MY BLESSED NEIGHBOUR

This last one month I have been thinking about contentment.About feeling genuinely satisfied and happy about what one has. I have regurgitated much on 1 Timothy 6:6.Contentment is not so much about fulfilment of that which we want most in life, but the appreciation of what we have at the moment.It is the acknowledgment that

In my trail of thoughts I was drawn to how we judge our blessedness by how blessed our neighbour is. For instance, If I have a good job but my neighbour has a better job, then I feel a litlle less blessed,or lets say not blessed at all.I learnt that blessings are absolute. They are not relative to the blessings of another.

Many a people have been robbed of happiness in life by comparison and lack of contentment. It is okay to desire better and finer things in life but let that not blind you to the blessings of the present. While you trust God for the better things ahead, remember to be content and grateful for what you have at the moment. 

I am not at Paul's level yet, but I love what he says in Philippians 4:11 ^"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances"

It is a danger to receive more blessings if we have not even appreciated what we have presently. Friend as the year progresses, learn to be first and foremost content and grateful for the far that God has brought you. Don't be overly concerned about your neighbour's blessings. In your season, God will fulfill the desires of your heart.Meanwhile, delight yourself in Him.

THE MOTIONS

This last week I have been going through motions.  All I know is one day was Monday, next was Tuesday and next was Saturday. Same days, same cycle. Nothing exciting really.You know those days when time just cruises through. You can't really pinpoint what you were up to.All you know is it was morning you woke up, it was evening you slept.

As I was reflecting through a couple of things, I realized how possible it is to simply exist. I learnt that there are people who exist for many years while others who live.Well, I have sometimes been in the former category.Living without purpose.Being alive only because I am not dead. Whiling each day away. Complaining about literally everything even about why the sky is blue.

So this week I have been praying that God would help me to realize the blessing of everyday.To know the thrill of every moment. To thankfully acknowledge the tiny miracles that He does for us each day.To wake up each day with gratitude and say "This is the day the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it" 

One stanza in Matthew West's Motions song says:

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
What if I had given everything,
Instead of going through the motions?

For each day God gives us, there is a purpose to fulfill and I pray that we will live each to the full.

 

OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH

This morning I was reading through Psalms 46 and I really found so much peace and confidence as I read the first three verses.I love the confidence in the Psalmist. He knows that they have found a help that is ever present.He is confident that they cannot be shaken no matter what comes their way. As in the mountains can fall in the sea if they want to; but God is their refuge and their strength.They would not fear. The Bible says

1. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble  
2. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 
3.  though its waters roar and foam    and the mountains quake with their surging

I tried to translate it loosely into Swahili and it sounded even better. 
Mungu ndiye kimbilio na nguvu zetu.Msaada wa karibu nyakati za shida.Kwa hivyo hatuatogopa ata nchi ikibadilika na milima ianguke kwa bahari. 

This  reminded me of a story I heard of  a comfortable plane ride that was about to get bumpy. The voice of the captain interrupted in-flight beverage service and asked passengers to make sure their seatbelts were fastened. Soon the plane began to roll and pitch like a ship on a wind-whipped ocean. While the rest of the passengers were doing their best to deal with the turbulence, a little girl sat through it all reading her book. After the plane landed, she was asked why she had been able to be so calm. She responded, “My daddy is the pilot and he’s taking me home.”

When the mountains rise and the waters rage, though the thunders roar and the lightning strikes, find rest in the calm assurance that you have an present help.

RISE ABOVE

The last few days I have been learning a new mantra.I call it Rise Above.The dictionary defines the phrasal verb as:to not allow oneself to be hurt or controlled by (something bad or harmful)

There are times when I have taken to heart hurtful words that have really put me down and denied me the joy of every day. I have been bothered so much by what people did and what they did not do and that has occasionally left me with so many scars. Other times I have put emotion into other people's actions and believed that they were out to hurt me. I have walked  like a wounded soldier, wounded in a battle that was not mine to fight in the first place.

In my trail of thoughts I was reminded of a saying by Winston Churchill that says "You will never reach your destination if you stop to throw stones at every dog that barks" 

I realized how selfish it was of me to think that people do what they do on purpose when in the real sense, they might not even have put much thought into what they were doing.This has brought me to a point that I say to myself "my heart has no business "catching feelings" with everyone about everything.Its work is purely to pump blood"

Friends, I think there is need to rise above. Above the petty little hurts of everyday.It's time to put a sieve around our hearts and to sift through what we let in.We need not take everything to heart.If it is constructive criticism,take it correct where need be and move on as a better person. If it is negative criticism brush it off and Rise Above.

