FGBMFI: 4 Things God Want You To Know

This is a sketchy highlights of the message I prepared for the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International event at Butare/Rwanda. Next time I will speak to them about the 4 Things God Wants You To Do. Stay tuned!

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1.             Know that You have Eternal Life

"This is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. " 1 John 5:11, 13

·         What Eternal Life does not necessarily mean? – It doesn't mean the infinite extension of life. Daniel 12:2:

“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

The book of Daniel, presents two categories of people: 1) Those who will rise up for everlasting (eternal) life and those 2) who will rise up for everlasting (eternal) shame. It is clear that shame can only be experience if one is conscious of it. Hence, those who will feel shame for eternally will have to be alive eternally. But this eternity in shame which assume an infinite extension of life is not what Eternal life is. Eternal life, means much more than just an infinite extension of life.

·         What Eternal Life also means? – A qualitative life with God, a fellowship lifestyle with the Father. Jn17:3:

“And this is life eternal, that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

·         Eternal Life is also a person that we welcome in Us – 

“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” 1 John 5:20

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,  who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” - John 1:12, 13

  “For he [Jesus] who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he [Jesus] is not ashamed to call them brothers,” - Heb 2:11

2.                Know that You can Overcome Temptation

"There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer [allow] you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it." 1 Corinthians 10:13

• What temptation is not? – It is not a sin. For Jesus who had never sinned was nevertheless tempted.

“For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 

 “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” - Mat 4:1

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” - Heb 4:14, 15

• What temptation is? – It is a solicitation, an enticement. From the Merriam Webster Dictionary:

temp·ta·tion:  noun \tem(p)-ˈtā-shən\

1)      : a strong urge or desire to have or do something

2)      : something that causes a strong urge or desire to have or do something and especially something that is bad, wrong, or unwise

Link: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/temptation

• How does temptation function? – It functions by feeding on our human need.

“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” - James 1:14-15

• Who tempts us? – Satan is the Tempter (Luke 4:1-2 and Mathew 4:1-2) not God.

“Don't blame God when you are tempted! God cannot be tempted by evil and he doesn't use evil to tempt others.” James 1:13 CEV

3.                Know that God wants to Forgive Your Sins and give you the Ministry of Reconciliation

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

• What is Sins? – It is the moral deviation of God’s expectation for its conscious creature. It is the breaking of divine commands.

“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” - 1 John 3:4    

• What are the consequences of sins? -

a)      Sins fractures peaceful and stable relationship with our authorities -  

Such as, our earthly Fathers or our divine Father – Cfr. the story of the prodigal son:

“I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you” - Luke 15:18 

b) Sins rob us from God’s glory –

 “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” - Romans 3:23

There is a great promise attached to God’s glory: Rom 5:2; 1Th 2:12; 2Th 2:14; 1Pe 4:13, 1Pe 5:1, 1Pe 5:10.

c) Sins make us enemies (hostile) of God and God do not reveal His Wills and secrets to his enemies only to His Friends -

“because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject (do not obey) to the Law of God, neither indeed can it be.” Romans 8:7 

“And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do,” Gen 18:17 

“And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."” James 2:23 

• What happens when we are forgiven? –

a)               When we are forgiven of our sins we get reconcile with God and receive from God the ministry of reconciliation.

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;” 2Corinthians 5:18 

“that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” - 2 Corinthians 5:19 

b)            When we are forgiven of our sins we are anew at Peace with God and His people. We can with no heavy heart rejoice in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

 “giving thanks to the Father, who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” Colossians 1:12 

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1John 1:7 

4.                Know that He Wants To Answer Your Prayers

“[Jesus said] "Until now you have asked nothing in My name: ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full." John 16:24

• Who Receives Prayers? –  

God the Father receives. Because all perfect gifts comes from Him.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.” James 1:17 

“As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.” - Mathew 7:11 CEV

Once God looks at you as His child through Christ, you should know how He feels about you,

“Would any of you give your hungry child a stone, if the child asked for some bread? Would you give your child a snake if the child asked for a fish?” - Mathew 7:9-10   

God expect us to have a the right attitudes hence as Children of God and pray diligently for there is a favorable answer awaiting us,

“Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And the door will be opened for everyone who knocks.” Mathew 7:7 -8

• What is the purpose of prayer?  The purpose of prayer is that we may have the fullness of Joy as we receive answers to your prayers.

“When that time comes, you won't have to ask me about anything. I tell you for certain that the Father will give you whatever you ask for in my name.” - John 16:23 

• How is Prayers done? It is done in the name of Jesus and according to the will of God

"Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" - 1 John 3:22.

