Stepping Out In Faith Is An Invitation To God To Be With You

Every time we step out in faith to pursue what was ordained of us before the creation of the world; to be excellent and fulfill our purposes, we are making an invitation to God to be with us. In essence, we are expressing our desire to be faithful. We are with gratitude tempting God to work things out for us in our life. We are asking that the Lord command everything that we come across to work for our own good so that our dreams and passions come true. We prepare a way for the God’s creation to be made subject to our desires and if our desires are right, they give us the right of the way to pursue these dreams. We are simply saying inaudibly I have known that this life is more than my fears within.

Though there are many doubts and anxieties that I will encounter but in the midst of this all, I know there is someone somewhere who will care. I may not know how long I will walk in this dark tunnel but I know I will come out on the other side. It does not matter more to me if I will I will ‘temporarily fail’; what matters more is that I will come out victoriously at the end. God in his might and power will therefore summon all the things we need to enrich our faith so that we achieve and not shame him. He will not let us be laughed at. He will prepare people on our way to provide comfort to us when in need. He will prepare people to instruct us when we will require to be instructed, he will prepare others to admonish and rebuke us when we act foolishly, others he will prepare to correct us when we will go wrong and others he will place on our way to teach us the paths we should follow to achieve success but still others he will prepare and bring our way so that they can test our hearts and what we will act like when the Lord will give us success. All the people we will came across during our journey of stepping out in faith to pursue excellence have a role. We do not need to complain because we think they will hinder us from attaining what we think and are convinced is what God created us to, but know for sure they have their place. Nor should we be too excited for those we think are what will help us achieve our dreams. They too have their share in your journey. In every endeavor you engage in, the mix of these people are just the right ingredient for your success story.

In stepping out in faith to actualize your dream, God will also summon nature to provide the necessary resources for your success. He will order that ‘soft’ landing for you be prepare in case you fall. You will break when crashed. He will not allow you to be torn d apart in case you are stretched by issues of life. You will not be burnt as you pass through fire. You will not be overwhelmed when you pass through flood. And when the oceans rise, storms threaten you boat in life then the lord will not let it to overturned. He will be there right with you. He will be there to cheer you up. He will steer you through the raging waters through the sea to the main land. As if this is too little, he will be preparing a place for your dwelling during this journey. He will not let the scorching sun to destroy your head. This may not be such literal but I know that the lord will not let what will be beyond your ability to come your way. He will preserve you from dangers. He will keep you safe so that not even nature will cause calamities that you cannot withstand. You will withstand them all. No trying moment will be too hard for you to bear. In them all God, his hand will be upon you. He will cover you. He will make a way everywhere you think there will be no way.

In stepping out in faith to attain financial freedom, I can assure you that the lord will make whatever seems impossible to man be possible. He will empower you with great ideas to make wealth. Him being the owner of gold and silver, he will give enough of it to you when you rightly need it. When all seems lost, then a miracle will happen and your dream will come true. Your future will brighten up. Rays of hope will shine for you in darkness. Doors will start to open. People will acknowledge that your dreams are valid. Your expression of those dreams will simply catch their eyes. Your dreams to them will be worth pursuing. Your course will be worthy pursing and running after. They will be inspired to assist you achieve them. They will be filled with hope. They will consider you’re a great partner in business.

In stepping out in faith we move out to a dark environment and a dense jungle that we think we are unable to come out alive. Too often we see as if we will not ever come out but then it’s such times that our eyes are opened to see our help. It’s just around us. Since our vision is limited we cannot understand that. But if we step out in faith to pursue with faith our dreams, our strength is renewed. Our hope is restored. Doubts fade away. We shine. We become visible to the world. We receive accolades and rewards for our efforts. We become dependent only now on God and not men. All because we choose not to remain lying and pointing fingers.

Nature will groan in pain as it expects you to be crowned with success. Everything it has and possesses will be directed towards your success story.

