In Isaiah 58:3 they ask, “why do we have to fast?” Some Christians ask themselves, “why do we have to fast? Is fasting necessary in Christian life?” Yes! It is necessary because difficult situations find solutions only through fasting, so we must fast as Christians.
Matthew 6:16 talks about when Christians fast they want everybody to know they are fasting. Fasting is something that happens in secret and is between you and Your God. Many Christians imitate what Muslims do, when they fast they break every radio and television then say it was Ramadan; Muslims are proud of this. Our God doesn’t say this, our God says, “do this in secret.” It is between you and God so don’t fast to be noticed by men. It means that when you fast, you can go to your room and pray quietly with a soft voice and not shouting because you can disturb others. This is what it means to pray. It is not about speaking loud to let people know that you are is praying. It’s not wrong to pray loudly, it’s only wrong if you are doing it for attention from man instead of God because whatever we do we must avoid hypocrisy.
When I was in my country we fasted. We would fast from Wednesday until Saturday and people who lived with us would not even know we were fasting. When we had finished fasting, we would go back home quietly.
When you pray, you prepare spiritually. In the book of Daniel 9:4, “I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and loving-kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments”.
If you start at verse 4 and you want to fast, you must confess your sins. Many Christians when they pray they say, “Jesus forgive me for what I have done.” Our God wants us to confess with our mouth and say, “God I have stolen, Lord forgive me.” If I have stolen from Michael I must go to him and confess what I have done and ask for forgiveness then go back to God. The Bible says that “if you have a problem with someone, go and see him first and make peace, then come back to Me.”
A good prayer for a start is when you humiliate yourself and meditate on everything you’ve done. Maybe you will say “I’ve done this to Peter or this hasn’t pleased Michael or Steve, or I’ve spoken wrong against Brenda.” You must first think of these things and go and ask for forgiveness. Jesus says, “if you are ashamed of Me I will be ashamed of you before My Father.” If you are not able to confess your sins to each other, how can you confess your sins to God? God will say, “Odon, I don’t have a problem with you but you have a problem with Michael, you don’t have a problem with Me you have a problem with Brenda, go and fix it.”
This is how many Christians pray. The very first thing Daniel did was to kneel down and confess his sins. In Daniel 6:10 you will see that when Daniel had a problem he will kneel down. It means that when you go though difficult times we must try to leave our level, if we are sinners we must leave this sin and try to reach a higher level for it will help us reach God. This is a sacrifice. You can say, “I must kneel down and pray to God today so that I can be alone with Him.
When Daniel started praying he opened the windows, so we to must open Heavens windows and to open Heaven’s windows is what? We first must confess our sins so that God’s ear can hear us and touch us.
So as Christians we must first know where are the windows? We all know how important windows are in a house. Can I ask you how important windows are in your house? Through the windows we can have fresh air, we can see what is happening on the outside without leaving our house, we can see what God created. If I want to see something outside, how can I see through the wall? This is what God wants, that through the window we can see glory and power which we can only see if we confess our sins.
Zechariah 7:4-6, “Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me. “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘when you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you just feasting for yourselves?”
We can see that when most people pray and fast they don’t fast to please God but fast to please man and fast to please their bodies.
One-day I was with my brothers in Kenya and we prayed as we do each Wednesday. Some people would pray only because others would say that they didn’t come last time. They come only to please other men. You can pray for ten years and if your situation is like this, you will not find a solution. Some people come to pray and fast but they have sins. After having a domestic with their wives they come to church and pray and when they come they disturb everybody’s prayer. Some who are ready to learn about God will be distracted because of this person’s sins. Satan uses people like this.
That is why we must know why we pray and fast, we don’t fast just to please man but also we must know the commitment we have towards God. If you say to God we will pray each Tuesday, than this yes must be yes. When we fast we must have a goal, fasting is not saying let’s meet together for five minutes and that is it. When we pray to fast we must let the Holy Spirit lead us. Of course some people fast for ten minutes and there is an answer, some people fast for two days and have no answer.
When we fast we say, “God I give myself into your Hands and I will pray from 8:00am til 3:00pm.” It is not about praying for five minutes then finished, when we fast we must be in prayer each moment, this is where we can practice what the Bible says, “pray always.” It means we must be in contact with God every minute whether at work or driving the car, you must be in prayer and have a goal; then God will answer you.
Some people get together and say “we will fast” and when they are together they look at each other. “Why are we fasting today and what are we going to tell God?” You’ll say I wouldn’t have a clue but because we don’t know we’ll pray for Michael that he won’t need to wear glasses. Then they pray. Some people may want to pray for Odon because he is too black, they ask God that He will make him brown. So they pray. Are you praying or joking? People do what they don’t know. If you decide to pray and fast on Saturday you must start the day at midnight because that is when Saturday is.
You must tell God all that you want to pray for and what time you have set and beg Him to answer you. So when you go to bed at night you have already started your prayer and when you wake up you proceed praying. If you decide you are not eating then don’t eat, if you say you are not drinking then let your yes must be yes, accept it and don’t drink. So now you must fight for temptation will come. When we fast we see food and know it is good to eat, even the water you’ll find is good, so you will see that Satan will not leave you alone and that you will have problems. Maybe your children, friends, husbands, wives all these things seem to disturb you. You must be strong spiritually.
Luke 18:12, I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. We can see here with the example of our brother that he makes known all that he is doing. God doesn’t like this but today Christians still sound the trumpet. If someone asks you, “are you fasting” you say “yes, I’m fasting,” if someone says, “are you fasting” and you say “yes, I am fasting and I give my tithes. You only want to raise yourself up but this could bring shame to the person talking to you. So you will give a wrong interpretation, avoid this. If someone asks you a question, answer the question and leave it at that. This is what God wants.
God says Himself, “if you ask for a fish I’ll give you a fish.” As for us Christian’s we must ask for something specific and when God gives us something we also must accept it because He gives according to how specific we are.
Matthew 4:2, After fasting for forty days and nights Jesus became hungry. After Jesus fasted, Satan came. Satan did not come on the first day or on the thirty eighth day, but the devil came at the last minute. It means that when we fast, at the end of it when we feel tired Satan comes.
For example, you have started your fast in the morning and decide not to eat until 5:00pm. At 4:00pm the body will start shaking and when you see food you want to jump on it and envy it. This is a sin. For example, you ask Sylvie to pray for the food. She prays for fifteen minutes and in your heart you are judging her, why are you taking so long to pray Sylvie? Then you will start hating her and it is a sin to hate. The Bible says that when you hate someone you are a murderer. So you must be very careful in your last minutes of fasting, this is when Satan comes and does great things. In our country we say that the boat is about to tip over before reaching the shores. That is why Satan came to meet Jesus at the last minute because he could see that Jesus was tired. Jesus was hungry and Satan came to offer Him impossible things. People think that when Satan comes he comes to tell you lies or to murder, but he also has strategies and this is how he came to the Lord.
Is fulfilling a miracle a sin? I don’t think so, but he did say to Jesus’ turn these stones into bread so you can eat. This is a good offer and hard to refuse. You can see that Satan feels for Jesus and says “instead of starving to death just change these stones into bread because I know you have the power to do it.” This is how Satan comes, he comes with something logical and you will think this is the truth and if you are not careful you will listen to what he says. If you follow this, you will see Satan gave orders to Jesus indirectly, it was a discussion, “if you are the Son of God change these stones.” I’ll say to Michael, “if you are a pastor pray for me so I can be healed” and Michael will say “is that what you want, so I’ll pray and you’ll see that I am a pastor.” Before Michael prays he asks, “don’t you recognise that I am a pastor? I say that “I am not too sure, but pray first and then I will know”. If Michael is not careful when he stands up to pray, he will not do that for the glory of God but for his own glory so that he’ll be known as a pastor.
God is against this. All what we do must be for the glory of God. Always pray and know that fasting is better and when we pray we can change all sorts of things. There are many examples in the Bible about fasting and God never waits to answer our prayers. If you want to see God’s Hand in your life, pray and fast, then you’ll really know how God works. All the miracles on this earth performed by servants of God and preachings you have, if they are not supported by prayer and fasting they have no effect, that is why people pray and fast. To fast doesn’t mean to waste your time, to fast does not mean to burn time because you are bored. It is a sacrifice, so don’t accept to do it for yourself. Don’t ask Oscar to fast and pray for you because when Oscar is gone who will be there to fast for you? Now it is time to start practising fasting, so test God and God will answer you, this is a secret, this is what Daniel and others did.
Showing posts with label Fasting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fasting. Show all posts
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Fasting and Prayer (Part I)
By Odon Bulamba
We are going to look in the book of Daniel. Daniel was a prophet and God was with him. Most people only know the story about the lions’ den but forget that Daniel did something before this and that God was always with him. What was the secret for Daniel so that God would protect him from difficult situations?
Daniel 9:3. “So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes”.
Daniel started to fast. Today we are not going to talk about his clothes and what he wore (maybe we’ll talk about it another day and you can also discover yourself what sackcloth and ashes mean). Today we are only talking about fasting. Is it necessary that someone fast? We can see that Daniel fasted and God was close to him each moment. Although he was close to God, every day he would fast. When Jesus started his ministry and even though He was God Himself, He fasted. So what does fasting mean? Can someone give me the answer?
According to what we know and what the Bible tells us most people when they fast don’t see fruit. Sometimes people don’t sleep to show God they are going through a hard time so that through their sacrifice God will hear them. To fast is to pray, but it’s a prayer that is amplified and you can find this prayer in Isaiah 58.
