry in the end.  Our good works should be unnoticed by mankind but obvious to the Father in heaven.  We are all accountable to him and no one else. Jesus is the Bread of Life, the sustainability of our spiritual well-being.  In this chapter that I cannot all put down here, Jesus encourages his followers to eat his 'flesh' and 'drink' his blood.  They thought he wanted them to be cannibals but that is not what he wanted them to do.  He wanted to not just satisfy them but the whole world by his presence.  The association with him had t

Promises to Keep : Before and After Story (Isaiah 43:12-13) : "...First I predicted your deliverance; I declared what I would do, and then I did it---I saved you.  No foreign god has ever done this...

"...First I predicted your deliverance; I declared what I would do, and then I did it---I saved you.  No foreign god has ever done this before.  You are witnesses that I am the only God, says the Lord.  From eternity to eternity I am God.  No one can oppose what I do.  No one can reverse my actions." These two verses describe perfectly how God brought me to himself. This is my before and after story of my coming to God and becoming a Christian. I was born in Brussels, Belgium and like every child in school I was taught about evolution which from the start was to me a far-fetch story.  I had no idea what the alternative was either.  I just knew there was something strange about it.  I just knew people and things had to be made in order to exist. I come from a middle class European family.  My parents owned their own body shop business.  My father specialized in fixing Alfa Romeo's and my mother would help him with accounting.  As well, raising three children, later a fourt

Promises to Keep : Be Ready! (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) : And now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like pe...

Promises to Keep : Be Ready! (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) : And now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like pe...

Promises to Keep : Be Ready! (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) : And now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like pe...

And now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope.  For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus comes,  God will bring back with Jesus all the Christians who have died. I can tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet him ahead of those who are in their graves.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the call of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God.  First, all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves.  Then together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever.  So comfort and encourage each other with these words.  (This continues into Chapter 5 as well) This should be of great comfort and ver

Promises to Keep : Where Dreams Come True (Proverbs 13:19) : It is pleasant to see dreams come true, but fools will not turn from evil to attain them. This verse alone cut me through the heart like con...

It is pleasant to see dreams come true, but fools will not turn from evil to attain them. This verse alone cut me through the heart like conviction should come through nothing else than from the Word of God (The Bible) and the Holy Spirit.  Like it says in Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is full of living power.  It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires.  It exposes us for what we really are." God knows everything, he knows the longing of my heart and he knows also the longing of your hearts. When we are young children we don't have to be encouraged to dream, but then as we grow up our busy lives take over and we stop on dreaming or we quit dreaming because of the hardships of life.  We simply quit dreaming big like when we were children.  Why?  We just quit! However there is still hope offered here for us adult, but are we willing to pay the price. As I was looking at that verse in Proverb.  I didn't expect it to c