LOOKING TO GOD. GOD CENTRED LIVING:: Shared By Blessed

What is this faith we believe in? Now starting from Genesis, we see how God began to establish His Purpose through mankind. Let’s pick Genesis 12:1-3

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

God tells Abram.. "Boss... Hebu toka kwa fathe!” Na ndo Abram asikatae he throws in a carrot "I will bless you..." Because angeamshwa tu hivyo vikavu kavu angekataa huyu. Abram might have pulled a Jonah. Anyway. In the bigger picture, God is not here focusing on Abraham.. God is God and is focusing on accomplishing His purpose. The focus of the Bible is God. The essence of man... and sin is a shift from God centeredness to self centeredness.

All through the Bible we learn/read of great men. We even name ourselves after them.. Moses, Joseph, Jesus etc.. but the entire Bible and all its meaning is on God. God doing his thing. His purpose, His way. But since we sort of kinda understand that. We have relegated that to the back of our consiences and slowly ebbed into self centeredness.

I dont know about you guys.. but mimi nikiomba i start by acknowledging God.. ile ya haraka haraka . "You are God you are Almighty.. Jireh.. etc etc.. then when i feel nimemchangamsha.. i pull my kalist. I so often move from God and what he needs from me.. to squeezing in my needs as 'what he needs for me' and brand it 'his will'.

What are some of the God Centered traits?

•          Confidence in God
•          Dependance on God
•          Life focused on God and his activity
•          Denying to self
•         Seeking Gods perspective

What about Self centered Traits?

• Life focused on self
• Pride in self accomplishments
• Self confidence
• Selfish ordinary living
• Looking at circumstances from a human perspective
• Seeking acceptability in the World.

Now as Christians we are very aware of all these things. What it means to be God Centric vis a vis Self Centric. The question is can we look at the list and identify those things we have picked up from our self centered list and squeezed into Gods list and convinced ourselves they are 'Gods will' for us?

I tend to feel sometimes. As christians, learned and bright. We in the same human wisdom pick our self centeredness needs and squeeze them into Gods and imagine/convince ourselves as being Abrahams, Joshuas, Pauls. It may not be to change the world or community. It might be needs we have as individuals. In career, in our families, businesses etc. And we have inundated God with all these prayer requests. Sadly believing they are part of God's will or what God would love us to have.

So I urge us to look at that kaprayer list we chomoa before God again.. What is genuinely Gods will and what have we convinced ourselves is God's will? Then maybe somebody else some mwaibada can teach us on how to identify God's will vs Our 'God's will'.

Ahsanteni Sana for reading

HALF WAY THROUGH THE YEAR:: Shared By Joanne Pappa

We are now half way through the year and as individuals we may want to evaluate ourselves. Probably we have achieved what we wanted to, or maybe we haven’t. May be circumstances made us change course.

Halfway through gives us a chance to step back, evaluate our year so far with your goals and objectives (never mind the new year’s resolutions which likely didn’t last until February…) and to take action to get back on track if necessary. It’s a great opportunity to do some hard thinking over our finances, our diet, our career and other aspects of your life that you might want to improve. Make the second half of the year count!

As the pic says we may want to adopt New attitudes, New intentions, New goals, New battles, New Successes – be it if we have achieved, not achieved, been sidetracked or whatever else.

Genesis 11.31:

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. 

Terah was Abraham’s dad. He apparently embraced the call of his son, Abraham, and started heading to Canaan. But he stopped half-way.

How often we do that? We stop half-way. The people of Israel stopped half-way at Kadesh-Barnea where they saw themselves as grasshoppers. (Don’t ever think of yourself as a grasshopper.) The Christians at Laodicea were half-way Christians. They were neither hot nor cold. They made God want to throw up. Don’t do that.

Supposing we have achieved that we set out to do, or have surpassed, we should not just sit back and relax. Start a new exciting thing – maybe pick a hobby you had put aside for a while.

As we do Lord this, let us not forget that we profess Christ and as such our success is tied to the Lord being with us. When we have the Lord with us then we will prosper. That does not mean that everything will go perfectly but we must remain faithful to God.

In Trying to Achieve or Accomplish what is left of this year Let us do so with Optimism, Trust, Faith & Love – Not Fear. And pray that God’s perfect will be done. All things will always work together for our good.

THE WAITING SAFARI :: Shared By Pappa

I know each one of us has at some point had to wait! Wait for something, someone, sometime. Even now, wengine wanangoja. Na wamekua wakingoja kwa muda.

We are waiting for healing (for ourselves or for loved ones), we are waiting for new jobs or promotions, we are waiting for that breakthrough in business or that helicopter ride to some mountain lake! Waiting!

What is your earliest memory of a road trip, when's you was a toi? Let’s assume it was to Mombasa!!! Few days to the day, the air is thick with anticipation. Then finally the day. Kulala hata ni shida – asubuhi haifiki!