If you start from verse six and then revert to verse three you’ll see that something is opposite. Some people can pray and fast but God doesn’t accept their prayer and the only reason is that they don’t do what is quoted in verse 6 to the end. You might fast from food and sleep, but if you don’t fulfil the Will of God, what you are doing is nothing.
God says, “those who are bound must be released.” How many people have you released in your life? God will be very happy when you go and see sinners and bring them to Him. Go and see them in the Devil’s prison and release them from their sins. How will you do that? The Bible says we can draw people to God by first reaching to them and then showing them our lives.
In verse 7 it says “we must share with those who are hungry.” In Hamilton we can see how many people starve to death every day from spiritual hunger. Many people need the Word of God in their lives, many people come to us to find a solution to their problems, but we answer them according to our will, we don’t want to share what we have with them. I know Christians who are ashamed to say they are Christians. When they are among a crowd, they hide their Christianity. Sometimes when they pray they look right or left to see if anybody is looking.
In Africa and in most parts of the world, when Christian’s meet each other you never forget each other. First, their greeting is something different. If I meet Sylvie for instance I say, “Praise the Lord Sister” and she will say “amen.” Pagans will watch us and say, “What is this greeting?” Pagans must know we are Christians and we must be proud of our nationality. Many Christians today are ashamed to say “Halleluiah” and to say “Amen” is a problem. So will it be better when you are with your boss or friends at work and they say “Praise the Lord?” Will you then say “Amen”?
Sylvie told me once that one of her students was a Christian but Sylvie did not know that she was a Christian even after many days and months. I have never seen that a rat can forget a cat, or the cat can forget a rat. Our God says “we must not do that, we must share our bread with those who are hungry.” Rich people have a hunger along with the poor. Although you are rich, your stomach will tell you something, although you are a millionaire, your stomach will ask for food. The poor are the same. Spiritual life is the same, and we all need to eat spiritual food. In order to have a good fast you must share with those who are hungry.
The Bible says we must give clothes to those who are naked and those who are naked are sinners. So we must do everything we can to clothe our brother and sisters. You might tell me, “it is impossible to visit this person,” but when you are home pray that God will help this person to be saved and God will help. If you don’t make an effort when you are fasting you can be sure your fasting is in vain.
We are going to look in the book of Daniel. Daniel was a prophet and God was with him. Most people only know the story about the lions’ den but forget that Daniel did something before this and that God was always with him. What was the secret for Daniel so that God would protect him from difficult situations?
Daniel 9:3. “So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes”.
Daniel started to fast. Today we are not going to talk about his clothes and what he wore (maybe we’ll talk about it another day and you can also discover yourself what sackcloth and ashes mean). Today we are only talking about fasting. Is it necessary that someone fast? We can see that Daniel fasted and God was close to him each moment. Although he was close to God, every day he would fast. When Jesus started his ministry and even though He was God Himself, He fasted. So what does fasting mean? Can someone give me the answer?
According to what we know and what the Bible tells us most people when they fast don’t see fruit. Sometimes people don’t sleep to show God they are going through a hard time so that through their sacrifice God will hear them. To fast is to pray, but it’s a prayer that is amplified and you can find this prayer in Isaiah 58.
If you start from verse six and then revert to verse three you’ll see that something is opposite. Some people can pray and fast but God doesn’t accept their prayer and the only reason is that they don’t do what is quoted in verse 6 to the end. You might fast from food and sleep, but if you don’t fulfil the Will of God, what you are doing is nothing.
God says, “those who are bound must be released.” How many people have you released in your life? God will be very happy when you go and see sinners and bring them to Him. Go and see them in the Devil’s prison and release them from their sins. How will you do that? The Bible says we can draw people to God by first reaching to them and then showing them our lives.
In verse 7 it says “we must share with those who are hungry.” In Hamilton we can see how many people starve to death every day from spiritual hunger. Many people need the Word of God in their lives, many people come to us to find a solution to their problems, but we answer them according to our will, we don’t want to share what we have with them. I know Christians who are ashamed to say they are Christians. When they are among a crowd, they hide their Christianity. Sometimes when they pray they look right or left to see if anybody is looking.
In Africa and in most parts of the world, when Christian’s meet each other you never forget each other. First, their greeting is something different. If I meet Sylvie for instance I say, “Praise the Lord Sister” and she will say “amen.” Pagans will watch us and say, “What is this greeting?” Pagans must know we are Christians and we must be proud of our nationality. Many Christians today are ashamed to say “Halleluiah” and to say “Amen” is a problem. So will it be better when you are with your boss or friends at work and they say “Praise the Lord?” Will you then say “Amen”?
Sylvie told me once that one of her students was a Christian but Sylvie did not know that she was a Christian even after many days and months. I have never seen that a rat can forget a cat, or the cat can forget a rat. Our God says “we must not do that, we must share our bread with those who are hungry.” Rich people have a hunger along with the poor. Although you are rich, your stomach will tell you something, although you are a millionaire, your stomach will ask for food. The poor are the same. Spiritual life is the same, and we all need to eat spiritual food. In order to have a good fast you must share with those who are hungry.
The Bible says we must give clothes to those who are naked and those who are naked are sinners. So we must do everything we can to clothe our brother and sisters. You might tell me, “it is impossible to visit this person,” but when you are home pray that God will help this person to be saved and God will help. If you don’t make an effort when you are fasting you can be sure your fasting is in vain.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Food & Honey
By Odon Bulamba (22nd February 2002)
The Bible says in Matthew 18:20 that when two or three are gathered together Jesus is in the mist of them. When Jesus comes in the mist of us He comes as a spirit and this spirit cannot be seen with our own eyes, but His power can be felt among us.
Today there is a certain illness in many churches. When Christians meet together to share the Word of God, the first feeling they have is to see how many people are in the church, and when there are many present they feel good. Personally I am very happy when we are few because we are able to concentrate. Jesus had twelve disciples with Him most of the time and they prayed together but sometimes He would just take two or three to pray with Him. I am not saying that an assembly of 1000 people present in the church is not good but when we are few, we can focus better.
1 Samuel 14:24-28, “Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under oath saying, cursed be any man who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies! So none of the troops tasted food.
The entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground.
When they went into the woods, they saw the honey oozing out, yet no one put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath.
But Jonathan had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath, so he reached out the end with a staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb. He raised his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened.
Then one of the soldiers told him, your father bound the army under a strict oath, saying, cursed be any man who eats food today! That is why the men are faint.”
This is a story of Jonathan the son of Saul. Jonathan was not a soldier but one day he went to war in secret without his father knowing it, and at that time the Israelites were losing a battle against the Philistines. So king Saul thought that by fasting through this difficult time God would help them through to victory.
How many times do we call on God when we are joyful? How many times do we pray and fast when things are good in our lives? Only when we go through difficult times do we call upon God. For example, you have just seen a doctor who diagnoses you with an illness, it is only then do you start to think about God, or when a bank doesn’t approve your loan, only then do you think about fasting.
For us Christians today we call on God only when things are hard and this makes us Christians only when things are difficult. It is true that many Christians say they fast and pray, but when they go through difficult situations you will see if they pray or not.
Saul had lived the same life. Since Saul was chosen by the prophet Samuel he never thought about God but only thought about organising his kingdom and when he went through difficulties he would go and see Samuel for a solution. So God made things happen. When the war started Saul was sure that he’d win because he had won many battles before. The Israelites would often despise the Philistines but this time God put Saul in a state of confusion and Saul saw that his army was losing the battle. So Saul thought that fasting was a good solution.
In order to fast you have conditions. When you fast it must go together with the Word of God and Saul didn’t stop to think that his soldiers might not have been ready. To fast you have to be ready spiritually, physically and morally. Isaiah 58 also explains that fasting doesn’t mean to abstain from eating or drinking.
Saul didn’t take into consideration that his soldiers might have sinned before fasting, nor did he care about their purity but he ordered them to fast. To abstain from food doesn’t mean that God will answer you nor does it mean that God’s presence will be with you because a lot of people in this world don’t get to eat at all. In the past the world viewed Ethiopia as a starving nation and the cameras would always show children with bare ribs and skinny bodies, so does this mean that God’s presence is with them? If you think that starving is a way of fasting, do you believe that the presence of God is with the starving millions around the world?
Instead of fearing God and His power, Saul’s soldiers feared the curse he spoke about and this is what many people do today. Many people today fear the government and they fear their supervisor, but they never fear God and that is why the world doesn’t know about God’s wisdom.
Saul’s soldiers went to war hungry and as we know a body that is hungry is weak and if you are starving you cannot fight, so it wasn’t easy for them. The Bible says that Saul’s soldiers went through a forest and found honey. So what is honey? Is it a drink? Is it food? Is it a drug? With honey you can satisfy your thirst, you can satisfy your hunger, and when you are sick it can act like a medicine. Jesus Himself is the source of honey because the Word of God is honey.
So what makes honey? A bee is a very small insect that has a nasty sting but produces nice honey. Its sting can make you bed ridden for days and its honey can turn a kid into a thief because a child loves honey. Before people collect honey from a beehive they have to pay extreme attention because bees can attack. You need to be sure of what you are doing and you must be ready to lose your life including your mother, husband and children. Honey is interesting but it is a struggle to gather it.
When the soldiers saw the honey they probably thought more about food then their families far away. When Jonathan saw the honey he knew that it was good for food but he also knew that bees could attack, so he used his stick. Remember studies in the Bible about sticks? Pharaoh, Moses, Joshua, Elijah and all the prophets had a stick, so what is the meaning of a stick in the Bible? Why does a shepherd have a stick? Why did all the pilgrims mentioned in the Bible have a stick?
