I woke up today with a song in my spirit. I kept on humming and whistling the tune as I went about my morning routine and even found myself trying to whistle as I brushed my teeth. As I drove to the church office, I begun meditating on the words of the song and decided to share with you the song and the truth from the word of God.

The song is titled, “God on the Mountain” by Lynda Randle and talks about how life is easy when we are up on the mountain. We have peace and fill all is well but things are very different when we are down in the valley surrounded by all manner of challenges and troubles. You see, things tend to be smooth and easy up in the mountain when we are enjoying life and really get to talk about faith and trusting God but when troubles come our way, when we have prayed and don’t seem to get any answers from God, faith begins to slowly fade away and we begin to think and behave as though God does not care or is not concerned about us.

It’s easy to think like the Syrians who in 1^st Kings 20 verses 23 to 29 talked about the God of the Israelites being the God of the hills and therefore reasoned if they fight them in the plains, they will win. God spoke through a Prophet to the Israelites and told them that He is Jehovah and therefore not just a god of the hills. The Syrian idea that God is all powerful in the hills and powerless in the valley creeps very easily on us as we think of how God is all powerful during the good times but when difficulties and challenges come, we begin running all over trying to help ourselves forgetting that God, our God, is God even during the hard times and is ready and willing to walk with us even through those dark times. When we know that He is God of the valleys also, we will be able to say like the Psalmist, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…” Our God is God of the Mountains and of the Valleys also.

Let’s march on with boldness and faith. Let’s quit looking at the challenges and problems we face and lift up our eyes to the Lord our God who is able to deal with all that comes our way. I encourage you to place your trust in the Lord and not to listen to the Syrians, Jehovah is God in the good times and in the bad times. He is God during the day but He is also God during the night when all seems dark, gloomy and scary. In the current economic crises with the cost of living rising by the day, let’s remember that God is still God. When your salary can’t pay all the bills and obligations, God is still God. When relationship go through challenges and we wonder if anyone cares, God is still God. When challenges assail us from every side and we do not know how we will go through, God is still God.

For as the song goes in the chorus, “when things go wrong, He will make them right and the God of the good times is God in the bad times, the God of the day is still God in the night”. Trust Him, wait on Him, depend on Him and know that surely He will take care of you. For He is God almighty and never changes.

Here are the lyrics of the song, as for me, I am still humming:

“Life is easy when you’re up on the mountain
And you’ve got peace of mind like you’ve never known
But things change when you’re down in the valley
Don’t lose faith for you’re never alone!

You talk of faith when you’re up on the mountain
But talk comes so easy when life’s at its best
Now it’s down in the valley of trials and temptations
That’s where your faith is really put to the test.

For the God on the mountain
Is still God in the valley
When things go wrong He’ll make them right
And the God of the good times is God in the bad times
The God of the DAY is still God in the NIGHT.”

Blessings

On a different note, ICC Mombasa’s Campaign, “Operation 500” aimed at mobilizing prayer and resource support is on and you can always get in touch for more info about it. Just send a mail back and we will be glad to furnish you with more details. I invite you to join in the campaign.

]]> https://lifession.com/2009/02/20/god-on-the-mountain/feed/ 0 81 https://lifession.com/2009/01/26/the-key-for-success/ https://lifession.com/2009/01/26/the-key-for-success/#comments Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:43:07 +0000 http://lifession.wordpress.com/?p=77

I am amazed by the number of books that are being printed every year on how to become successful in life and the number of speakers, experts and trainers on the same. I recently saw on our local newspaper an ad for a renowned motivational speaker seminar that really surprised me. The real surprise was not the speaker himself but the cost for attending a 3 hour afternoon seminar. It was priced at about 1000 USD or Kshs 75,000.

In my surprise, I begun imagining the people who can afford that kind of a price tag to hear a motivational speaker and who would be in attendance. You see, our generation is obsessed with becoming successful and it’s a good thing but I strongly feel we are looking for success in the wrong places.

Many of us are living each day frustrated because we are making more money than our fathers but it’s all being eaten up by inflation. The cost of living is up, hardships are pressing in from every side, the rate of unemployment is increasing and life seems to be getting harder and harder. The family unit is breaking and we cannot count on family to help us when the going gets tough.

With such a state of affairs in our generation and even worse as I have just gleaned the surface, the desperation to succeed in life, at work, in business and all is very high. Question is, do we succeed by earning more money? learning to play the stock market like a ball? driving the latest car? or looking at it differently, do we succeed by following seven keys to making more money? five steps for a happier you? ten principles of winning?

