JOY/REJOICING

There are three utmost ways to rejoice always as a christian.

1.Living above our circumstances.

Habakkuk 3 vs 17-19 reads,

Though the fig tree does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls,18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.19     he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;

So even though, all things are not working,he shall rejoice. Do not just rejoice when you get a job, because its all you have wanted, and then when you realize it pays less than what your friends are getting, you stop being joyful. In the verse, Habakkuk says there is no food, no grapes, and no cattle, but he says, he shall rejoice! Why? This brings us to our second point:

2.Depending on our Gods strength as our Savior.

'Because the the sovereign God is my strength'

No, we can not do we it all on our own. Because there will be circumstances that will bring us down, bring us to tears. and if we rely on our strength, we shall not always rejoice. But if we rely on Gods strength, then we shall make it.

3. Fixing our eyes on the future.

We have a great future ahead of us. When things are not working today,they have to work tomorrow. Because all things happen for the good of those who Love Him.

It was Paul who said to rejoice not at some time..but always.In Philippians 4 he says;

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

And this is the Paul who suffered greatly for Christ. Read his account below, from the book of 2 Corinthians Chapter 11.

24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city,in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.

This guy who received 39 lashes is the one that said rejoice. Yes. Rejoice and rejoice always.

Nehemiah 8:10

Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

James 1:2 says to count it all joy, especially when we go through trials because it marks certain things for us

 Having joy will always guarantee you to not lose your faith, because you will keep within the limits of Gods will.

When you are sad and not happy/joyful, you can easily be shaken on what your trusting God for. The bible talks of people who were disapointed and cursed God. But when happy, u will surely keep within your faith

OFFERINGS

Money is going to make lots of people lose their salvation.
I understand now why Jesus said it is hard for a rich man to go to heaven.
But whats really the fascination with money?
God has blessed you with something,
and is only asking,not half, but a tenth of that back.

Let us avoid giving God our remnants.
He does not say when you have gotten your man, bought everything you Need and want,the tenth of that No.
He wants the money you get,and before everything else,its tenth.
Don't cheat God, give Him what He desrves, and not remnants. (Malachi 1 6-14)
In fact, the book of Malachi, with only four pages, talks much about giving to God.
And if you pray and ask God, you will see hidden secrets in that book
That am really trying to find words to reveal but this is the best i can do,for now.

 We see in 1Chronicles 21 vs 24 the same thing.
We are being warned against giving God what costs us nothing.

Avoid insulting God.
I have to go but this is one chapter that even Jesus tackled about when He talked about the poor woman who gave everything.

Its like this, it doesnt matter whether you are giving a MK1000 when you earn k200,000.
Because how much is that in percentage?
And how much really are you losing?

It is though such a big deal if someone who earns MK10,000 pays k1,000
Because that is one tenth of their earning and they are likely to feel it.

I have to go, but this is just the tip of the iceberg to this subject.....

NOT ACHIEVING THE DESIRED OUTCOME?

Part of the preaching yesterday at Reedemed for a Purpose Ministries : By Pastor Aubrey Mwasinga.
Eph 3:18-19 New Century Version

"18 And I pray that you and all God's holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ's love -- how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. 19 Christ's love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. THEN you can be filled with the fullness of God."

Many people want to flow in the fullness of God and have great impact on earth yet they have usually ignored the seemingly simple things like love and concentrated on the seemingly more powerful things and have in the end not had desired results.

The bible says Hope, faith and LOVE remain but LOVE IS THE GREATEST (1 Cor 13:13). And when talking of spiritual gifts and have one can start to have them, Apostle Paul says desire is good but LOVE is the the MORE EXCELLENT WAY (1 Cor 12:31)

Understand today how WIDE, LONG, DEEP, HIGH Christ's love is and begin to walk the same way and then you will have similar results to the ones Christ had!

AMEN.

HINDRANCES TO PRAYER

We pray so hard and nothing ever happens.
Sometimes, i do believe that is Gods way of telling us what we want is not best for her.
Emphasis on best, because some things are good for us, and even better, but not best.
And as Gods children, we deserve nothing but the best.

There are times though, when our prayers are not going through because of other things.
I will refer to previous posts in this one so bear with me.
In the post about the word, i talked about how when you read the word you discover so many mysteries about God.
One of them would be why He does not attend to our prayer sometimes.