A stick can protect you, it can support you, and it can help you to walk, so why do people use sticks? Why do the elderly use sticks? The stick is there to correct, to perform miracles and support the body when it is tired, also a stick speaks about the life of a tree after its death.
So Jonathan used his stick to get the honey and put it into his mouth. Imagine using a dirty stick with honey on it and eating it? Jonathan was a prince and everything he used to eat his food with was clean, but now he is using a dirty stick to eat. Could this happen in your life? Meditate on it.
As soon as Jonathan ate the honey the Bible says that his eyes brighten and some versions say his face looked beautiful, and this happened when Jonathan’s father said that he would be cursed if he ate honey. But when Jonathan ate the honey he was transformed.
Preachers today speak negative about other churches because they don’t want their Christians to go elsewhere, and they always want to cause conflict between churches forgetting that the body and life of Christians belongs in the church.So we can see that there is conflict in the church of God today because we are taught that if we have fellowship or contact with other denominations we will be cursed.
A preacher spoke one day about grass and he said that if the sheep eat another type of grass they would have diarrhoea. What he was saying is that the Christians in his church must not go to other churches because they will be given bad grass that could kill their spiritual life, but this preacher was a blind man leading blind people. Many Pastors today push blind people out onto the road instead of taking them to the pedestrian crossing.
Jonathan accepted to eat the honey even if it meant to die as his father said, but once they ate the honey victory came back to the Israelites because the soldiers that were weak became strong.
The soldiers didn’t accuse Jonathan for eating the honey because on earth there is only one accuser and that is the devil. However many Christians today wear this gift of accusing, they pretend to know the truth but they just want to accuse the souls of people. Some people found it necessary for Saul to kill Jonathan but the soldiers disagreed because it was through Jonathan that they had victory and because Jonathan helped them fight they didn’t think he had the right to die.
Many people today fight others when they give them the truth. Leaders today in the church can tell other Christians not to listen to a preacher because they say he is led by the devil but as Christians we should be looking for victory in Jesus Christ instead of stoning one another. So what is the difference between us and those who crucified Jesus? What is the difference between Christians today and those who stoned Stephen for speaking the truth?
We have to defend the word of God with strength and purity of heart because the truth is the truth and when the victory is there you can say to your Pastor yes you are my shepherd. We know that a shepherd looks after sheep but sometimes a shepherd needs sheep to sustain him, so if you don’t help the Pastor or the Pastor doesn’t help you nothing will work in your church. Don’t think that the Pastor is perfect but respect him because God has chosen him and if he makes a mistake help him as he helps you.
This is the story of Jonathan; we have to defend one another so let’s avoid our feelings and judgement so we may know where to go and when we fast we have to know why we fast. Meditate on what honey means, meditate on what the stick represents and let’s think about mans decisions and God’s decisions. Put in your head that one day you will die so never fear death.
The Bible says in Matthew 18:20 that when two or three are gathered together Jesus is in the mist of them. When Jesus comes in the mist of us He comes as a spirit and this spirit cannot be seen with our own eyes, but His power can be felt among us.
Today there is a certain illness in many churches. When Christians meet together to share the Word of God, the first feeling they have is to see how many people are in the church, and when there are many present they feel good. Personally I am very happy when we are few because we are able to concentrate. Jesus had twelve disciples with Him most of the time and they prayed together but sometimes He would just take two or three to pray with Him. I am not saying that an assembly of 1000 people present in the church is not good but when we are few, we can focus better.
1 Samuel 14:24-28, “Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under oath saying, cursed be any man who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies! So none of the troops tasted food.
The entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground.
When they went into the woods, they saw the honey oozing out, yet no one put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath.
But Jonathan had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath, so he reached out the end with a staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb. He raised his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened.
Then one of the soldiers told him, your father bound the army under a strict oath, saying, cursed be any man who eats food today! That is why the men are faint.”
This is a story of Jonathan the son of Saul. Jonathan was not a soldier but one day he went to war in secret without his father knowing it, and at that time the Israelites were losing a battle against the Philistines. So king Saul thought that by fasting through this difficult time God would help them through to victory.
How many times do we call on God when we are joyful? How many times do we pray and fast when things are good in our lives? Only when we go through difficult times do we call upon God. For example, you have just seen a doctor who diagnoses you with an illness, it is only then do you start to think about God, or when a bank doesn’t approve your loan, only then do you think about fasting.
For us Christians today we call on God only when things are hard and this makes us Christians only when things are difficult. It is true that many Christians say they fast and pray, but when they go through difficult situations you will see if they pray or not.
Saul had lived the same life. Since Saul was chosen by the prophet Samuel he never thought about God but only thought about organising his kingdom and when he went through difficulties he would go and see Samuel for a solution. So God made things happen. When the war started Saul was sure that he’d win because he had won many battles before. The Israelites would often despise the Philistines but this time God put Saul in a state of confusion and Saul saw that his army was losing the battle. So Saul thought that fasting was a good solution.
In order to fast you have conditions. When you fast it must go together with the Word of God and Saul didn’t stop to think that his soldiers might not have been ready. To fast you have to be ready spiritually, physically and morally. Isaiah 58 also explains that fasting doesn’t mean to abstain from eating or drinking.
Saul didn’t take into consideration that his soldiers might have sinned before fasting, nor did he care about their purity but he ordered them to fast. To abstain from food doesn’t mean that God will answer you nor does it mean that God’s presence will be with you because a lot of people in this world don’t get to eat at all. In the past the world viewed Ethiopia as a starving nation and the cameras would always show children with bare ribs and skinny bodies, so does this mean that God’s presence is with them? If you think that starving is a way of fasting, do you believe that the presence of God is with the starving millions around the world?
Instead of fearing God and His power, Saul’s soldiers feared the curse he spoke about and this is what many people do today. Many people today fear the government and they fear their supervisor, but they never fear God and that is why the world doesn’t know about God’s wisdom.
Saul’s soldiers went to war hungry and as we know a body that is hungry is weak and if you are starving you cannot fight, so it wasn’t easy for them. The Bible says that Saul’s soldiers went through a forest and found honey. So what is honey? Is it a drink? Is it food? Is it a drug? With honey you can satisfy your thirst, you can satisfy your hunger, and when you are sick it can act like a medicine. Jesus Himself is the source of honey because the Word of God is honey.
So what makes honey? A bee is a very small insect that has a nasty sting but produces nice honey. Its sting can make you bed ridden for days and its honey can turn a kid into a thief because a child loves honey. Before people collect honey from a beehive they have to pay extreme attention because bees can attack. You need to be sure of what you are doing and you must be ready to lose your life including your mother, husband and children. Honey is interesting but it is a struggle to gather it.
When the soldiers saw the honey they probably thought more about food then their families far away. When Jonathan saw the honey he knew that it was good for food but he also knew that bees could attack, so he used his stick. Remember studies in the Bible about sticks? Pharaoh, Moses, Joshua, Elijah and all the prophets had a stick, so what is the meaning of a stick in the Bible? Why does a shepherd have a stick? Why did all the pilgrims mentioned in the Bible have a stick?
A stick can protect you, it can support you, and it can help you to walk, so why do people use sticks? Why do the elderly use sticks? The stick is there to correct, to perform miracles and support the body when it is tired, also a stick speaks about the life of a tree after its death.
So Jonathan used his stick to get the honey and put it into his mouth. Imagine using a dirty stick with honey on it and eating it? Jonathan was a prince and everything he used to eat his food with was clean, but now he is using a dirty stick to eat. Could this happen in your life? Meditate on it.
As soon as Jonathan ate the honey the Bible says that his eyes brighten and some versions say his face looked beautiful, and this happened when Jonathan’s father said that he would be cursed if he ate honey. But when Jonathan ate the honey he was transformed.
Preachers today speak negative about other churches because they don’t want their Christians to go elsewhere, and they always want to cause conflict between churches forgetting that the body and life of Christians belongs in the church.So we can see that there is conflict in the church of God today because we are taught that if we have fellowship or contact with other denominations we will be cursed.
A preacher spoke one day about grass and he said that if the sheep eat another type of grass they would have diarrhoea. What he was saying is that the Christians in his church must not go to other churches because they will be given bad grass that could kill their spiritual life, but this preacher was a blind man leading blind people. Many Pastors today push blind people out onto the road instead of taking them to the pedestrian crossing.
Jonathan accepted to eat the honey even if it meant to die as his father said, but once they ate the honey victory came back to the Israelites because the soldiers that were weak became strong.
The soldiers didn’t accuse Jonathan for eating the honey because on earth there is only one accuser and that is the devil. However many Christians today wear this gift of accusing, they pretend to know the truth but they just want to accuse the souls of people. Some people found it necessary for Saul to kill Jonathan but the soldiers disagreed because it was through Jonathan that they had victory and because Jonathan helped them fight they didn’t think he had the right to die.
Many people today fight others when they give them the truth. Leaders today in the church can tell other Christians not to listen to a preacher because they say he is led by the devil but as Christians we should be looking for victory in Jesus Christ instead of stoning one another. So what is the difference between us and those who crucified Jesus? What is the difference between Christians today and those who stoned Stephen for speaking the truth?
We have to defend the word of God with strength and purity of heart because the truth is the truth and when the victory is there you can say to your Pastor yes you are my shepherd. We know that a shepherd looks after sheep but sometimes a shepherd needs sheep to sustain him, so if you don’t help the Pastor or the Pastor doesn’t help you nothing will work in your church. Don’t think that the Pastor is perfect but respect him because God has chosen him and if he makes a mistake help him as he helps you.