In Genesis 39, I read the story of a slave in a foreign land where he had to learn a new culture, new way of life and his parents were faraway. Forsaken by his brothers, this slave was a gone case, a failure at best. The odds for success were against him but he had one ingredient that turned the tide for him whether working as a slave or thrown in jail as a “slave prisoner”. Verse 2 of Genesis 39 tells us, “The LORD was with Joseph,…” and because the Lord was with Joseph, he succeeded as a slave in the house of his Egyptian master and excelled there. There were no ten steps to success for Joseph or five principles of winning. Only one thing made the difference for him and it was not hearing Egypt’s sensational speaker. The Lord was with Joseph and that made all the difference.

The key for success in life is the Lord being with you. It is the only key that is needed. If only we would take the time to seek the Lord and ensure He is with us as we go through life. If only we would take the time to walk in accordance to God’s will and seek to please Him each day. If only we would consider more what His word says and seek to live according to it more. When the Lord is with us, we can face any mountain and conquer, we can fight the challenges that come our way and win, we can survive the hardships of life and go through storms and come through victorious.

Let’s seek the Lord and live daily ensuring He is with us for when we do, that is the beginning of success, true success.

Blessings

]]> https://lifession.com/2009/01/26/the-key-for-success/feed/ 1 77 https://lifession.com/2008/12/16/hearing-gods-voice/ https://lifession.com/2008/12/16/hearing-gods-voice/#comments Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:33:51 +0000 http://lifession.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/hearing-gods-voice/ What does God want of me? Should I go into ministry? change jobs? go to college and where should I go to school? Should I take this job, or is there something better on the horizon? Who should I marry?

In life, we find ourselves bombarded with never ending questions, series of choices and tough choices to make. How do we know we are making the right choice? Is it possible to actually make the right choices? Should we constantly read the stars or contact psychics and wizards?

This ,past week, a close friend came up to me wondering what to do in a situation where somebody had given them a personal prophetic word regarding a decision they had made and was in the process of following through on. My friend was totally shaken, had little peace and was wondering what to do. We had a little discussion and later on that night as I prayed for the person, I realized that many of us Christians struggle so much with hearing God’s voice. This struggle causes men and women who happen to tell us things about us that others didn’t know to appear “great” “holy” or super heroes. They are sought after and what they say is taken to be gospel truth.

Rather than teach people to hear God for themselves, many of us in the ministry want to tell people what the Lord is saying and hence attain the super status. Realizing this, I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to write a few of the things I have learned over the years about hearing God’s voice and I pray it will be of help to you.

The truth is that God wants to speak to us, and yes, you can ‘know’ that you hear His voice.

God wants to fellowship and communicate with us in a two-way communication. He created us and desires to have a relationship with us.
God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to take our place and to die for us. He did this so that we could once again have fellowship with Him. The bible encourages us to enter into God’s very presence, “…having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way…” (See Hebrews 10:19-20).

God want to fellowship with us and has plans for us so that we can be a blessing and a reflection of His love, leadership and blessings. His plan is for good, for a hope filled future. (See Jeremiah 29:11). I am blown away every time I read John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” What blows me away is the fact that the sheep hear the Shepherds voice. It means that I can hear His voice and know I am hearing God and follow His will for me. Notice it does not say some of the sheep will hear the Shepherd through the “bigger, better, stronger sheep”. Jesus stated that His sheep hear His voice.

We should therefore learn to earnestly seek after God, seek to hear His voice and to walk in His will. He promises us, “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:12-13. We should not expect to hear a voice every time we seek God as He “speaks” or communicates to us in different ways at different times but our confidence should be in the realization that God wants us to know His will and walk in His ways.

So how can we know we are hearing the voice of God? Does the bible have certain keys or truths that I should know which would help me to test and confirm God’s voice? In my studying of the bible and reading on the subject, I have come across seven truths against which we should seek to judge every possible leading or word from “the Lord”. We are to carefully examine the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, the words of godly people who may have influence on us by their words and actions through the use of the following keys:

• The Bible: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (II Timothy 3:16-17). God does not contradict Himself and therefore He will never lead us to do anything that is contrary to His word.

• The Holy Spirit speaking to your heart: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, ‘know the Lord,’ for all will know Me, from the least to the greatest of them” (Hebrews 8:10-11).

• The peace of God: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Colossians 3:15). A friend of mine loves saying that peace is the rudder of a Christian. This is the inner peace that gives us the assurance that the word is indeed from the Lord.