• What makes some prayers unsuccessful? –

Doubt: “But when you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm. If you are that kind of person, you can't make up your mind, and you surely can't be trusted. So don't expect the Lord to give you anything at all.” - James 1:6 

Bad motives: “Yet even when you do pray, your prayers are not answered, because you pray just for selfish reasons.” - James 4:3 

Sins: “No matter how much you pray, I won't listen. You are too violent.” - Isaiah 1:15 CEV; and else: Proverb 15:8, Proverb 21:27; Isaiah 58:3-4.

N.B: Humility is also required in everything we do in this life, for us to benefit God’s grace. 

“In fact, God treats us with even greater kindness, just as the Scriptures say, "God opposes everyone who is proud, but he is kind to everyone who is humble." - James 4:6

Praying Great Prayers

PRAYER

This is a briefing of the message i have preached at Living Word Association (LWA) last Saturday and the subject was praying great prayers.

INTRODUCTION:

 “And David girded his sword on his armor, and he tried to go. But he had not tested it. And David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them. And David put them off him.” - 1Sa 17:39

David refused to go for war with a weapon he didn’t have the experience to use. I will do the same here, and only refer to life style Jesus had used as I have come to understand it.

When it comes to the subject of prayer, there is no easy way to explain it. Many years ago, due to a series of personal frustration about this subject I decided to no longer buy books related to prayers. And below, I will avoid quoting the wisdom that my fellow Christians have received from the Lord on this topic. I will simplify it for the readers. I will rather concentrate on Jesus life as a model of what would a great prayer lifestyle look like. Jesus life style had been tested and his biography is easily accessed by all, unlike that of many of his disciples over the century. Since we are Jesus disciple’s we will learn best from His example.

“And it happened in those days that He went out into a mountain to pray, and He was spending the night in prayer to God.  And when it was day, He called His disciples. And He chose twelve of them, whom He also named apostles: ” Luke 6:12-13 

We learn 3 things about this verse,

1.    The mountains – There is a Place Jesus went

2.    The Night to the day – There is a Time frame His prayers took

3.    To God – There is an Object to His prayer - The Provider.

I will start from reverse order,

1. God:

Jesus prayed to the God, the Father from whom all good things come from. He left us a partten. Jesus wanted us to know what was His source of all goodness, favor and blessings. He only had one, it was His Father. As one of Jesus disciples reckoned later on, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.” - James 1:17 

The Psalmist knew the same truth, “I, even I, will call to God, and Jehovah  will save me.” He called on God for his salvation.” - Psalm 55:16 

2. TIME & PLACE 

Jesus didn’t just pray in a hurry way. It is true that not all prayers Jesus made were long prayers as this could be seen in this episode of the resurrection of Lazarus,

“Then they took away the stone where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  And I know that You hear Me always, but because of the people who stand by I said it, so that they may believe that You have sent Me.” - John 11:41-42  

This was rather a short prayer I assume. It might not have taken hours or long minutes to utter a similar request to Father. It makes sense that Jesus wouldn’t make long prayer before a public. When he was in public, it was usually action time. Hence, leaving us also a model of short prayers before significant actions, such as resurrecting someone or multiplying breads.

1. Time

 “And it happened in those days that He went out into a mountain to pray, and He was spending the night in prayer to God.  And when it was day, He called His disciples. And He chose twelve of them, whom He also named apostles: ” Luke 6:12-13 

This may sound unusual, but Jesus took long hours in prayers before He selected his disciples. I learn from this that important decisions should be taken in prayers. And more importantly, there is nothing too important that we should leave it outside the realm of prayers – long, persistent and incessant prayers. It is astonishing that Jesus did take at time long moments of prayers in his private life, not only when he chose his 12 apostles. See below:

 “And rising up quite early in the night, He went out and went away into a deserted place, and He was praying there. And Simon, and those with him, searched for Him.  And finding Him, they said to Him, All are seeking You.” - Mar 1:35-37 

a.1. Jesus Praying Life

In Mark 1:35, Jesus prayed when it was still darker to the morning when the disciples and the rest of the public woke up which brings up the notion of time; and he prayed in a secluded or private place like a deserted place, bringing hence the notion of place. These two things are important. Let me first start with the subject of time.

a.2. There is a Time for Everything - Prayer

 “And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land.” - Mar 6:46

This event of Mark 6, is well known since after those long hours of prayers, Jesus rejoined the disciples by walking on water. In this episode, we learn that not only did Jesus look for a private place to make his long prayers, but that he also had a finite time for socializing. He didn’t sacrifice prayers over socializing or ministry. In this case, he requested the crowd and the disciples to leave him so that he could have some time of personal prayers. This is an important lesson for personal organization.

 

a.3 Jesus took important decision during prayers

 “And He [Jesus] said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful to death. Stay here and watch. And He went forward a little and fell on the ground. And He prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to You. Take away this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.” - Mark 14:34-36.