So now friend, stop wasting time, step out in faith and begin to pursue all your dreams in life. Pursue a happy marriage, pursue financial freedom. Pursue career progression. Go for academic excellence, start that relationship; approach that lady. Stop fearing taking that business idea to the next level. Explore it, it might be the next thing. Talk to that neighbor and you could help them leave that habit. Talk to your workmates about the gospel, it might be what they need to hear so that they are saved. Encourage your siblings, advise them, perhaps they need that for life. Stop wondering if people will accept that new product; create interest in it and they may buy it. Talk to a friend about your struggle and they will help. If you might have failed or seen others fail know this is your time and God is tenderly holding your hand teaching you how to walk this time. It’s your time to be successful this time.

Is Christmas a Time to enrich the Merchants?

Sunday afternoon! It’s Days after Christmas and New Year festive season. The Christmas thoughts cannot get over me.

I am thinking of this and past Christmas seasons. It has lots of things to do. Some are a must do, others have become are a norm. When I jog my mind back when I was a kid I just can’t help it but wonder the significance of some of these tasks in ‘my list of to dos’ in Christmas. You see when I was younger; I would walk along the streets of Nairobi with my dad. Normally, we would be shopping for the day.

A COMMON PHENOMENON: APPEARANCE OF FATHER CHRISTMAS

A common phenomenon then (By the way this still happens today), in and outside of almost all the shopping malls, there was Father Christmas. Usually, Father Christmas would sing the Christmas carols to kids and parents. Sometimes, they were artificial mannequins and would walk dancing in the shopping areas. They would be dressed in red and usually they had gift bags. He would give away gifts to shoppers and children. For kids, normally he handed over sweets to ‘the well behaved’ ones. (I really do not know how they would determine this). Perhaps this was meant to encourage the young ones to be well behaved during Christmas. For their parents on the other hand, shopping vouchers and food stuffs were given to them. This was done especial ally when they did shopping on certain items or spent a designated amount of money. You were to receive a token from Father Christmas when you bought marked gifts. This would encourage people to buy goods and gifts in mass. I enjoyed such moments of walking around doing shopping in Christmas. Everyone received free goodies on the terms and conditions of Father Christmas. I think this still happens perhaps in an almost similar version or an “advanced” version of it. People still do shopping.

IT TAKES TWO TO TANGLE: TWO GREEDY ONES

But what was the idea behind Father Christmas and his gifts? Was it not spend and spend for the greedy shoppers? It takes two to tangle. Two greedy people, one is wise and the other foolish. The merchants were the wise greedy ones who wanted to enrich themselves. How would they do this? Use the Father Christmas to attract the foolish greedy ones, to shopping areas by luring them with “free goodies”- in the first place free items did not exist. They made goods look cheaper by giving false discounts on essential items that are fast moving during the festive season. Then hand over free gifts to people randomly. With this point make people get to the shopping areas. Next make them spend even to their last penny in buying goods and gifts to their loved ones even those that they don’t need. And surely they did succeed. People would buy because they were taught that they must give gifts in Christmas.

THEN CAME BOXING DAYS

It’s in Christmas when we exchange gifts. Boxing days were then invented so that people would open gifts’ boxes they received from friends. Meanwhile the merchants would accumulate more and more wealth from bumper sales during Christmas. Was that not a good deal? A smart idea, isn’t it? It was something they have succeed and perfected even today.

DID FATHER CHRISTMAS EXIST?

But did father Christmas really exist? What is his significance in this season if he does and what is also his significance if he does not? Now, a Father Christmas does not exist. It’s just an invented idea by the merchants. It was something that was made in the minds of people greedy to get money from naïve shoppers who were careless. He does not exist anywhere in the real or virtual world and appears only in Christmas season. His appearance confirms the nature of human beings. Easy to deceive and quick to want and desire free quick things.

Forgive me but aren’t we lazy work? We love wages without working. The merchants understood this and exploited it to enrich themselves. To complicate matters, they targeted the children of poor greedy shoppers who are influential to their parents spending habits. And I think they did.

