New Beginnings

Prayer and Fasting

Today marks an interesting season for me, it is the start of our church's annual beginning of the year prayer season. It involves prayer and fasting for 21 days, for the fast, you are free to choose various forms of fasts that you are comfortable with. I will provide a link later on to the church's website where you can get more info on this. For me i am not sure i can go through a full fast for 21 days, so i choose a fast i think i will be able to go through with (with God's help), i will not watch movies for this period and will spend the time i used to watch movies in reading the word and in prayer.

Scripture Readings
Today is day 1 and the scripture readings are: Genesis 16:1 - 15, Matthew 6:1-24, Psalm 7:1-17, Proverbs 2:1-5 

Genesis 16, is the story of Hagar and her son, Ishmael. It is preceded in chap 15, with God making a covenant with Abram that He will increase his descendants to be as numerous as the stars in the sky, in chap 16, Abram agrees to go by his wife's plan to have a child through her maid. This chapter is about what happened after the maid conceived. she was mistreated and later sent away, it is during this bleak moment of her life, that Hagar obtained the promise of God's prosperity and blessings.

I would identify with Hagar, for this year has begun quite in the wrong footing for me, and like her feel like giving up. It must have been difficult for her sitting beside that spring in the desert, not knowing what to do, or where to go. But God came through for her and all she could say is "You are God who sees me, i have seen the One who sees me" vs 13. As i begin this year, i am trusting to see Him who sees me, am trusting that in midst of all this desolation, He will affirm and encourage me in His word and promise.

Perhaps you too like me are wondering what will become of you, or your family this year, believe with me that the One who sees you our Almighty God, will come through for you and encourage, comfort, guide and bless your life.

Matthew 6:1-24, is part of the sermon on the mount. I think it generally addresses the aspect of attitude in our doing the religious duties like giving to the needy, prayer, fasting and what we treasure. As we begin this journey of seeking God and allowing Him to work in us. We are been cautioned of doing it inappropriately as so doing will rob us of God's blessing. My prayer at this point is that God will help us pray, and help us be of such attitude and motive that is pleasing to Him in all we do.

Psalm 7:1-17, what i can get from this is the confidence of psalmist, he is confident that he has lived a righteous life and is not afraid to approach God. As much as i may not have such confidence based on my record, i will entrust my life to Jesus Christ whose blood washes  sin and all sins giving us confidence in approaching the seat of mercy. My prayer is to commit the entire of me to Him in repentance that He may reign in me and guide me in all what i do.

Proverbs 2 1-5, this is a call to be deliberate in our search for God , the fear of God and knowledge of God. We are called to accept His words, storing up His commands, applying our ears to wisdom and applying our heart to understanding. May He indeed help us to be deliberate in seeking Him and living in the manner He directs.
Prayer Items
The prayer items of the day were posted as:
Personal
Today is the first day of something new. Regardless of where you are in your relationship with God, 21 days of prioritizing the Lord over essential needs in your life will draw you closer to him and transform whatever needs to change. Pray for the following;
• That God will help you to envision how you will resemble him more closely at the end of these 21 days.
• Repent of your sins and wherever you have not been walking in God’s will (Ps 51:7).
• Pray that the Lord will continue to transform you (Ps 51:10)
• Pray that God’s will be done in your life as it is in heaven (Matt 6:10)
• You will continue to grow in your spiritual life and disciplines that would help your growth, such as prayer and fasting, reading God’s word, fellowship and witnessing (Acts 2:42-47)
• Pray for your personal needs such as, financial, social etc. (Phil 4:6).


According to me, the verse of the day is:
⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4: 1-7 NIV , Verses taken from Bible Gateway)

The Samaritan Lesson

When we read the book of John chapter 4, the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman, the lesson we mainly get is that of repentance and forgiveness among some other lessons. But yesterday night as i looked at some of this verses, it came to my mind something i had not seen clearly before. When Jesus told her in v10  ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”(NIV), The Samaritan woman was like: ¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”


Which was in fact true, looking at the face value of the situation, what she did not know or realize at the moment was the potential and the power of who was promising to act.  Jesus was of course not referring to the physical water at that moment, but we know if He wanted to provide her with the physical water, He would, based on all the miracles He had done and later did. The point here is, The woman looked at the physical impossibilities and never at the power of whom promised, basically because she was ignorant of the capability and power of Jesus.


This may not be the "actual" or the "intended" lesson of the passage, but i tend to draw a parallel between her response and my response to many situations that i gone through and am going through, when i am called to trust upon God for provision and tend to wonder how He will come through for me. When i cannot find a way, i feel so desperate wondering if He will actually deliver me.


The lesson i am learning is, He is capable of doing what He promises, whether we can see how or not, it faith to believe onto His promises without physical evidence.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (NIV) 
[Bible Readings taken from bible gateway]

New Year Wishes

We have many wishes for xmas and the new year. But this song the favorite of my senior pastor at lifespring quite captures my desire for the coming year and indeed my entire life.