In this episode of Jesus life, just before his betrayal and the cross, Jesus wrestled with a difficult decision. And he came over and over the final conclusion. We recognize the agony of Jesus before the cross but even in this time of ‘despair’, he never forsook prayers. He considered it important to speak with the Father over those very difficult issues and very difficult decisions of life. The account, tells us that Jesus might have done more than an hour in prayer to resolve this issue, as the context of the story reminds us that he woke up his disciples who couldn’t pray with him for just 1 hour.

2. Place

As already shown in previous texts, finding a place was important for Jesus. The question is why? I believe that this text of one of Jesus disciple tells us why he needed to be alone in prayer:

 “[For Jesus], in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong cryings and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared,” - Hebrews 5:7 

Heb5:7 tells us of the intensity and the repetitive time of prayers Jesus had when he was on earth. He offered prayers to God with a lot of tears and crying. Having been repetitively in prayer sessions with people speaking to God from depth of their heart, I have witness some disturbing emotional behavior. And as it is for any emotional expression, when someone (Mr. A) is not feeling the same way with the one who expresses his feeling (Mr. B), then Mr. A will necessarily feel overwhelmed by the explosion of Mr. B emotions. And I suspect that this is the reason why Jesus looked for a secluded place, deserted places, mountains – in brief, places where there were no one in order for Him to pray God the Father and wrestle with the issues that pained him the most without creating scene for bystanders. It was sacred time and painful time for the Christ. There was nothing magical or supernatural about the deserted places or the mountains. There were just places where serious matter could have been dealt with in prayers, far from praying eyes.

The Psalmist felt the same at times, “Evening and morning, and at noon, I will pray and cry aloud; and He shall hear my voice.” Psalm 55:17 

This verse above speaks of the time invested in prayers, “Evening, Morning and at Noon” and it also reveals the intensity of the pray “Pray & cry aloud”. This happened to Jesus, to the Psalmist and to countless saints over history. There is nothing abnormal about it.

But because our pain or our emotion could be misunderstood, it is better to keep it private, as it is written, “So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.” - Romans 14:16 

Extra Info:

“And when he had learned that the document was signed, Daniel went to his house. And his windows were open in his roof room toward Jerusalem; and he kneeled on his knees three times a day and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.”- Daniel 6:10   

Daniel 6:10 also make reference of 1) a private Place of prayer, in his case it was his house; 2) a Time of prayer: 3 times a day and 3) a Methodology of prayer: he prayed toward Jerusalem. For Christians the methodology is to pray the Father in the name of Jesus. We can knock on the door confidently because we know who the door to the Father is, namely Jesus. We can search and we will find because we know who the way to the Father is, namely Jesus.

Another point important to remember, even in Daniel’s life, despite the daunting task of the administration of the Kingdom of Babylon, he still had time – lengthy time if put together – during his heavy schedule to pray. So it was with the Psalmist who happened to be King David. He gave himself into prayers.

NB: “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not answer; and in the night, and am not silent.” Psalm 22:2 

Ps.22:2, we are informed that sometime a saint may well pray for a long time without immediately receiving a satisfying answer. When God doesn’t answer when you cry, what should we do?

My belief is to do like Jesus did in Gethsemane, keep praying! Paul followed the same methods, he kept praying after repeated failure to receive an answer – 3 times he insisted before he got his answer.

We are exhorted to remain pray full:

“Continue in prayer and watch in it with thanksgiving,” Colossians 4:2 

“For my love they are my foes; but I am in prayer.” “Psalm 109:4  

Being a Great Christian

Being a Great Christian

It is not a carnal desire to want to be great among your brethren. When the disciples asked Jesus about who will be the greatest among the disciple in Luc 22:26, Jesus did not reproach them for wanting to be great in God’eyes. Jesus redefined for them what it meant to be the greatest in the kingdom of God. The greatest in God’s eye will be the one who will be servant of others. The better we serve, the greater we are in the Eternal Kingdom. Chip Ingram in his 2007 book, “Good to Great in God’s eyes”, he gave 10 practices that great Christians have in common. The 10 were collected through plenty of Christians’ biographies over the history of Christendom. Below are 4 of those practices that I selected for my Saturday sermon at the Living Word Association at Diplomat hotel.

1.       Think Great Thought

During 12 years of research, Dr. Jack Kaskin professor at the University of Tennessee reported the result of the influence of the Media on how people think.  Two groups of people were subjected for 5 min a day with news. 1 group listened to bad news, while the other group (Control group) heard good news. After evaluating the groups, the control group which had positive news was more positive about life and had an uplifted mood. While the one with bad news reacted in 4 ways:

a.       They were more depressed; b. they believed the world was a negative place, c. they were less likely to help others, d. they began to believe that what they heard would soon happen to them.

Simply by receiving the 5 minutes of news per day from the radio, their concept of life were shaped. Whether we like it or not, what we think influences what we do or how we live.