This is the story of Jonathan; we have to defend one another so let’s avoid our feelings and judgement so we may know where to go and when we fast we have to know why we fast. Meditate on what honey means, meditate on what the stick represents and let’s think about mans decisions and God’s decisions. Put in your head that one day you will die so never fear death.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Preparing to Fast (Part VI – Authority)
By Odon Bulamba
Now is the time to fly. When God tells you to fly and if you don’t do it He’ll put pressure on you. You know the story of Jonah. On his journey God visited him. God allowed him to be free for a time but then put his foot down, “You must go back to where you came from”. Jonah was not able to tell the captain of the ship to turn back. The navigators probably thought Jonah was crazy to ask them to turn back the ship because of him. So God took back Jonah in a way that nobody could believe, to be in the belly of a whale is not easy, it is better to die. This is what happens when God takes you by force when He wants to use you for something.
So it is to accept rather than for God to use force. If you wait the situation will be worse. There was a king in the Bible called Nebuchadnezzar. Because he didn’t accept what God said God called him in a way which I appreciate a lot. He spent seven years in the forest eating grass. The Bible says he was like an animal. Imagine if he was your husband. People will laugh at you a lot. When you refuse to do God’s will it is not only you that suffer but also your family members. They will be shocked because of what you are doing.
When God told Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go, Pharaoh said no. The Bible testifies that God put a spirit of unbelief in him. Pharaoh did not accept anything and the consequences were on all Egypt. All the Egyptians cried and ended up going against Pharaoh, “why do we suffer because of your pride?”
We have to struggle and fly. If God calls us we have to accept and serve Him according to His will. Don’t hesitate, don’t think you are a spiritual baby, forget that. You have to tell others about the glory of God. Don’t think you’ll not good enough, whether it be praying or reading the Bible, no! God is able to help you. Timothy was young but he led thousands of people. So be prepared.
Matthew 4:10, Jesus said to him, “Away with you Satan for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only you shall serve.”
Satan doesn’t have any room here, Satan doesn’t have any room in the people we have prayed for and Satan doesn’t have any room in the activities for the glory of God. The authority has been given to us to cast out the devil and the devil respects this. He respects us because he knows we are stronger than him and he knows we have more authority than him, so he must respect us.
If you are leading something for the glory of God you must be well prepared and have authority. What you are doing is what Moses did when he lead the people of Israel. You must know they are people you lead and that God wants their souls.
If you make one mistake everything will be on you. This is what it means to be a leader. You must pray before you start, whether in your room or not, ask God to help you have the ability to lead His people. Maybe some will come because they are curious, maybe they’ll be there to judge, but ask God to help you. Use the Bible when you pray. For example in Matthew it says, “When two or three people agree on something and get together, all that they ask the Father will be given. “This is why we pray to You Lord to help us lead Your people. May Your strength be with us and may it not be us leading but Your good spirit. Thank you God for the presence of each person”. Commit everything into God’s hands.
Now is the time to fly. When God tells you to fly and if you don’t do it He’ll put pressure on you. You know the story of Jonah. On his journey God visited him. God allowed him to be free for a time but then put his foot down, “You must go back to where you came from”. Jonah was not able to tell the captain of the ship to turn back. The navigators probably thought Jonah was crazy to ask them to turn back the ship because of him. So God took back Jonah in a way that nobody could believe, to be in the belly of a whale is not easy, it is better to die. This is what happens when God takes you by force when He wants to use you for something.
So it is to accept rather than for God to use force. If you wait the situation will be worse. There was a king in the Bible called Nebuchadnezzar. Because he didn’t accept what God said God called him in a way which I appreciate a lot. He spent seven years in the forest eating grass. The Bible says he was like an animal. Imagine if he was your husband. People will laugh at you a lot. When you refuse to do God’s will it is not only you that suffer but also your family members. They will be shocked because of what you are doing.
When God told Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go, Pharaoh said no. The Bible testifies that God put a spirit of unbelief in him. Pharaoh did not accept anything and the consequences were on all Egypt. All the Egyptians cried and ended up going against Pharaoh, “why do we suffer because of your pride?”
We have to struggle and fly. If God calls us we have to accept and serve Him according to His will. Don’t hesitate, don’t think you are a spiritual baby, forget that. You have to tell others about the glory of God. Don’t think you’ll not good enough, whether it be praying or reading the Bible, no! God is able to help you. Timothy was young but he led thousands of people. So be prepared.
Matthew 4:10, Jesus said to him, “Away with you Satan for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only you shall serve.”
Satan doesn’t have any room here, Satan doesn’t have any room in the people we have prayed for and Satan doesn’t have any room in the activities for the glory of God. The authority has been given to us to cast out the devil and the devil respects this. He respects us because he knows we are stronger than him and he knows we have more authority than him, so he must respect us.
If you are leading something for the glory of God you must be well prepared and have authority. What you are doing is what Moses did when he lead the people of Israel. You must know they are people you lead and that God wants their souls.
If you make one mistake everything will be on you. This is what it means to be a leader. You must pray before you start, whether in your room or not, ask God to help you have the ability to lead His people. Maybe some will come because they are curious, maybe they’ll be there to judge, but ask God to help you. Use the Bible when you pray. For example in Matthew it says, “When two or three people agree on something and get together, all that they ask the Father will be given. “This is why we pray to You Lord to help us lead Your people. May Your strength be with us and may it not be us leading but Your good spirit. Thank you God for the presence of each person”. Commit everything into God’s hands.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Preparing to Fast (Part VI – Word of God cont’d)
By Odon Bulamba
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Persecution is not only physical. You can go to Vietnam and be persecuted. Jesus doesn’t need this persecution; Jesus needs you to be persecuted inside. It means to sacrifice your time for others and sacrifice your life for others. Accept to be humiliated for God’s glory, accept to pray for difficult people, accept to be friends with those who are isolated, accept to tell the truth to those who don’t want to hear the truth and you’ll see that you are nothing. People will mock you and humiliate you, this is persecution because your never have peace. If you don’t hold on you might flee where you live. So we must ask God to help us have the courage and to have perseverance, this is persecution. If you want the kingdom of God to belong to you accept to be persecuted.
Blessed are you when people insult and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil because of Me. Let people think bad things about you, let people abuse you, let them persecute you, sometimes let them lie against you and through this Jesus will know that you are His disciple.
If you get angry for example, you prove you are not one of God’s disciples. If someone abuses you, praise the Lord and you’ll see that the person who abused you will be touched. If someone speaks falsely against, do not try to find what it’s about, do not even say what happened, just accept it. If you ask Peter what happened between him and Angela you risk to light the fire. You can break the peace between the two and cause physical or spiritual disaster. If God asked you whether you are His disciples or not, you’ll lack an answer because you didn’t accept to be abused and didn’t accept people to speak falsely against you. To be Jesus’ disciples we must accept these things.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets also who were before you. We must be glad. We must walk on the same road as the prophets who were persecuted physically and spiritually. We must be careful and help those whom we are going to pray for.
The Bible says it is better to give than receive. Give your testimony, which you may have received from the prayer. I have a testimony. I praise God for giving us the opportunity to meet and pray together. It is our first time to pray together. It is good to see everyone raising hands and praying freely, I have never seen that while I’ve been with you. I was very happy to see that you asked for forgiveness in everything. To confess our sins to one another and those whom we have offended was something good. Also to sacrifice our time and pray for others for the glory of God is something that is very good.
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Persecution is not only physical. You can go to Vietnam and be persecuted. Jesus doesn’t need this persecution; Jesus needs you to be persecuted inside. It means to sacrifice your time for others and sacrifice your life for others. Accept to be humiliated for God’s glory, accept to pray for difficult people, accept to be friends with those who are isolated, accept to tell the truth to those who don’t want to hear the truth and you’ll see that you are nothing. People will mock you and humiliate you, this is persecution because your never have peace. If you don’t hold on you might flee where you live. So we must ask God to help us have the courage and to have perseverance, this is persecution. If you want the kingdom of God to belong to you accept to be persecuted.
Blessed are you when people insult and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil because of Me. Let people think bad things about you, let people abuse you, let them persecute you, sometimes let them lie against you and through this Jesus will know that you are His disciple.
If you get angry for example, you prove you are not one of God’s disciples. If someone abuses you, praise the Lord and you’ll see that the person who abused you will be touched. If someone speaks falsely against, do not try to find what it’s about, do not even say what happened, just accept it. If you ask Peter what happened between him and Angela you risk to light the fire. You can break the peace between the two and cause physical or spiritual disaster. If God asked you whether you are His disciples or not, you’ll lack an answer because you didn’t accept to be abused and didn’t accept people to speak falsely against you. To be Jesus’ disciples we must accept these things.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets also who were before you. We must be glad. We must walk on the same road as the prophets who were persecuted physically and spiritually. We must be careful and help those whom we are going to pray for.
The Bible says it is better to give than receive. Give your testimony, which you may have received from the prayer. I have a testimony. I praise God for giving us the opportunity to meet and pray together. It is our first time to pray together. It is good to see everyone raising hands and praying freely, I have never seen that while I’ve been with you. I was very happy to see that you asked for forgiveness in everything. To confess our sins to one another and those whom we have offended was something good. Also to sacrifice our time and pray for others for the glory of God is something that is very good.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Preparing to Fast (Part V – Word of God cont’d)
By Odon Bulamba
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Those who want to live according to God’s will they will receive abundance. Many Christians want to live a good Christian life. Everywhere people want to live a good Christian life, they want to be powerful in prayer, heal the sick and cast out demons, read the Bible and evangelise.