FINE, THANK YOU

We ask when the rain started beating us.

Today in a Eureka moment of reflection I got a probable answer: the day that we learnt that the answer to every how are you is: fine thank you. We learnt to lie about the truth that deep inside we are not well, we are hurting. We thought it weakness to admit we are not well.When we became such great masters at hiding the truth. We were taught to hold everything together Never to fall apart. To only weep in our blankets; if we must.

When it came a time to pray we learnt to clean up. We go to God and lie about how well we are doing and how we desire him more than anything else.

Has someone ever lied to you when you know the truth? How did it feel? Bad? Today I got the impression that God feels the same when we go to Him and act as though everything is okay yet He knows that we are breaking on the inside. I think God appreciates when we are honest with Him. Honesty is an indicator of genuineness in any relationship. When we can speak to Him and admit,I am hurting Lord, please help me

I have been reading the Book of Psalms and I love how David would relate with God. Look at how he tells God his soul is downcast. When he feels forsaken, he says God why have you forsaken me. When faced by battles, he asks God to protect him. When in victory he says Lord you have been my protector.

This is the kind of relationship I desire to have with God. I don't mean that we go complaining this and that to God. What I ask is :a desire to quit the fine thank you; with one another and with God.

GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE

There are Scriptures we hear quoted time and again until they sound rather cliche.Some are used too often; we easily lose the heavy meaning they carry. One such is Matthew 19:26

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Yesterday, we meditated on this verse with reference to Daniel 2:1-28.This is the story of King Nebuchadnezzar and his weird,or let's call it interesting dream.

If you ask me, the dream was a difficult one to crack but the dreamer was twice difficult to deal with.How do you ask people to tell you what you dreamt and even interpret it for you..Yet you are the one who dreamt?! Is it even possible?

5 The king replied to the astrologers, “This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble.    6 But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me.”

When Daniel learnt of the King's decree he asked for time and then sought his three friends

18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

That night, God answered and revealed the mystery to Daniel.This saved them all from being executed as the king had promised.

27 Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.

I have heard the English men say that it is not over until the fat lady sings and maybe in your situation it feels like she sang already.I wish to remind you that with God,it is not over.In Daniel's time,it seemed over.The decree that they all be killed had already been issued.But God turned it all around for them.He surely is God of the impossible(or should I say impossicant as one of my friends says) It will only be over when God says it is.

I write this to someone in an impossible situation.I remind you that there is a God in Heaven.God of the impossible.What is impossible to man is possible with Him.Don't Give up.He will see you through.He will turn your story around.

SEARCHING EYES

I have been reading through the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.One of the Kings that I have found interesting is King Asa.He ruled Israel for 42 years. As Scripture records for the first 35 years, Asa depended God for everything.He was totally committed to the Lord.He brought many good reforms

¹⁷ Although he did not remove the high places from Israel, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life. ¹⁸ He brought into the temple of God the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.
¹⁹ There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign

After the 35 years had passed,King Asa changed his focus.He now relied on Ben-Hadad. Of course God was not happy.He sent a seer to him to inform him:

7“Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. ⁸ Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand.⁹ For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.

As I reflected on these turn of events, I came to the point where in his 39th year he fell sick and consulted physicians only and never remembered to call on God for help.The same king who for 35 years had relied on God for everything.

I started thinking to myself if this could be a case of "Now I am wise enough to fight my battles and to handle my stuff" you see friend, though we may not say it out loud this is the attitude we adopt with God sometimes.We at one point rely on Him for everything. Then we reach a point where we forget or neglect His help. We stop calling on Him.We forget that He has promised to be an ever present help in times of need.

God's eyes are still searching the earth.They are looking for someone to strengthen.He is ready to help us. However,what is the condition of your heart? Are you fully committed to God or is He a plan B in case your plans fail? Where are you looking up to for your help? Did life happen and shift your focus from your helper?

I like what Psalms 121 says 

I pray that as God's searching eyes will locate you wherever you are.Meanwhile,may your heart forever be committed unto Him

Blessings

Mwarray