How to remedy that? Philippians 4:8 gives us a way. It teaches us to always think great thoughts.

Here are areas where great thought could be thought about: 1) Think great thought about God: Rom11:33-36; Es. 55.; 2) Think great thought about yourself. Not in a vain way but in a responsible way: Zephaniah 3:17. ; 3) Think great thought about others, Do not despise people. See them as being people of value. Do not rely only on what you see. 1 Sam 16:7.; 4) Think great thought about the Future, Believe that you have a future and that you biography doesn't necessary means it is your destiny. Things can and will change in the future. Jeremiah 29:11.; 5) Think great thought about the past. Let us not be slave of our sad and unpleasant past experiences. Let us learn to contextualize our past. Philippians 3:13-14.; 6) Thing great thought about challenges. With challenges come the opportunity for new victories and a greater renown. James 1:2-4.

2.       Read Great books

Great people read great books, they mostly have that in common. This is a way we can lear from other people success or failure and see how best to apply or follow their examples without repeating their mistakes.

Read books that:

a)      Shape your world view: biographies. Eg. Happiest Men on Earth – Demos Shakarian; b) Shape your mind: Apologetics: Eg. Mere Christianity – C.S Lewis; c) shapes your heart: Eg. Books about prayers: Prayer Key of Revival – Paul Yongi Cho; Beyond Jabez – Bruce Wilkerson. d) shape your skills: Eg. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey. e) Shape your souls: Eg. Books by Derek Prince. f) The Bible, which is the book that will guide you in the area of your future book readings.

3.       Pursue Great People

Great Christians learn from the best. There is an Axion that says: We become most like those we admire and those with whom we interact most frequently. The book of Proverb 13:20, encourages us to walk with the wise. Hebrews 13:7, encourages us to imitated those who have shown exemplary faith. You can also learn from influential people by proxy, by making use of Tapes, Videos, Books, Phones and Internet, etc.

4.       Pray Great Prayers

Great Christians pray great prayers. Few things to know about great prayers: Great prayers are birthed in brokenness. There is a way that makes us also broken without experiencing the harshness of life; it is the practice of fasting. We always remember the reason why we fasted just like broken people remembers what broke them. Great prayers take God at his word: Nehemiah 1:3-11. 

Preparing for Christmas

It is only one week before Christmas. Different people are preparing  differently for this holy day. What makes this day so holy in the Christian calender is that this day reminds us of the birth and life of our Lord Jesus Christ - Matthew 2.

I read on Reasonable Faith website this statement which i loved, and i want to leave you with it:

"Wise Men Still Seek for Him"

 

Thanks Giving Day 2013

This year has started rather slow for me. I spent my New Year night alone battling sickness and wondering about what the new year would have in store for me. Having now reached the end of the year, and looking back i can't help but smile at the unexpected itinerary my life has taken. As a friend told me recently about what Steve Job said once, that it was impossible to connect the dot when you are looking forward (the future). But the dots makes more sense when you look at the past. In the same spirit as he did, i look backward and i can't stop smiling. I am grateful to God for:

• I thank God for granting me the many financial opportunities since January up to August.
• I am also grateful for the current consulting work that I am doing with the entrepreneurs. This one came quite unexpectedly.
• I am grateful for my friend Armel Nouatin who has offered me the definitive Jesus' collection in the tome like Book: "The Resurrection of Jesus: A Historiographical Approach" by Dr. Michael Licona. 
• How can i not be grateful to Michel Mbonyinkebe who share with me his debate-like-book on "Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views" - William L. Craig vs Gregory Boyd, et al. What an impressively clarifying book on the subject. I understood better Molinism and the Open view knowledge of God.
• This list of books will be incomplete without mentioning the my compulsive reading of "Outliers". For this, i am grateful to Foyo who introduced me to the work of Malcolm Galdwell.
• And though life is demanding and stressful, I cannot not be grateful  to my friend Nicole who through her network has manage once again to make me use my writing gifts in more ways than one. One particularly come to mind that surpass the others - if everything goes well according to plan, an essay that i wrote will be incorporated in a book soon to be released about Rwanda. Stay tuned for that! Will make the announcement when time comes! ;)
• This year seems to have reserved the best for last - my soon to be wedding! I am quite excited about it. I am grateful for the woman who has accepted to share her life with me. Thank you Mia!
• Thank you Ndatira for being the best ever coordinator. Thumbs up!
• UPDATE: I am also so glad for all my friends and brothers who have been able to start living their dreams. :)

I am sure that regardless of how well or bad the year has been for all of us, we all have something to be grateful about. It just makes more sense to be grateful when you have someone toward whom to be grateful, and my greatest thanks goes to God who have purposed all those blessings along my way!

Happy Thanks-Giving to All in Jesus' name.