God says, “Blessed are those who have this desire, for they will get it”. Many people want a perfect Christian life but nobody helps them. In a few churches you’ll see that people are thirsty for the Word but can’t find it. They need someone who can explain it in depth to them. Many Christians are disappointed with their Pastor’s or Preacher because they don’t pray with them.
Maybe their Pastor doesn’t have the time to read his Bible in depth and because of this it makes his flock sick. Christians don’t know where to go to be healed. These people need the Word. Jesus says that, “people will look for the Word but will not find it”. People will be thirsty but will not find water and this is what we live today. You can read a verse in the Bible and you’ll see that it is something new, it is like you’ve never read that verse before and you will see how thirsty you are for the Word. Many people are like that today. Many people don’t even know one verse in the Bible. They may know it off by heart but they don’t know what it means. You can know the story Moses or the story of Jacob but that’s all you know, you still won’t know the spiritual meaning. May God give to those who thirst for righteousness.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. How many times are you merciful to others? This is the most important thing. Christians who want to grow and discover joy and happiness in Jesus Christ must meditate on this verse. To be merciful towards others is a necessity. Bartemaus didn’t ask Jesus to heal him but said, “be merciful to me son of David”. He knew that speaking about mercy he would receive mercy. How much time do we take to be merciful towards others? Let’s pray for my dad who is not saved for example and that is it. If you are not merciful to your dad and can’t see the danger for his eternal life then you’ll never be merciful. The Bible dictionary says this about mercy,
“The aspect of God’s love that causes Him to help the miserable, just as grace is the aspect of His love that moves Him to forgive the guilty, those who are miserable may be so by breaking God’s law, or circumstances that are beyond their control. God shows mercy to those who have broken His law or though such mercy is selective demonstrating that it is not deserved. God’s mercy on the miserable extends beyond punishment, which is withheld. Withheld punishment keeps us from hell but does not get us into heaven.
God’s mercy is greater than this; God also shows mercy by actively helping those who are miserable by circumstances beyond their control. We see this act of mercy in the life of our Lord Jesus. He healed blind men and lepers; these acts of healings grew out of His attitude of compassion and mercy. Because God is merciful He expects His children to be merciful.”
75% of this is correct. If you are merciful you can do anything. You will sacrifice your life for others. That is what Jesus did for us. He sacrificed His life for us because He was merciful to us. All mature Christians should pray to be merciful towards others. If you are merciful towards others you will pray for them, fast for them, you will sacrifice your time for them and you will give to them. If you are not merciful to them you risk becoming a selfish person.
Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God. The people we are going to pray for and sing with need some purity in their lives. If Jesus was to come back today, are you sure those people will go to heaven? You can see these people need purification because nothing impure can go to heaven, that is why we are going to pray for their souls so that God may help them find purity. If it’s God’s will for them to be saved then it will happen but if God doesn’t allow it then they won’t. But we must be merciful towards them and pray for them.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. I wanted to talk about this verse after verse 10 which is “blessed are those who are persecuted,” because verse 9 is the ninth commandment and has a secret. Anyway it doesn’t matter too much, we’ll talk about this verse. What is the ninth commandment? You shall not covet what your neighbour has, wether it is his wife or belongings. The ninth commandment teaches us something about God.
Our neighbour is the devil and our neighbour is sin. We are not allowed to covet what the devil has, even if it is his wife. Do you know the meaning of wife? The wife represents the church, which is you and I. The devil also has his church so we must be careful not to covet it. The devil has his belongings so we must be careful. We must be content with what we have. Because we are Jesus’ wife, Jesus is sufficient for us. So we are not allowed to covet what the devil our neighbour has. You must know that your wife, husband and children are not closer to you than the devil. When we walk the devil follows us like our shadow. He is just waiting for that little hole to sneak in. This is why God says, “be careful not to covet what our enemy has”.
The Bible says we must be in a watchful situation at all times and if we don’t open our eyes the devil will take us away and we’ll see what we have coveted. To keep us from this we must respect Matthew 5:9.
We must try to seek peace; Satan is not the God of peace but of fear. We must seek peace with everybody and with God and we’ll see that we will never covet what the devil has. What is peace according to the Bible? What is peace according to the world? No war, no crime, a good life and lots of money. This is worldly peace. Is there peace in New Zealand? On the outside it looks like peace but there is war. The Maori don’t agree with pakeha and this is cold war. For the tourists it looks peace but war is happening. There is war in our brains. When you go to some churches the white people don’t sit with the Tongans, and the Tongans also don’t sit with Pakeha. It is like a rule in this church, they are there but don’t have peace. The Tongans have their Pastor and the Pakeha’s have their Pastor, the Tongans have their counsellor, the Pakeha’s also have their counsellor. There are two types of faiths in one church.
It is like the Vatican, it belongs to Italy but has its own flag. This is happening in churches today and is written in the book of Revelation.
We must open our eyes to see what is happening around us and seek peace with those around us. Revelation 18:17 will reveal itself one day. People don’t have the time to seek peace. God has called us to be one as Jesus and the Father are one, but because of tribes we have spiritual divisions. These people need prayer, we must not criticise them but pray for them so that God can release them.
Woe to the Vatican and Italy for they will never be released. The example in Revelation 17 about the prostitute represents what we call today the Roman kingdom. We must be careful so that the seven hills God talks about (which are seven heads) may not be around us. People who have travelled to Italy know there are seven hills around Rome; everybody knows this and the prophecies say it. All the rivers are there; the ten horns are there. We must break these mountains.
Jesus said, “If you have faith you will tell this mountain to move”. If you have faith like a mustard seed you will move mountains. These mountains exist in many Christian lives because they don’t have peace because they don’t look towards Jesus. In Thessalonians it says we must seek peace with everybody. Peace is so important for our lives. Jesus said that in the last days there will be wars and famines. The war will not be in the world as people think. Jesus is talking about the war in churches, war between Christians. How many churches are in conflict today? Every church. War is everywhere. This Word is fulfilled.
Those who don’t have discernment are waiting for the Maori to fight against Pakeha. If you wait for this you’ll be left behind, war is everywhere. Even a pagan will tell you that there is war in the church. So who doesn’t know this? We have eyes but can’t see. We need peace. Jesus said peace will never be on earth. So what peace are we looking for if the Bible says there will never be peace on earth? Jesus talks about spiritual peace and worldly peace; this is the difference between them.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Those who want to live according to God’s will they will receive abundance. Many Christians want to live a good Christian life. Everywhere people want to live a good Christian life, they want to be powerful in prayer, heal the sick and cast out demons, read the Bible and evangelise.
God says, “Blessed are those who have this desire, for they will get it”. Many people want a perfect Christian life but nobody helps them. In a few churches you’ll see that people are thirsty for the Word but can’t find it. They need someone who can explain it in depth to them. Many Christians are disappointed with their Pastor’s or Preacher because they don’t pray with them.
Maybe their Pastor doesn’t have the time to read his Bible in depth and because of this it makes his flock sick. Christians don’t know where to go to be healed. These people need the Word. Jesus says that, “people will look for the Word but will not find it”. People will be thirsty but will not find water and this is what we live today. You can read a verse in the Bible and you’ll see that it is something new, it is like you’ve never read that verse before and you will see how thirsty you are for the Word. Many people are like that today. Many people don’t even know one verse in the Bible. They may know it off by heart but they don’t know what it means. You can know the story Moses or the story of Jacob but that’s all you know, you still won’t know the spiritual meaning. May God give to those who thirst for righteousness.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. How many times are you merciful to others? This is the most important thing. Christians who want to grow and discover joy and happiness in Jesus Christ must meditate on this verse. To be merciful towards others is a necessity. Bartemaus didn’t ask Jesus to heal him but said, “be merciful to me son of David”. He knew that speaking about mercy he would receive mercy. How much time do we take to be merciful towards others? Let’s pray for my dad who is not saved for example and that is it. If you are not merciful to your dad and can’t see the danger for his eternal life then you’ll never be merciful. The Bible dictionary says this about mercy,
“The aspect of God’s love that causes Him to help the miserable, just as grace is the aspect of His love that moves Him to forgive the guilty, those who are miserable may be so by breaking God’s law, or circumstances that are beyond their control. God shows mercy to those who have broken His law or though such mercy is selective demonstrating that it is not deserved. God’s mercy on the miserable extends beyond punishment, which is withheld. Withheld punishment keeps us from hell but does not get us into heaven.
God’s mercy is greater than this; God also shows mercy by actively helping those who are miserable by circumstances beyond their control. We see this act of mercy in the life of our Lord Jesus. He healed blind men and lepers; these acts of healings grew out of His attitude of compassion and mercy. Because God is merciful He expects His children to be merciful.”
75% of this is correct. If you are merciful you can do anything. You will sacrifice your life for others. That is what Jesus did for us. He sacrificed His life for us because He was merciful to us. All mature Christians should pray to be merciful towards others. If you are merciful towards others you will pray for them, fast for them, you will sacrifice your time for them and you will give to them. If you are not merciful to them you risk becoming a selfish person.
Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God. The people we are going to pray for and sing with need some purity in their lives. If Jesus was to come back today, are you sure those people will go to heaven? You can see these people need purification because nothing impure can go to heaven, that is why we are going to pray for their souls so that God may help them find purity. If it’s God’s will for them to be saved then it will happen but if God doesn’t allow it then they won’t. But we must be merciful towards them and pray for them.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. I wanted to talk about this verse after verse 10 which is “blessed are those who are persecuted,” because verse 9 is the ninth commandment and has a secret. Anyway it doesn’t matter too much, we’ll talk about this verse. What is the ninth commandment? You shall not covet what your neighbour has, wether it is his wife or belongings. The ninth commandment teaches us something about God.
Our neighbour is the devil and our neighbour is sin. We are not allowed to covet what the devil has, even if it is his wife. Do you know the meaning of wife? The wife represents the church, which is you and I. The devil also has his church so we must be careful not to covet it. The devil has his belongings so we must be careful. We must be content with what we have. Because we are Jesus’ wife, Jesus is sufficient for us. So we are not allowed to covet what the devil our neighbour has. You must know that your wife, husband and children are not closer to you than the devil. When we walk the devil follows us like our shadow. He is just waiting for that little hole to sneak in. This is why God says, “be careful not to covet what our enemy has”.
The Bible says we must be in a watchful situation at all times and if we don’t open our eyes the devil will take us away and we’ll see what we have coveted. To keep us from this we must respect Matthew 5:9.
We must try to seek peace; Satan is not the God of peace but of fear. We must seek peace with everybody and with God and we’ll see that we will never covet what the devil has. What is peace according to the Bible? What is peace according to the world? No war, no crime, a good life and lots of money. This is worldly peace. Is there peace in New Zealand? On the outside it looks like peace but there is war. The Maori don’t agree with pakeha and this is cold war. For the tourists it looks peace but war is happening. There is war in our brains. When you go to some churches the white people don’t sit with the Tongans, and the Tongans also don’t sit with Pakeha. It is like a rule in this church, they are there but don’t have peace. The Tongans have their Pastor and the Pakeha’s have their Pastor, the Tongans have their counsellor, the Pakeha’s also have their counsellor. There are two types of faiths in one church.
It is like the Vatican, it belongs to Italy but has its own flag. This is happening in churches today and is written in the book of Revelation.
We must open our eyes to see what is happening around us and seek peace with those around us. Revelation 18:17 will reveal itself one day. People don’t have the time to seek peace. God has called us to be one as Jesus and the Father are one, but because of tribes we have spiritual divisions. These people need prayer, we must not criticise them but pray for them so that God can release them.
Woe to the Vatican and Italy for they will never be released. The example in Revelation 17 about the prostitute represents what we call today the Roman kingdom. We must be careful so that the seven hills God talks about (which are seven heads) may not be around us. People who have travelled to Italy know there are seven hills around Rome; everybody knows this and the prophecies say it. All the rivers are there; the ten horns are there. We must break these mountains.
Jesus said, “If you have faith you will tell this mountain to move”. If you have faith like a mustard seed you will move mountains. These mountains exist in many Christian lives because they don’t have peace because they don’t look towards Jesus. In Thessalonians it says we must seek peace with everybody. Peace is so important for our lives. Jesus said that in the last days there will be wars and famines. The war will not be in the world as people think. Jesus is talking about the war in churches, war between Christians. How many churches are in conflict today? Every church. War is everywhere. This Word is fulfilled.
Those who don’t have discernment are waiting for the Maori to fight against Pakeha. If you wait for this you’ll be left behind, war is everywhere. Even a pagan will tell you that there is war in the church. So who doesn’t know this? We have eyes but can’t see. We need peace. Jesus said peace will never be on earth. So what peace are we looking for if the Bible says there will never be peace on earth? Jesus talks about spiritual peace and worldly peace; this is the difference between them.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Preparing to Fast (Part IV – Word of God)
We are now going to talk about the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God
“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great: for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you”.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. To admit that you are poor is very important. In my country the poor are abused. If you call someone poor they might take you to court. People don’t like to be humiliated. But to admit that we are poor is very important.
Why? The poor need something. The rich are puffed up with pride and think they have everything. Every time you pray tell God you are poor and that you need His help because the more you ask for help the more the doors of heaven will be opened. If you do not ask God you will never receive. To be a member of God’s kingdom you must acknowledge that you are spiritually poor and that the only source of your provision comes from God.
If you are a Christian and you don’t admit you are poor, be sure that you will never enter the kingdom of God. This is high-level study for spiritually mature people. People think that reading the Bible will get them into heaven but to enter the kingdom of God we must admit that we are poor. This is very important. As you know you can enter the kingdom of God on earth because a lot of people say, “I belong to this kingdom and everything that is in this kingdom belongs to me”.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. How many times have you been sad in your life? Because we are gathered together to pray it is now time to feel a sadness in us for the souls whom we will pray for. When you want to pray for someone wear the shoes of that person and say, if I was Peter what would he be feeling? Meditate hard about the situation or think deeply about it, “If this happened to me what would be the consequences and where could I find a solution?” But because you are poor you can’t. So go to God who is rich. Tell the Lord, “As You can help me, also help my brother and come into his life so that he will find a solution both spiritually and physically. God will answer with a comfort.
Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. The reward for this is to inherit the Promised Land. Who can tell me what gentle (NASB) or meekness (KJ) means? Is Shari meek? Is Odon meek? Is Michelle meek? Is Sylvie meek? God’s meekness is not like mans meekness because mans meekness is based upon the appearance. If you see someone who has been created naturally meek you will think he is meek.
God’s meekness depends upon the spirit. Was Jesus meek? Physically people judged Jesus a lot. I remember when Jesus cast people out of the temple, turned over tables and rebuked them harshly. When someone asked Jesus a question He would answer with an arrow and everybody felt it stab his or her hearts. Was Jesus meek?
The Bible dictionary says, “meekness is an attitude of humility towards God and gentleness towards men, springing from the recognition that God is in control. Although weakness and meekness may look similar they are not the same, weakness is due to negative circumstances such as lack of strength or lack of courage, but meekness is due to a person’s conscious choice that is strength and courage under control coupled with kindness”. I do not agree with the definition 100%.
To be meek is to be controlled by God. All our acts must please God and not man. It is to be aware of what we are doing and to know that God is with us and that what we are doing pleases Him. This is what meekness is. If the Bible says to be meek, it means we should be at the level where God can lead us in everything so that God’s glory can be seen in our lives. People can say that this person doesn’t respect us, but if you respect God it’s better. It means that when you do something and you want people to discover that you are meek, you might risk being a hypocrite because you want to please people and not God.
This is one of the gifts Satan uses. Satan has this gift. Judging someone by his or her appearance is good for example; If Peter dresses nice does it mean he is meek? Does the way Odon speak determine if he is meek or not? The way Michelle smiles is she meek? Who told you that Michelle is meek? Who told you that Odon is meek? Only God can know this. You will only know if this person is meek if their lives live according to the Word. This is why we continue to pray for God’s church today, this is why we keep praying for Christians because the appearance can say they are meek but spiritually they are not. We need spiritual meekness.
I know a man whose appearance looked meek but he was one of the greatest killers in the world. So appearance shouldn’t influence you to judge. If you are a child of God do not look at the appearance, this is a teaching linked to discernment. Do not look at the appearance even if someone speaks like an angel. If someone is mild as oxygen do not look at that. A French proverb we have says that, “the clothes you wear don’t make you a monk”. When Peter wears his uniform to a Catholic church everybody will stand on his arrival, even if they don’t know who Peter is. His uniform will give him that authority and people will respect him. This is a spiritual error.
I served 1 year in the Catholic Church as a priest. As we entered the church the bell would ring and everybody stood up. Then they waited patiently to see what the priest would say. They don’t care where the priest came from and they don’t care who he was, but because of his robe I would just follow his every move. This is very wrong. When we accept physical appearance we can be easily mistaken. I can say Michael is meek but who proved he is meek? Live with him and pray for him. Ask your God “is the meekness I see on the outside really in the inside?” God will say yes or no. This is where you must have discernment to know wether or not Michael is meek.
Pray for people’s spiritual meekness so that God may give it to them. The Bible says that the meek will inherit the Promised Land. This will be the land that God has put us in. It is not the Promise Land Odon gives but what God gives. God has promised something for our little group, so pray for everybody to meek so they can benefit with what God has promised.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God
“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great: for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you”.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. To admit that you are poor is very important. In my country the poor are abused. If you call someone poor they might take you to court. People don’t like to be humiliated. But to admit that we are poor is very important.
Why? The poor need something. The rich are puffed up with pride and think they have everything. Every time you pray tell God you are poor and that you need His help because the more you ask for help the more the doors of heaven will be opened. If you do not ask God you will never receive. To be a member of God’s kingdom you must acknowledge that you are spiritually poor and that the only source of your provision comes from God.
If you are a Christian and you don’t admit you are poor, be sure that you will never enter the kingdom of God. This is high-level study for spiritually mature people. People think that reading the Bible will get them into heaven but to enter the kingdom of God we must admit that we are poor. This is very important. As you know you can enter the kingdom of God on earth because a lot of people say, “I belong to this kingdom and everything that is in this kingdom belongs to me”.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. How many times have you been sad in your life? Because we are gathered together to pray it is now time to feel a sadness in us for the souls whom we will pray for. When you want to pray for someone wear the shoes of that person and say, if I was Peter what would he be feeling? Meditate hard about the situation or think deeply about it, “If this happened to me what would be the consequences and where could I find a solution?” But because you are poor you can’t. So go to God who is rich. Tell the Lord, “As You can help me, also help my brother and come into his life so that he will find a solution both spiritually and physically. God will answer with a comfort.
Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. The reward for this is to inherit the Promised Land. Who can tell me what gentle (NASB) or meekness (KJ) means? Is Shari meek? Is Odon meek? Is Michelle meek? Is Sylvie meek? God’s meekness is not like mans meekness because mans meekness is based upon the appearance. If you see someone who has been created naturally meek you will think he is meek.
God’s meekness depends upon the spirit. Was Jesus meek? Physically people judged Jesus a lot. I remember when Jesus cast people out of the temple, turned over tables and rebuked them harshly. When someone asked Jesus a question He would answer with an arrow and everybody felt it stab his or her hearts. Was Jesus meek?
The Bible dictionary says, “meekness is an attitude of humility towards God and gentleness towards men, springing from the recognition that God is in control. Although weakness and meekness may look similar they are not the same, weakness is due to negative circumstances such as lack of strength or lack of courage, but meekness is due to a person’s conscious choice that is strength and courage under control coupled with kindness”. I do not agree with the definition 100%.
To be meek is to be controlled by God. All our acts must please God and not man. It is to be aware of what we are doing and to know that God is with us and that what we are doing pleases Him. This is what meekness is. If the Bible says to be meek, it means we should be at the level where God can lead us in everything so that God’s glory can be seen in our lives. People can say that this person doesn’t respect us, but if you respect God it’s better. It means that when you do something and you want people to discover that you are meek, you might risk being a hypocrite because you want to please people and not God.
This is one of the gifts Satan uses. Satan has this gift. Judging someone by his or her appearance is good for example; If Peter dresses nice does it mean he is meek? Does the way Odon speak determine if he is meek or not? The way Michelle smiles is she meek? Who told you that Michelle is meek? Who told you that Odon is meek? Only God can know this. You will only know if this person is meek if their lives live according to the Word. This is why we continue to pray for God’s church today, this is why we keep praying for Christians because the appearance can say they are meek but spiritually they are not. We need spiritual meekness.
I know a man whose appearance looked meek but he was one of the greatest killers in the world. So appearance shouldn’t influence you to judge. If you are a child of God do not look at the appearance, this is a teaching linked to discernment. Do not look at the appearance even if someone speaks like an angel. If someone is mild as oxygen do not look at that. A French proverb we have says that, “the clothes you wear don’t make you a monk”. When Peter wears his uniform to a Catholic church everybody will stand on his arrival, even if they don’t know who Peter is. His uniform will give him that authority and people will respect him. This is a spiritual error.
I served 1 year in the Catholic Church as a priest. As we entered the church the bell would ring and everybody stood up. Then they waited patiently to see what the priest would say. They don’t care where the priest came from and they don’t care who he was, but because of his robe I would just follow his every move. This is very wrong. When we accept physical appearance we can be easily mistaken. I can say Michael is meek but who proved he is meek? Live with him and pray for him. Ask your God “is the meekness I see on the outside really in the inside?” God will say yes or no. This is where you must have discernment to know wether or not Michael is meek.
Pray for people’s spiritual meekness so that God may give it to them. The Bible says that the meek will inherit the Promised Land. This will be the land that God has put us in. It is not the Promise Land Odon gives but what God gives. God has promised something for our little group, so pray for everybody to meek so they can benefit with what God has promised.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Preparing to Fast (Part III - Holy Spirit and Praise God)
We are now going to ask the Holy Spirit to lead us. As it is written in the Bible the Holy Spirit will lead us in everything we do. We are going to ask for the Holy Spirit’s presence. May the Holy Spirit be with us to teach us the truth, may He lead us into this truth, may He reveal God’s glory for us, may He show us what is going to come and may He tell us what He has received from Jesus.
This is written in John 14:16. Let us lift up our hands and ask for the Holy Spirit. Tell the Lord, “I have Your spirit in me and I know that Your power is in me, so use this power in me to pray”. Lift up your hands and open your voice.
We are going to ask God for strength over darkness. Ask God to give you the strength over thirst and ask God for strength to win over hunger so that you can fight for God’s glory. Ask God to take away all distractions so that your thoughts cannot escape from this house. Let’s pray.
We are going to hold hands and ask for God’s presence. Then we are going to praise Him. Tell Him all that you want so His name can be lifted up. He is a great God, He is a powerful God, so just tell Him, “Lord, You are a powerful God and I know it”. If He has done anything in your life or if He has done anything in your families’ life it is now time to praise Him, because the testimony you give to God is called praise.
Praising God is telling Him of all the testimonies He has done. If He has freed you from something then praise Him. After you have praised God then thank Him. Let’s pray.
Now pray for each one who is present and those who are not. Pray that God will transform each one. Lay hands on the person you pray for.
Now thank the Lord for the way you have prayed. Thank the Lord for the hands that were on you. Ask God, “may You do something in my life because I received something, so do not let me go back in my spiritual life”. Let’s pray.
We are now going to thank God for the few minutes we have been together. Thank Him for starting something and that we are now ready to begin our journey. Because everybody is healthy we are ensured that we will stay together until the end. Let’s pray.
This is written in John 14:16. Let us lift up our hands and ask for the Holy Spirit. Tell the Lord, “I have Your spirit in me and I know that Your power is in me, so use this power in me to pray”. Lift up your hands and open your voice.
We are going to ask God for strength over darkness. Ask God to give you the strength over thirst and ask God for strength to win over hunger so that you can fight for God’s glory. Ask God to take away all distractions so that your thoughts cannot escape from this house. Let’s pray.
We are going to hold hands and ask for God’s presence. Then we are going to praise Him. Tell Him all that you want so His name can be lifted up. He is a great God, He is a powerful God, so just tell Him, “Lord, You are a powerful God and I know it”. If He has done anything in your life or if He has done anything in your families’ life it is now time to praise Him, because the testimony you give to God is called praise.
Praising God is telling Him of all the testimonies He has done. If He has freed you from something then praise Him. After you have praised God then thank Him. Let’s pray.
Now pray for each one who is present and those who are not. Pray that God will transform each one. Lay hands on the person you pray for.
Now thank the Lord for the way you have prayed. Thank the Lord for the hands that were on you. Ask God, “may You do something in my life because I received something, so do not let me go back in my spiritual life”. Let’s pray.
We are now going to thank God for the few minutes we have been together. Thank Him for starting something and that we are now ready to begin our journey. Because everybody is healthy we are ensured that we will stay together until the end. Let’s pray.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Preparing to Fast (Part II - Forgiveness)
By Odon Bulamba
The second point is from Jeremiah 48:10
“Cursed be the one who does the Lord’s work negligently, and cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood"
The one who is lazy towards God’s work deserves a curse. We know that we are lazy. Nobody on this earth can say I do God’s work with 100% courage. As Paul said, “I want to do what is right but my body doesn’t allow me, when I pray my body is tried, I can’t find the time to visit others and I can’t even find the time to give the gospel to others”.
The one who doesn’t use God’s sword will be cursed. The sword is the word of God. The sword of the Lord is the truth and each Christian must have this sword. A sword is not a toy but something we use as a weapon because God needs to see the blood in the life of man. So we must use this sword to bring life. Others must be taken to the Lord so He may see them.
Tell the Lord, “Since I have been on the earth Lord how many times have I brought souls to You? How many times have I used Your sword to cut peoples lives so that You can find life in their blood? I’ve known Your word for a long time but I don’t use it to cut, so please forgive me Lord. I’m lazy; please forgive me for that because Your work needs strength. Please give me the strength to take away laziness and also teach me how to use Your sword”.
Those who learn how to use a sword have techniques. They are taught how to kill people with ease. Tell the Lord, “Teach me how to use Your sword so that blood can come out and that I will not be cursed because You are not a God who likes to curse, but You are a God who likes to bless. I need Your blessing of forgiveness in my life right now Lord”. This is the first step for asking God to forgive you.
So now we are going to kneel down and pray with what Jeremiah prayed to His God (Jeremiah 32:17-27 and Jeremiah 48:10 and ask God to forgive us. After this we will ask God to forgive us for our laziness, and once this prayer is over we will feel free.
Mark 11:25-26,“Whenever you stand praying forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.”
“But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”
It is now time to tell the Lord, “I come before You to forgive all who have offended me. Each person that You know who has done something wrong against me please forgive them. As for me I forgive this person”. We must have this as a seal in our hearts and must not remember the sins which they have committed against us. Never remember the wrongs people have done against you so that God can do something among us. If you know the name of the person who has offended you and you keep it in your heart tell the Lord to take away what is in you so you can forgive this person. Tell God the name of the person but remember it is between you and God so do not let anybody hear you.
Now we are going to ask for purification. The bible says that if your sins are red like blood, Jesus’ blood can make them white as snow. Yes our sins are forgiven and we have forgiven those who have sinned against us. Now is the time for our hearts to be white. We must not use any bleach but Jesus’ blood, which doesn’t cost a thing. It will not cost you any money but you will tell Jesus, “I need You to purify my thoughts, purify my heart, purify my spirit, purify my soul and purify my body because I want Your presence in my life”. So ask for purification that you can be white as snow.
We are going to ask for sanctification. “God, may Your blood be with us, may Your blood sanctify everything in the house, may Your blood flow over our hearts and thoughts, and may Your blood work so that Your glory can shine in us so there can be spiritual unity”. Although some people who you pray with are physically far away, spiritually they are in unity. We are going to ask for sanctification for us present here in this house so that we can communicate spiritually. Although Michelle is in a corner and I am in another corner I will know what is in Michelle and Michelle will know what’s in me.
