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johanreitsema
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Gender: Male
Interests: Hiking, biking, enjoying God's awesome creation, a good book, Lord of the Rings, physics, praying, worship, taking pictures, listening music. Having a good glass of wine or a pint of beer with my friends.
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
5/28/2005
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| Hello Xanga-world,
My last post is dated almost a year ago. I'm sorry guys for not updating my Xanga, but here a small post.
Life is treating me well. I love God, I love my girlfriend and I like my job.
About my job: my first year there is almost done and I'm looking forward to the next year.
Everyday again I feel blessed with such a lovely, beautiful girlfriend. It's good to be together, to have fun together and to worship our Lord, Jesus Christ together. He is the one who brought us together, and He will guide us together through our lifes, I'm looking forward to see where He will bring us. Last weekend we were a weekend away to Texel (an island here in the Netherlands). We rode on horses, we walked at the beach, it was a lovely weekend.
Coming week we will go to a conference (from Thursday till Sunday), where we will fast and pray and seek God. I'm full expectations about the things God will do on this conference in our lives. You know, we have a wonderful God, and I love Him, my desire is to follow Him. But in my own life I see that often, that in all the rush of all-day-life, you don't take that time for Him that you would like to, or the time He deserves. It's sometimes good to set time apart for Him alone, to focus only on Him, give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to speak to you and change your life.
Well, I will try to update a little bit more coming weeks to tell some more in detail of all the things that are going on.
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| Hi everybody,
My last entry was really a long, long time ago, my apologies, so it's more than time for a new post here on Xanga!
Well, what to tell?? There's so much happened in the last three months... well, I'll give it a try:
First of all: my girlfriend Ellen! It's so good to get to know each other more and more, to spend time with each other! She's really a blessing for me, and everytime again we're surprised that it's so good to be with each other, to see that we fit together, that things fit together! It's so good to see how God has brought us together on exactly the right time! I love her!
After a cream-cheese fight  :
Right now, I'm working two months at my new job. The first month was quite intense, lots of new stuff to learn, lots of new people to meet. Right now, I'm getting into the rhythm of the job. It's a nice job, love it to do, although sometimes I'm missing the being-outside-thingy of my previous job as postman. But well..., it's a good job :)
Two weeks ago I served again at a "born to be free"-conference. Really busy, but I love it! It's so good to do! And the thing I really love is to pray with people. I love it to bring people to God. It's so good to share in this way the love, joy, peace and freedom I experience with God! It's good to bring other people is this/His freedom! And although we also see the presence of the enemy in manifestations, God is so much bigger, its' awesome that we have the authority to sent demons away, it's awesome that we see the glory and peace of God conquer!! I think it's really awesome that my pastor gives me and other people the opportunity and the trust to do this and to develop yourself in these things.
During pentecost we've had again the pentecost-conference, the biggest Christian conference in the Netherlands, with more than 50.000 visitors. Like other years it was really busy, like other years it was bigger again, with more people. Like the previous years I served again in the bookstore, or to be more exactly at the christian gifts-store in the bookstore. The store was packed with people during the whole three days, so we sold a lot of stuff. Furthermore Ellen and me could lead two hours of praying in the 24-hours praying-room. It was quite difficult to do, during the time we served there, there were a lot of people there (is was right after the evening-service, so lots of people came out of the service, right into this room, but ok, it was still good to do!
At the end a few more pics:
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| And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two
tables of testimony in Moses' hand,
when he came down from the mount,
that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked
with Him.
Ex 34:29
And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,
so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud:
for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.
1 Kings 8:10,11
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1 Cor 3:16
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| "Go and look towards the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked.
"There is nothing there," he said.
Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."
~1 Kings 18:43
On August the 8th of last year I received this scripture and wrote about it on my Xanga. During the last one and a half year God promised me rain several times. But He also said I had to wait, wait for his time, wait till the time was ripe.
"The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea."
~1 Kings 18:44a
Well, it looks like the time of the rain is coming. God is showing me more and more what I can do for Him right here in The Netherlands. And within a week God gave me a job, showed me again very clearly what I can do for Him (more and more He's showing me that He wants to and will work through me, especially through my prayers and through words I receive from Him (if I'm just willing to step out)), and brought me in contact with the most beautiful, lovely and awesome girl you can imagine. After a year in which I had to learn to give all my own desires and ideas about my future back to God, a cloud is rising from the sea! Rain will come. 
"Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on..."
~1 Kings 18:45a
I'm really curious and anxious to see what the future will bring! I'm anxious to see how heavy this rain will be! I'm looking forward to it, because I know it will come! God's heart's and love is going out to his people, people inside and outside the church. And the more I live according to the will of God, the more God can use me to reach out to these people. Time is over to do things only half, to give only half of our lives to God. How can God work through us, how can we tell people of God's truth, if we're not totally walking in that truth? Yesterday, during my prayer time God showed me again some things I had to change in my life. I had to confess I was guilty, I had to confess to God and to people! It was not easy to do, but I had to do it, otherwise God wouldn't be able to use me in the way He wants to. God is a holy God. He is a God full of love, but also a God who can't stand sin, He's a righteous God. Sometimes (well to be honest, a lot more times than I wish to), I hear people say: "God is so full of love, He doesn't want anybody to get lost and in the end He will have mercy on everybody and everybody will go to heaven.". I don't think this is the truth. This is not what the bible teaches us, this is not according to what the bible teaches us about the character of God! If this is true, why had Jesus Christ to die on a cross? Why tell anybody about the love of Christ if this is true? What task do we have here on earth if this is true? The more I walk with God, the more God shows me that I have to change things, that I have to walk a humble and holy life with Him! I have to die, so God can work through me!
"I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.
But if it dies, it produces many seeds"
~John 12:24
Just a minute ago I read something on the website of Johan Verhoef, a guy who's working/living at IHOP right now. If you can understand Dutch, you can read it. I was touched by the passage in Joel, mentioned in this post:
"Even now," declares the Lord,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."
Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God.
~Joel 2:12,13
And this is my desire! I want to rend my heart, I want to die, so God can live within me. To die on myself, so God can work through me, so people can get to know the love of God, so people can become free, so people will get saved! It's such an awesome thing to know God, to know Jesus Christ, to know his Spirit within you.
One thing I know for sure: A life with God will never be boring, it's just one big adventure!
Well, some words about this most beautiful, lovely and awesome girl: I've already posted a pic of her in my previous post and for sure some better ones will come. Her name is Ellen and she's my girlfriend since the 10th of March. It's impossible to describe how happy I am with her or how much in love I am with her, so I will not try. You guys have to believe me, she's simply the best! WOW!
To finish this post some recently taken pics:
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(I'm sorry Ellen, still don't have other/better pics of you!  )
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