Father Christmas disguises himself as the custodian of good morals and so his work among the kids is seen as one which is corrective and preventive. He is thus a darling to them when he hands them small tokens as a reward to their behavior each according to his/her “measure of goodness.” The well behaved are given better and bigger prizes than their counterparts who misbehave. This idea maybe was meant to paint a picture of God who to them-children is just, good, loves and kind. This may actually be a nice thought idea to perpetuate but it fails to motivate good behavior among children.  It also brings a distorted message about God. However, such a picture is the only comprehensible idea that children can get of a good God. God is not such a “big man” standing beside us to check and supervise what we are doing. On the opposite, while he is nevertheless loving, caring, kind, good, powerful and righteous, but wants us out of our own free will to love him voluntary and so will not struggle to do good while hating evil. The system of reward and punishment as painted by Father Christmas is too a small thing to be compared to what God gives to them that love and treasure him. He gives abundant life to those who accept his gift from heaven who is Christ Jesus.

THE BRAINWASHING IDEA OF THE WISE GREEDY MERCHANTS

Friends as I write of this, I keep wondering when we will ever learn of this brainwashing thought of the merchants. Year after year they come and we do our shopping as if this is all that matters in life in this season. We exchange material gifts and life goes on. I have no bad blood with us giving gifts. I conquer that friendships and relationships are built and knit where there is mutual exchange of emotions and small or big presents. My only concern is, is there life after Christmas? I want to believe there is. Isn’t it? And so this season we must live with such prudence as befits it. We must be not extravagant. We will and have to do shopping but must too remember that we will have financial obligations awaiting us in January. Do your mathematics right and ensure that come the end of the season you will not regret having used all you wealth in a day. Do not blow all your money in days. Plan ahead.

A BETTER WAY TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS

I want to believe the best way we can celebrate Christmas is when we do things that have significance here on earth and will also earn us a place in eternity. The simple things that we do matter most than anything else we deceive ourselves matter more. The simple gesture of spending time with family and friends goes a long way in touching their hearts. We need to show kindness and unending love to all people even those you think do not deserve to be loved. We will place tongs of burning charcoal to our enemies’ head when we become and become a little bit more compassionate to them. We will cause them to change their stone hardened hearts if we became just a little flexible and decide we better “loose” and they win if this will cause peace and reconciliation. Moreover, if the gifts we’ll exchange are out of willing and sincere hearts, the amount and value then does not matter. If it pains your heart but does not leave you guilty then you are on the right track.

This Christmas will just end up like every other you’ve celebrated, if we decide to only spend our wealth on feasting, clothes and making merry and forget the significance of it. If we fail to share our gifts with the less fortunate and the most vulnerable of our society, then this will be like many other Christmas seasons. We will wake up that day after the festivities and regret that we have done nothing worthy being proud of if we will decide to only decorate our homes, cook nice food, exchange expensive gifts and wear expensive clothes if we do not realize that this happens because the savior of our life is given and has been given to redeem us. Our hearts must be ready to receive him gladly as if he mattered more to us than the season. The birth of Jesus will be of more significance if we accept him as the bread of heaven, feast of him and we will be saved. The festivities mood will be better if by all means we will choose to do acts of mercy.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, enjoy your Christmas seasons. Be a blessing to others in these seasons as I hope I have been through this message. Come New Year I trust you will have no regrets because you will not have only enriched the merchants but also enriched yourself and those that matters to you. But also share this among your friends.

My New Year Resolution: Act Like an African Boy

I hope you all had a good and a merry Christmas season. Welcome back so that we may continue to JOIN THE DOTS in life. I hope you did not overspend and did not do things that you will regret as we start this New Year as we said in the Christmas season message.

Now Life is interesting. At the beginning of every New Year, we make New Year resolutions. We set goals of the next year. We want to have achieved this and that before the year ends. We set limits of our financial worth before the end of the year. The unmarried perhaps make a resolution that before the end of the year they hope the lord will be gracious to them and they will find a life partner. The married may resolve to be good husbands, submissive wives, caring and loving dads and mums. We make decisions to terminate certain relationships and friendships and to pursue some hard. The employed members of the society make firm decisions and hope to be promoted and acquire more experience and skills. Business people want to make more revenue and hence larger profits before the year closes.Students too make a resolve to study harder and score better grades than they had the last academic years. The spiritual people will want to set aside more time for quality, deeper and unwavered devotion to God. And no one is left behind. In one way or the other weather consciously or unconsciously we made new resolutions each year.