I have found some three cases in the bible where i believe can help us with our prayers.

Firstly has to do with the previous post, about forgiveness.
In teaching us about forgiveness, Jesus said when we are praying, we should have forgiven those who have done us wrong.
So that when we ask the Lord to forgive us our trespasses,we can stand with all sincerity and say
'Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us'
That means that, it is vital to forgive others if our prayers are to go through, especially the prayer of forgiveness which is very important for all our prayers to go through.
And the secret to that, is to forgive others.
Not forgiving others would result in God not forgiving us and our prayers not going through.
<Refer to the post of forgiveness about this>

The second thing and not the least important is trusting God.
God answers our prayers at times because we trust in him.
In fact, most times, our prayers are answered because He is a loving God and He does not want to let us down.
1 Chronicles 5 vs 20 talks about the Gads and how God answered their prayers to win war because simply they trusted in Him.

Lastly, but not even least is how we treat our partners.
I know.
But the bible assures us that there is a possibility that how we treat our partners might hinder our prayers.
1 Peter 3:7 is talking about husbands and wives,
and how husbands should treat their wives considerately so that nothing could hinder their prayer.
I think this would apply to all of us.

I hope this is helpful and we will consider this the next time we pray, hopefully in the next hour #as we need to pray unceasingly....

Stay blessed. Please comment on more other things you know may hinder ones prayer.

THE REAL ME

This talks about how we can bare ourselves before God because He sees the real us, no matter how we hide from the world. "The Real Me"

Foolish heart looks like we're here again
Same old game of plastic smile
Don't let anybody in
Hiding my heartache, will this glass house break
How much will they take before I'm empty
Do I let it show, does anybody know?

[Chorus:]
But you see the real me
Hiding in my skin, broken from within
Unveil me completely
I'm loosening my grasp
There's no need to mask my frailty
Cause you see the real me
Painted on, life is behind a mask
Self-inflicted circus clown
I'm tired of the song and dance
Living a charade, always on parade
What a mess I've made of my existence
But you love me even now
And still I see somehow
But you see the real me
Hiding in my skin, broken from within
Unveil me completely
I'm loosening my grasp
There's no need to mask my frailty
Cause you see the real me
Wonderful, beautiful is what you see
When you look at me
You're turning the tattered fabric of my life into
A perfect tapestry
I just wanna be me
But you see the real me
Hiding in my skin, broken from within
Unveil me completely
I'm loosening my grasp
There's no need to mask my frailty
Cause you see the real me
And you love me just as I am
Wonderful, beautiful is what you see
When you look at me

AUTHORITY

It seems a boring topic to talk about authority but we have to
Its one of the secrets in the bible people tend to miss out.
So for instance you are at school, at work,at church or at home.
Either way, if you are anybody, they are people who are in charge.
Maybe not necessarily, but just have authority over you.
We all have a couple of those.
And sometimes, it can just be the government that has authority

Sometimes, and this sometimes is most times,
we may not agree with the way they use or abuse their authority.
But we have to obey.
Obey obey obey.

Ephesians 6:5-8 and 1 Peter 1 from verse 2 to 13 pretty much sums it all up.
If you would just take your bibles and read through these verses.

In summary, they tell us to submit to any type of earth's authority.
Obey our earthly masters with respect and fear.
Its the Will of God, and He will reward us for this also.
As no good deed goes without a reward.

It is vital that if we are under some sort of authority,
as Christians, we obey and submit to it.
We cannot say we will not pay taxes to the government because the government steals it and we are Christians we are against that. We have to pay taxes, we have to work our best even if we have the worst horrible boss around. We should work as if we are working for God, not man. For God is watching our every move.

God is not backing us up when we are giving trouble to our authorities.Take note.

Stay Blessed.

THE WORD

There is so much i can say about the word.
So much i could write about it.
But i will let the following scriptures just speak to you.
That is how short today's session will be.

All scripture is God Breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. So that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped  for every good work.
(2 Timothy 3:16-17) NIV

I understand that every word in the bible is important.
Every single word, sentence and story.
To teach us, rebuke us and correct us, training us.
If we are to be Gods children,we are to learn just how to be so.
The Holy spirit is going to teach us to do so.
But, we also have to do our part.
Read the word.