May you find it too an inspiration the life to come. God bless you all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2012.

Studying the Word, 5 Tips

From my reading Matthew 13, i realized i needed to take more time and  interest in reading, understanding and applying the word of God. It is then i recalled some tips i read some times ago, and today i decided to take some time and review them.
What follows are about five basic ways to approach bible study, i hope you and i will learn and keenly apply what is good.

• Reading: Just going through the bible, getting familiar with its message, histories, personalities etc, noting things that stands out for you. Things that you would want to come back to for further understanding and clarification. This reminds me of set books in high school, the way i would just take the novel and read, underling here and there, writing notes on the book margin. At times i do this with my bible, though it have been quite random without systematic plan, but i intend to do it now  more deliberately and regularly. 

• Interpreting: Getting to know what the bible means by what it says. Going back to the set book example, we used to seek to comprehend what the characters meant, or intended. It is like when you read a poem, you tend to draw a message out of the words and the phrases. I tend to think it is the same with the bible, when we read, it says something to us, a message, getting to know what the writers, or the voice in the text meant consist interpreting. There are various resources available for helping us interpret the bible.

• Evaluating: When we have an interpretation, it does not necessarily means it is the correct one, hence we need to evaluate our interpretation / understanding of the Word to ensure it is consistent with the entire truth. Many have started cults based on erroneous interpretation of the word. Just the way we used to use study guides, teachers and fellow students to clarify and enhance our understanding of the set books, we need to discuss with fellow Christians, church leaders and cross referencing through the bible to make sure our understanding of the Word is the correct one.

• Applying: Put into use all that we have learnt from the word, there is an article from which i go all this from, and will just quote what it says about this: If there is a command to be obeyed, obey it. If there is a promise to be embraced, claim it. If there is a warning to be followed, heed it. This is the ultimate step: submit to Scripture and let it transform your life.

• Correlating: Add together all the bits of knowledge we have gathered to form a clear understanding of the truth and a basis of the doctrine that drives and defines our faith.

NB: There is an article that covers this in much more depth, i actually borrowed a lot from the article.

Hearing the word

In Matthew 13 Jesus gave the parable of  the sower, who went to sow his seeds. The seeds fell in various types of grounds.

1. Some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up
2. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root
3. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants
4. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

The explanation.

Before Jesus explained  the parables to the disciples, He talked about insight and understanding-  that is going beyond the physical senses of seeing and hearing, to the point where we involve our mind, our emotions and our souls.

• When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. What would make my heart be like the path? The paths are usually dry, hard and without any cover hence when the seeds fell, they were exposed and the birds had it easy picking em up. when we do not take time to let our souls be softened by God's spirit, when we walk in sin, and not repentant, our hearts becomes dry and there is no place for God's word.
• The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. This is when we receive the word with excitement but do not take time to meditate on it, and apply the word to our lives. It does not take enough depth, it is when we are unwilling to take the risk of been vulnerable with the God's word, it is when we fail to make the decisions the word we have heard compels us to make. Since we do not allow it to be part of us, anything can make us go away from the word.
• The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. This is when we receive the word alright, we meditate on it and make decisions to follow it, but we get concerned about things like wealth, wealth here could be material, emotional or social, our need to fit in a group, to be accepted, not to look stupid etc make us compromise the word we received, we believed in. Thus the word gives no fruit. It also when we doubt God, his word and His love. 
• But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” This is when we allow the word to work in us, producing the beautiful fruits of God's will in our lives, making us achieve what He intends for our lives. May God always help us to achieve this beauty.

Being a friend

We are required to treat others just a we would like to be treated, to honor and trust others just we want them to honor and trust us. Those who live under strict codes of conduct shd show some grace to others whose living is relaxed and full. Above all we should strive for the good of the others and treat them as beyond reproach. This test of love is the most difficult of all, to let go of selfish and self seeking interests and seek just the good of others.

Christ showed us this kind of love and is so difficult, we called to love and accept, at times you feel like complaining, been angry and all, but love calls us to complement and appreciate. I wonder what currency of buying friendship is, and i will stock pile love and friendliness in me. I would want to be without envy or selfishness, i would to purely rejoice in good of others even if it means i be down trodden, and you what that what Jesus Did He gave up all for those who would not and possibly will never love and accept Him.

I guess my prayer should change to a search for a loving heart, that this heart of mine will be loving, just as Christ's. seeking to spend and be spent for the good of others, regardless.

Whats Friendship?

What does it means to have a friend? Who is a friend? I have tried to be as friendly as i can, sacrifice so much comfort that others may have comfort. Have gone out of my way to help, to ensure others have good life.

I have shed tears so that others wount, i have walked so that others may ride, gone without food so that others may be full.

I have prayed and agonized for others people’s need at expense of mine

How come one seems to do the same for me?