Donno if your folks were like mine but they never seemed to be in a hurry to set off. Umesha pack, umeshavaa na hamtoki. Hautaki kucheza ndo nguo zisichafuke. It could get frustrating at some point - kwanza watoto wa majirani wakipitia na hamjatoka. So much for that.

Sasa tuanze safari ... this is a trip you aint taken before. Shika Mombasa Road ... by the time mnapita Athi River unauliza swali ya kwanza ---

Tumefika? Answer 'ahh ngoja... bado! utajua tukifika'. Machakos turn off, 'tumefika?'. Answer 'ndakwambia tukikaribia'. Salama, 'tumekaribia?'. You catch the drift, right?

We'll come back to that momentarily.

You see, in our season of waiting we may tend to get irritated and or  impatient. In deed, we have an idea of our destination, we are looking forward to getting there, but we are not getting there soon enough. Or whoever is supposed to get us through does not seem to understand the urgency, so we ask God - 'tuko karibu?'.

Back to our trip: Voi, pit stop! Kid could have several choices:

1. He can believe to himself that that is Mombasa, the bus / car stopped anyway. Depending on his expectations he might end up pretty disappointed.
2. If he has a clear picture of how Mombasa looks, he might as well decide enough is enough and decide to walk til he sees a beach!

How many times do we set out on a journey with the Lord and are irritated and impatient? We get to Voi and instead of releasing and replenishing for the rest of the journey we turn back, turn off or turn away.

You have been seeking a job for soooo long and instead of releasing and replenishing you succumb to lying or bribing! Or, you know of a paradise called honeymoon but have not be patient enough to wait on God til then! Whatever became to the principle of the farmer ...

See what the Lord says:

James 5:7-8 “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.  You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

The farmer prepares the land in due time, plants at the right time, goes through the rigors of weeding and through the entire cycle until its time for the harvest. He cannot watch as the rains come and go. Weeding season comes and he does nothing but shows up at harvest time and expect anything!

Back to the trip! Now that you're older and with hindsight, what do you think the kid needed besides knowing that it'll be a pretty long trip? A book to doodle perhaps? A few games to play along? Some few things to bite on?

The more you get to working out your faith in your wait, it ceases to be a wait but an experience in itself. Two kids on the same trip, one writes a beautiful composition not just about sun and sand but also the images and experiences along the way.

Jane shared with us a message on Why Me a fortnight ago, a perfect example of how engaged we need to be during our wait.
Psalm 37:7 “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices.”

Work out your salvation, grow your faith, commune with God, praise Him!! Strengthen your relationship with Him. BUT ALSO ... believe HIM!

Back to the trip! By focusing on the prize the wait will be worth it. If you could just picture how you'll have fun with your cousins and friends when you get there the wait will be nothing compared to that. MORAL? Be certain about the promise of God in eternity and the wait for every other thing on earth will be worth it!

Heb 11:13-16
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Usichoke / jitie nguvu / Bwana akujali

Wakati wako / utakapo fika / hakuna atakae zuia baraka zako

Subiri subiri wewe ... usichoke

THE LORD BLESS HIS WORD!

OUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST :: Shared By Salf

I will start with a short testimony. Somehow God has been reviving my prayer life. So last week on one of the weekdays I woke up asubuhi to pray. And as I prayed, I felt quite a conviction that without God I don't have any strength to carry on in his assignment over my life. As I prayed, it's like God was telling me that he's my strength. So I kept confessing that God you are my strength. Then, in just a bit I opened the scriptures, opened the verse psalms 27 which I have always known to be "The Lord is my light and my salvation. Well, the second bit of that verse is what amazed me. Coz it goes "The Lord is the Strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?"

Immediately I knew God was confirming that he's my/our strength. The testimony here is that, He will speak to you a Word in season. And I have been encouraged as a result to pray forth the scriptures. Because God will follow his Word to perform and confirm it.

Number 2: As in second thing I want to share before we read the scriptures

Pambio yenye I have been singing is; - Just the chorus. Every praise, is to our God. Every word of worship in one accord, every praise, every praise, is to our God. Amen. Now today i wish to share with us a message" Our identity in Christ"

Our verse for the day is 1 Peter 2:10: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.[King James Version]
What makes us different from our friends, family members and colleagues who are not yet born again?

It's not that we are better, but God's mercy has rescued us. The bible says that it's Him who chose us. And he knew us even before the foundations of the world. Now, our identity in Christ is that we are here on earth with a divine assignment, chief of which is to worship and glorify God.

God has quickened us by his Spirit, so that even as we live, we bear in mind that we are sons and daughters of the Most High. Does it mean we are perfect? By no means. But God has taught us to always call on Him and he will be our help in time of need. We are in this world and God has promised us victory in every area of our lives, yet the chief victory is that our names are in the book of heaven.

It reminds me of when disciples were excited that they could do miracles and cast out devils but Jesus told them to rejoice not in that the spirits are subject to them but that their names are in the book of life. And this identity in Christ is irrevocable. So we are in this permanently. Even though the enemy seeks around like a roaring lion to seek saints he may devour, we have the victory in Christ. It's God who preserves us.