Perhaps the realization that we have not lived up to the standard in the past year drives us to this. The very thought of life being too short, is tormenting. We want to make most of the time we have and so we set up limits for ourselves. We do not want to go anything below these limits. So the imperfections that think are our shortcomings, we make up of them by what we consider as the standards that are perfect.  But we are in the cycle every year. We do this every time. We make new resolution every year. We even revisit some of the past year resolutions that we did not manage to achieve and make them this year’s resolutions.

I am no different from everyone who does this. In my room during the festivities season, I thought how I will behave the new coming year 2015. Honestly speaking, I think almost every time I have made up these New Year declaration, I have ended up miserably failing. And so given these circumstances and after much soul searching, I have made up my mind not really make fixed declaration that I must follow to the letter.

However this does not mean I will have nothing to do this New Year.

So, What will I pursue this year?Towards this, let me make this opening statement.I was born and raised up in an African society. This simple fact has too much meaning in my life. For one it tells you as a matter of fact, most but not all my values and beliefs. But also as a boy and a first born brings with it more than it appears on the surface. An African boy is taught to be strong. They are taught not to cry. They should always appear strong even when they are hard pressed by issues of life. Even when they face death, they are taught that this time to prove their manhood by fighting to death.

But it’s not only this; they should also learn to provide direction/leadership among girls and other society members. Later they are taught to take responsibilities of providing, caring for the family. And so I grew in such an environment where this kind of knowledge was impacted to me daily. I lived under this doctrine. I cannot complain that this is too bad. I appreciate this custom and culture I grew up in. am proud of it.

As think of this year, I desire to think, behave and act as this African boy. Throughout this year I wish to be able to be identified with the values taught to me when I was young in my village. I must make all effort to exhibit the values of courage, temperament and be fixed in my goal.

We are made of “materials” that can overcome failures. Like the African boy in whom life failures are not tolerated unless they fight to the end so must we attempt to make our life better. Whenever we step out in faith to go after success, we must remember that we should use all strength within us to reach out for it. We must not withhold even the slightest power we have within us in our pursuit for happiness in life. We must explore all possible avenues to attain financial freedom. There is nothing beyond the limit of human being except that which God has found suitable to conceal from our knowledge and ability. Everything else that he has revealed to us is achievable if we toil honoring him in the process.

We must find true joy in finding solutions to what we face in life. We must not wait for others to fight our battles especially those that concern us. They are our responsibilities. We must lead the way and not complain when a hard things come our way and in the society that we live in. African boys would do this everytime when a lion, bear or a cheetah attacked the villages. They face it fearlessly. They would grab its jaw and tear it. They would hold the bull by its horn until it was no more. It was their moral duty to fight like genuine warriors who were ready to lose their life protecting themselves and the society of all the dangers.

No matter the giants that you and I face this New Year know for sure, you have all that it takes to overcome them. You are better off than anyone else you will meet to give up pursuing those dreams you want to achieve.Remember if you walk like you are defeated then you will surely be perceived by everyone who you meet along the way similarly as defeated. Walk like you know you can win. Talk like you can win.

But as we seek to be winners, most times we are tempted to go and win and get all the glory and praise from men. We want to live as tough we live for ourselves. But we must live because we want to honor God with our lives. If we win we praise him. If we lose we praise him.

Because living for ourselves to win everything is too a small thing to live for. Life is beyond our winning and losing. It’s more to faithfulness in whatever will be entrusted into our hands.

If we get an opportunity to lead, then let’s be diligent like the African boy will do. To the weak we will come across, let’s be kind enough to them. Along the way,let’s do the small acts of compassion like the African society will encourage us. Let our hearts be moved by the suffering and pain of our neighbors and whenever we can help them. But again let’s build our lives. It’s what matters more to us. Personalities that can prove our integrity,lives that we cannot ashamed of. Status that befits our lives.

Cheers this is our year to talk and walk like we are strong and winners. It’s an year to live the African way