• Godly counsel: “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14). Seeking Godly counsel is highly encouraged in scripture but many times we tend to think it is not important. There are many people who have shipwrecked their lives simply because they received a “prophetic word” which they held on to and refused to heed to godly counsel even when corrected.

• Prophetic Words (word of knowledge, word of wisdom, personal prophecy): “Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good” (I Thessalonians 5:19-21). We should not despise personal prophecy but we should also judge it in the light of God’s word. In the present day, a lot of people keep running from one minister to another seeking a prophetic word or even ministers giving out utterances everywhere. The problem with these approach to personal prophecy is that what is said is then taken as gospel truth without remembering the instruction of the Bible, to judge or test prophetic words. ( See 1 Corinthians 14:29)

• Witnessing Confirmations: “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed” (Matthew 18:16). Are there other people who have the same witness to what you are hearing? God does use other people to confirm His will and leading.

• Timing or Circumstantial evidence: “After these things he (Paul) left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working; for by trade they were tent-makers” (Acts 18:1-3) circumstances caused Paul, Aquila and Priscilla to meet and it resulted in one of the most important partnerships for the gospel in the book of Acts. There are people and circumstances that will work out right at a certain point in time and impact our lives greatly.

Many times the Lord will confirm His direction to us through three, four or more of the above keys, especially in those seasons when we are considering a career change, making important decisions or when feeling “stuck in the mud”.

Remember, we need to constantly pray and seek the Lord at all times and as we do so, we will learn to hear Him and to discern His will. I encourage you to do so during this Christmas season and may we all march into 2009 knowing that God is leading us every step.

I am praying for you.

Blessings

Edward M. Munene
Pastor
International Christian Centre Mombasa
www.icc-mombasa.org

Personal Blog page: www.lifession.com

I can be the receptionist, the messenger, the bookkeeper, the choir director and any other role you may think of but I have learned to ask myself, “What is it that must be done to make the greatest difference to the church?”

I have to choose to do what only I can do but I must also do that which will make a difference by resulting in church growth, people ministered to and the church built up. I have consciously chosen to stop doing everything. It feels irrsponsible and people wonder what is wrong with me but with time, the results begin to show and the truth is, we should not do everything.

Thing about your life, are there things you need to stop doing in order to do the things that will make a difference?
Blessings

I will be sharing on the theme, Survivor- Running in the wild and am praying and trusting God for several big wins, to Create missions Awareness, create an environment for easy involvement in missions and have people leave the service with tangible steps to take in participating in Missions.

My desire is to see people mobilized to missions involvement and aggressively pursuing to utilize their giftings, abilities and resources in fulfilling God’s mission mandate.

Now, here is the catch of this post…I need to hear from you what you think should be the best way of communicating and bringing forth the sermon to accomplish the stated wins and results. Pray, think outside the box…and give me feedback. Think about the stage, the santuary decor…the communication delivery and the sermon aids….I already have my sermon written out. I have prayed about this and I know what the Lord whats me to share. I am looking for the best way to bring it forth in order to creatively and clearly communicate what God has given me for the best results. I have a team I do this with in ICC Mombasa but Nairobi is a different ball game with a different culture and all.

Pray with me and talk to me…I am waiting

Blessings

Distractions, do you ever struggle with them? I have noticed that one of the biggest hindrances of progressing on in life is distractions. They steal your time, lead you on rabbit trails into doing things you had never intended and that will not benefit you in any way and sometimes end up being very costly.

Distractions squander our time and leave us with reduced opportunities to do the important things in life. I have been tracking the times I get distracted in order to help myself live better and as I trust God to help me become more self controlled. What I have discovered is amazing. Distractions come in all shapes and colors and sometimes we even assume they are a Godsend when in fact they are out to derail us. Think about it, the bible tells us to be very careful how we live and admonishes us to live wisely by redeeming the time or using time wisely for the days are evil. (Read Ephesians 5:15-16)

Distractions can lead to sin and end up destroying our potential and productivity all together. Our distractions can be surfing the Internet, checking and reading emails, the mobile phone or chatting online. Distractions can be more subtle like work, studying, or even talking to friends. A distraction is anything that robs you of the ability to fulfill potential, be more productive and hence robs you the chance to be who God created you to be.

Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden because she allowed herself to be distracted into a conversation with the deceiver and ended up doubting God and His plans and it’s plainly evident how much trouble that distraction has landed the world in? I have discovered that many of my struggles today are because of distractions I have had in the past and some of them have been costly to my family and the ministry. I am grateful to God that He has rescued me and helped me to come this far and I have not been shipwrecked and destroyed like Eve and her husband Adam.