In conclusion, I wish to say: That the place where we are with Christ is: A place of hope, a place of forgiveness of sins, a place of healing, a place of restoration. The righteous are as bold as a lion, and knowing that Christ in us has made us righteous, let us go forth boldly and live as God intended us to. We are a peculiar people, lets have our joy full. We are kingdom people, God is the bishop of our souls. We know who we are and him who has called us. So may he be glorified in our lives, now and forever more.

Amen.

WHY ME? :: Shared By Jane L

I’ll share today about sailing through tough and painful times by God's grace!

We all have at one time or another gone through a difficult or painful season where it just didn’t make sense as to why all this pain Or maybe you have struggled with something n keep asking God to help you stop but it’s just hard n doesn’t happen as fast as you want and wonder isn’t God listening. Addictions, Sickness, Loss of a job, Financial issues, Loss of a loved one and many others.

How do we get through these tough painful seasons without blaming God or feeling sorry for ourselves? And asking why me?

From the above verses we take perfect examples of Paul and Jesus. Jesus knew he was going to die when faced with tough painful times. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves n asking why me? We can by God's grace embrace the season and focus our prayer n life on the end result which is glorifying God and growing in our faith. When God doesn’t seem to take it away....hang in there pray for grace n strength n wen u look back.....you can only say LOOK WAT THE LORD HAS DONE! It will be almost impossible to fathom how you got thru it but you will have coz God is faithful to the end. Personally i have learnt n still learning to look unto God for tough times n the amazing thing is he gives grace and peace beyond our understanding if we look at the tough times with the right attitude and faith.

Be blessed.

RELAX! God's Got You :: Shared By Kasherry

So in today's sharing just thought I’d encourage us. Hebrews 3:13 reminds us to encourage one another daily, as long as it’s called today.

For the past couple of months, life has been quite a roller-coaster emotionally and had left me feeling like God was so far from me. Things weren't working out the way I wanted and I kept hitting a dead end time and time again.

It was in the process of feeling so down & out that God reminded me that He knows I exist, in fact He knows my name. He knew me before I was even born and whatever direction my life is going, He set it that way.

Ephesians 1:11

Jeremiah 1:5

Nothing that I am facing takes Him by surprise....even the tantrums I throw once in a while He knew they would come.

Through this season God has taught me to let go and let Him. Align myself with His will. Tough lesson but worth it. Maybe there are some of us here going through this typa season...where nothing is making sense and God seems so far away.

Read through Psalms 139: 1-18 Encourages me all the time.

So just as a reminder, God knows your name He has you engraved on the palm His hand. You are the apple of His eye! No matter what it is we face, He has promised to carry us through.

Closing the message with Isaiah 46:4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you: I will sustain you and rescue you.

May we all be encouraged that even through those dark and tough times, God has us.

WHO DID YOU GET SAVED FOR:: Shared By Shish

Do you remember when you gave your life to Christ?  Were you excited? Were you scared? Did you cry at the convictions of your sins? Did you shout in joy at the realization that you have been freed?

I remember my day of salvation but will save that story for another day, but you can be assured that at 13 years of age I welcomed salvation  with  waterworks.

So years later you and I are all saved, sanctified, Holy ghost filled, some of us are certified tongue speakers, demon chasers, redeemed, we have done Mizizi, we even went for a retreat J…….. the list goes on.

Today I want to take us back to the beginning of the church and to remind us of our core mandate.

Lets look at Matthew 5: 13 You are the salt of the earth……..

Matthew 5: 14 You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden

This was Jesus  teaching his disciples, he was defining to them the nature bestowed on them. The disciples were young men who had heeded the call just like us, to leave their fishing nets to stop going by the name fishers of fish but fishers of men.  They were young men who Jesus ‘saved’.

So this is what Christ is saying to us. “I have saved you,” and this is how I am defining you:  you are the salt. You are the light.

Let’s fast forward to today: we are saved, we are the salt and we are the light. I would like to ask us to reflect deeply on those things. Let’s each think of all the qualities of salt and light, let us look at our individual qualities? Is Shish salt at her office? Is she a light in the youth ministry where she serves, can her sisters testify to those qualities? Can Jesus who saved her call her my salt, my light in the world?

Lets read the text together with the consequences
Matthew 5: 13-15  You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

There is a warning that if we lose our saltiness, we will be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

Let me take this home;

Christ in the same Matthew 5 in verse 16 encourages the disciples to let their light shine before others, that others may see their good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Christ before leaving the first church commissioned it in Matthew 28: 9 to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

It is for this reason that we got saved. To draw others to Christ, to witness with our actions and deeds.

Today is the 28th Day of May 2016 and I would like to ask you and I, have you been letting your light shine or are you hiding it? Have you intentionally shared Christ or do you want to keep your saltiness to yourself? Have you ever led anyone to Christ?

We may not all go preach in church but our offices give us great pulpits, our families are great places to plant the seed.

Christ promised to be with us to the very end of the age.