When you read the word constantly, you develop a sin-conscious.
By this, i mean that, when the word is en-grained in you (which happens when you read it at a regular basis),
It becomes more hard for you to sin
Especially unconciously.
Because your sense of right and wrong is heightened.

I will not say more.
But i think, the bible should be read on a daily basis.
And one should meditate on it before reading for better understanding and revelation of hidden secrets.

Choose to be a true disciple, and read the Manual. The Bible.
The word that was breathed by the Holy one.

There are amazing stories in the bible you do not hear at church on Sundays...

FORGIVENESS

We are often let down by the people close to us.
People we love and people who we less expect to do that to us.
It hurts to have our friends betray us.
And it seems so hard to forgive them.
But we have to.
We are called to an extraordinary life that calls us to.
Forgive, Forgive, Forgive, Forgive.

Christianity forgiveness
1. Do not let the sun go down whilst you are still angry at someone. You have definitely killed them at that point in time. We all know this? Yes?
2.You do not need them to say sorry to you for you to forgive them because if they have to beg you, ask for your forgiveness with something in return, then it ceases ti be forgiveness and you guys are even.
3. Forgiveness is not a thing you brag about of course, Its a thing a Christian should put in their daily living.
Christians should by nature be forgiving people.
4. You cannot tire of forgiveness. You cannot tire of forgiving someone to the point of not forgiving them again. Imagine if our father just one day got tired of the way we sin and decided to not forgive us anymore. We have to mimic His holiness and forgiving nature.

By forgiving, we earn forgiveness from the Lord Father as well. In the Lords Prayer it says, Forgive us as we Forgive those who trespass against us (Matthew 6:12). Meaning that, we ask the Good Lord to forgive by bargaining that we are also able to forgive people who do us wrong. 'For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.' Matthew 6:14-15

There is no good reason why the Lord should forgive our sins if we are not able to do so for others.

'Be ye perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is Prefect' Matthew 5:48

So every time you think about asking the Good Lord for forgiveness, remember all the people that have done you wrong, and find it in your heart to forgive them. Yes, when they have not even said sorry. Because that forgiveness counts the most, and is the true reflection of our Fathers purity. Who will in turn forgive us in the same way.

*Stay Blessed.

LOVE AND ENEMIES

I think it just, that the first post be about Love.
The greatest commandment of them all.
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind'
(Matthew 22:37, Deut 6:5) NIV.
In every version, the message is the same, and it calls for us Christians to love God.
I suppose it is easy to Love God, for we can easily see the things He has done for us.
It is easy to Love God, because we understand just how he loved us.
By sending His only son to die for us.
So we love God.

To love our brothers and neighbors can also be easily done.
Because in many instances, they give us so much love back.

Love for our enemies though is not so easy.
By enemies,in Luke 6:27-36, Jesus meant people who hate you.
Not people who you hate. In fact, a christian should not hate anyone by nature of being a christian

It is important that we love those who hate us.
In doing so, we
1.Are rewarded and will be the sons of the most high, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
2.Purified. By having love for our brothers and sisters, we are obeying the truth and hence purifying ourselves. (1 Peter 1:22)
3. Cover our sins. 1Peter 4:8 explains that,we should love, for love covers over a multitude of sins.

In many verses, i understand that our love should be unconditional. Loving everyone we come across because, that is the way He loves us. And if we are to be Holy, and perfect as His sons and daughters, just as He is. It should not matter whether that person likes us or how much they love us for us to love them back.

If we love those who love us only, what credit is it to us? Even 'sinners' love those who love them.
Be different, a christian with the Love that Christ bestowed in us.

Love can be shown by a smile, a hug, kind words, complements and of course help spiritually, financially and all sectors of life.

Share the Love!!

WELCOME

Well, i hope you enjoy this blog.

Life as a christian is not simple, and is not exactly tough.

But our Lord Jesus Christ and the many prophets before Him showed us the way.

We have all this written down in the bible.

In this blog, i will give five minute sessions about my understanding of the bible.

I pray they be helpful and insightful to everyone else reading the blog.

And i hope in doing so, you get enriched and grow in your spiritual life like am growing in mine.

I will try to post everyday so that every day, we can all have five minutes where we reflect on the bible.

Five minute is not much, and hence, i warn, this should not serve as or replace amount of time you spend with your bible on a daily basis.

May the Good Lord help you and i both. Me, when am writing, and you when you are reading.

To God be the Glory and honour.