I call you today to fight off every distraction, to reach out for all that God has for you and to keep on utilizing your potential. Before you pick up your cell phone or open up your web browser, before you begin writing mail; ask yourself, is what I am doing a distraction from pursuing the life God has for me? Don’t get me wrong, emails are important and the internet is very good but everything has it’s time.

Today and in the days to come, lets walk away from distractions and seek to be everything God meant us to be. Let’s pursue Him, throw aside every weight, every discouragement, every disappointment and all other distractions that seek to block us and lead us astray. Let’s not be like Eve, Let’s battle every distraction and live life to the fullest.

Blessings

Edward M. Munene

Pastor

International Christian Centre Mombasa

www.icc-mombasa.org

Personal blog: www.lifession.com

]]> https://lifession.com/2008/12/02/are-you-distracted/feed/ 0 68 https://lifession.com/2008/11/17/reactive-or-creative/ https://lifession.com/2008/11/17/reactive-or-creative/#respond Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:27:54 +0000 http://lifession.wordpress.com/?p=65 A question I have been asking myself often is, “Am I reacting to life or creating opportunities and situations?’ Well, the words creating and reacting have the same letters but a world of difference in meaning. This also is true of the words reactive and creative.

The word reactive talks about living life reacting to circumstances and situations. It is greatly influenced by the current affairs, current circumstances, current pressures and never able to really change situations and live differently. Most people who spend time whining and complaining tend to be very reactive. In contrast, people who are  creative look at their current situations and begin changing and altering these in order to line them up with theirr goals and where they know they need to be going. Rather than complain as a reaction to their surroundings, they seek to change situations. They create solutions, transform circumstances and many times, it’s not just about them. They help others to.

Think about Jesus and His disciples (Mark 4:35-41), they were caught up in a life threatening storm. The disciples panicked and begun doing all they could to save themselves. They woke up Jesus in desperation, complaining why He was still sleeping while they drowned. Jesus wakes up and “creates” a new environment and then turns around to rebuke the disciples for lack of faith. In other words, He was simply telling them, “You did not need to panic and react to the storm, you should have changed the circumstances by creating a different set of conditions by faith”.

Sounds simplistic but when we pause long enough to consider our lives, we begin to realize that most often than not, we behave like the disciples. When we are in trouble, we fret and cry and complain. We seek out friends to help us rather than turning to God first. We complain about the things that are wrong in our current challenges, current circumstances, current troubles and never get to ask ourselves, how can I change all these?

To change from being a reactive person to a creative one, we need to always seek the All creative God for His help, wisdom and guidance. God has an unlimited number of ways of dealing with and changing any situation. He is the Almighty and omniscient God.  Remember, nothing is impossible with God.

The second thing to do in order to be a creative rather than a reactive person is to set goals. It is important to explore the days ahead and prayerfully set goals of what we want to accomplish in the days ahead. When challenging situations come, those who have clear goals keep on going and are able to deal with the current challenges and still accomplish their goals.

When we live each day seeking God’s will and guidance and pursuing our goals, the current challenges and situations begin to change as we create rather than react. It is my prayer that you will lift up your eyes from the current and begin to forge ahead pursuing God’s will for your life. Don’t let the current stop you from being who you were meant to be and from pursuing that which God has for you. Financial challenges, high cost of living, relationship troubles and whatever else you may be facing should not stop you from living in God’s will. Victory is yours if you will rise up by faith to create rather than react.

Blessings

The theme was derived from the following verses, Mathew 4:9 Next the devil took Him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to You,” he said, “if You will kneel down and worship me.”

The devil wanted to recruit Jesus to be his apprentice by dangling the carrot of riches, kingdoms adn the glory they bring but Jesus refused and rebuked him. Just like the enemy tempted Jesus, he is busy at work tempting and trying to derail us from God’s will for our lives by recruiting us to fall for the carrot.

Think about it, men and women continue to sell their values and lives literally to chase some more money through programs such as the Big Brother.

We left the service with a commitment to stay true to what God has for us, to refuse to fall for the devil’s schemes and to seek to please and serve the Lord, making every second to count for God’s glory.

While we are at it, we begin a new series, “Explore” in the month of November.

I am so grateful to God for what He is doing at ICC Mombasa, the growth, the creativity and impact we are having.

Praise God with me.