We are going to ask for Jesus blood to react, it is now time for the blood of Jesus to touch each problem in our hearts and thoughts. As we concentrate today we have one goal, that Jesus’ blood will touch our goal. Let us stand now and sing a song. Let’s praise the Lord. You can walk around, dance, do what ever you what, but show your joy to the Lord because He is now with us.
The second point is from Jeremiah 48:10
“Cursed be the one who does the Lord’s work negligently, and cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood"
The one who is lazy towards God’s work deserves a curse. We know that we are lazy. Nobody on this earth can say I do God’s work with 100% courage. As Paul said, “I want to do what is right but my body doesn’t allow me, when I pray my body is tried, I can’t find the time to visit others and I can’t even find the time to give the gospel to others”.
The one who doesn’t use God’s sword will be cursed. The sword is the word of God. The sword of the Lord is the truth and each Christian must have this sword. A sword is not a toy but something we use as a weapon because God needs to see the blood in the life of man. So we must use this sword to bring life. Others must be taken to the Lord so He may see them.
Tell the Lord, “Since I have been on the earth Lord how many times have I brought souls to You? How many times have I used Your sword to cut peoples lives so that You can find life in their blood? I’ve known Your word for a long time but I don’t use it to cut, so please forgive me Lord. I’m lazy; please forgive me for that because Your work needs strength. Please give me the strength to take away laziness and also teach me how to use Your sword”.
Those who learn how to use a sword have techniques. They are taught how to kill people with ease. Tell the Lord, “Teach me how to use Your sword so that blood can come out and that I will not be cursed because You are not a God who likes to curse, but You are a God who likes to bless. I need Your blessing of forgiveness in my life right now Lord”. This is the first step for asking God to forgive you.
So now we are going to kneel down and pray with what Jeremiah prayed to His God (Jeremiah 32:17-27 and Jeremiah 48:10 and ask God to forgive us. After this we will ask God to forgive us for our laziness, and once this prayer is over we will feel free.
Mark 11:25-26,“Whenever you stand praying forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.”
“But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”
It is now time to tell the Lord, “I come before You to forgive all who have offended me. Each person that You know who has done something wrong against me please forgive them. As for me I forgive this person”. We must have this as a seal in our hearts and must not remember the sins which they have committed against us. Never remember the wrongs people have done against you so that God can do something among us. If you know the name of the person who has offended you and you keep it in your heart tell the Lord to take away what is in you so you can forgive this person. Tell God the name of the person but remember it is between you and God so do not let anybody hear you.
Now we are going to ask for purification. The bible says that if your sins are red like blood, Jesus’ blood can make them white as snow. Yes our sins are forgiven and we have forgiven those who have sinned against us. Now is the time for our hearts to be white. We must not use any bleach but Jesus’ blood, which doesn’t cost a thing. It will not cost you any money but you will tell Jesus, “I need You to purify my thoughts, purify my heart, purify my spirit, purify my soul and purify my body because I want Your presence in my life”. So ask for purification that you can be white as snow.
We are going to ask for sanctification. “God, may Your blood be with us, may Your blood sanctify everything in the house, may Your blood flow over our hearts and thoughts, and may Your blood work so that Your glory can shine in us so there can be spiritual unity”. Although some people who you pray with are physically far away, spiritually they are in unity. We are going to ask for sanctification for us present here in this house so that we can communicate spiritually. Although Michelle is in a corner and I am in another corner I will know what is in Michelle and Michelle will know what’s in me.
We are going to ask for Jesus blood to react, it is now time for the blood of Jesus to touch each problem in our hearts and thoughts. As we concentrate today we have one goal, that Jesus’ blood will touch our goal. Let us stand now and sing a song. Let’s praise the Lord. You can walk around, dance, do what ever you what, but show your joy to the Lord because He is now with us.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Preparing to Fast (Part I - Purify Yourself)
If you have a problem with someone try to make things better, and if you have been a stumbling block for someone please ask them for forgiveness. The Bible says that God is not far from us and His ears are not deaf, but our sins keep us away from Him. If you want to pray but have sinned, your prayers will never be answered. Think about whom you have offended and those you have talked ill against. Ask for forgiveness and start praying. If the person you have offended is not with you then phone him or her and ask for their forgiveness, if they are not there God knows your intentions and will forgive you. If the person is with you go and talk with them.
Remember the people who wanted to go into the Holy Place? They had to purify themselves and be clean. When I fast I think of being a priest, who wants to go into that Holy place? I must be ready accordingly. If a priest entered the holy place impure he would die! Because we have Jesus Christ in us, the Holy Spirit is like a bell. He is there to show you whether you ring or not. If the Holy Spirit tells you that you have a problem with someone, you must fix it.
If you have 500 fish and one of them is rotten all of the fish will be affected. We must be careful. We must practice what Jesus did. What did Jesus do with His disciples? He said, “The time is up so manage and watch”. Take your time; think of your life and if you have a problem with God or someone else fix it and then you will be ready to pray.
The first thing we must talk about is how we must pray. Sometimes we must forget who we are and forget about the world around us to concentrate on what we are doing. When I pray I find it better to kneel down, stand up or lift up my hands, but if you can’t do it find a position that is okay for you.
Our sins separate us from God and when this happens we cannot see His glory. The very first thing I do is to ask God for forgiveness. When I do this I do what Jeremiah did in chapter 32:17-27.
‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You. Who shows loving kindness to thousands, but repays the sins of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God. The Lord of hosts is His name. Great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. Who has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day both Israel and among mankind: and You have made a name for yourself to this day. ‘You brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror: and gave them this land, which You swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ‘They came in took possession of it, but they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your law: they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do: therefore You have made all this calamity come upon them. ‘Behold, the siege ramps have reached the city to take it: and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldean who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine and the pestilence: and what You have spoken has come to pass: and behold, You see it. ‘You have said to me, O Lord God, “buy for yourself the field with money and call in witnesses”-- although the city is given into the hands of the Chaldean. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is anything too difficult for Me?”
These verses encourage me a lot. When we ask for forgiveness we must acknowledge how great God is. Don’t ask the Lord to forgive me you without acknowledging who He is and why you are asking for His forgiveness.
Tell Him, “Lord, You are the sovereign God, You are my creator and the wonders You have done in my life are really great. Your loving kindness in my life is something special to me but I carry on sinning against You, I do not respect the commands You have given me. I know that You look very carefully at what I do and I know my behaviour was wrong, so please forgive me. You promised me a country where there is milk and honey. This country is Your word because it gives us life and strength. We need this word in our lives so please forgive me Lord because I haven’t acknowledged what You told me and now I have to bear the consequence of my sin. Satan also is moving towards me and I can fall into sin at anytime, I can offend You at anytime. I have leprosy and the one who is a leper was always cast out of the camp. Lord, You would heal those who had leprosy so heal me today so that my sin (leprosy) will flee from me so I can dwell in the same camp as You. I want to be very close to You because nothing is difficult for You”. This is what we tell the Lord and then we ask God to purify us with His precious blood because His blood gives us life”.
Remember the people who wanted to go into the Holy Place? They had to purify themselves and be clean. When I fast I think of being a priest, who wants to go into that Holy place? I must be ready accordingly. If a priest entered the holy place impure he would die! Because we have Jesus Christ in us, the Holy Spirit is like a bell. He is there to show you whether you ring or not. If the Holy Spirit tells you that you have a problem with someone, you must fix it.
If you have 500 fish and one of them is rotten all of the fish will be affected. We must be careful. We must practice what Jesus did. What did Jesus do with His disciples? He said, “The time is up so manage and watch”. Take your time; think of your life and if you have a problem with God or someone else fix it and then you will be ready to pray.
The first thing we must talk about is how we must pray. Sometimes we must forget who we are and forget about the world around us to concentrate on what we are doing. When I pray I find it better to kneel down, stand up or lift up my hands, but if you can’t do it find a position that is okay for you.
Our sins separate us from God and when this happens we cannot see His glory. The very first thing I do is to ask God for forgiveness. When I do this I do what Jeremiah did in chapter 32:17-27.
‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You. Who shows loving kindness to thousands, but repays the sins of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God. The Lord of hosts is His name. Great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. Who has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day both Israel and among mankind: and You have made a name for yourself to this day. ‘You brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror: and gave them this land, which You swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ‘They came in took possession of it, but they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your law: they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do: therefore You have made all this calamity come upon them. ‘Behold, the siege ramps have reached the city to take it: and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldean who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine and the pestilence: and what You have spoken has come to pass: and behold, You see it. ‘You have said to me, O Lord God, “buy for yourself the field with money and call in witnesses”-- although the city is given into the hands of the Chaldean. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is anything too difficult for Me?”
These verses encourage me a lot. When we ask for forgiveness we must acknowledge how great God is. Don’t ask the Lord to forgive me you without acknowledging who He is and why you are asking for His forgiveness.
Tell Him, “Lord, You are the sovereign God, You are my creator and the wonders You have done in my life are really great. Your loving kindness in my life is something special to me but I carry on sinning against You, I do not respect the commands You have given me. I know that You look very carefully at what I do and I know my behaviour was wrong, so please forgive me. You promised me a country where there is milk and honey. This country is Your word because it gives us life and strength. We need this word in our lives so please forgive me Lord because I haven’t acknowledged what You told me and now I have to bear the consequence of my sin. Satan also is moving towards me and I can fall into sin at anytime, I can offend You at anytime. I have leprosy and the one who is a leper was always cast out of the camp. Lord, You would heal those who had leprosy so heal me today so that my sin (leprosy) will flee from me so I can dwell in the same camp as You. I want to be very close to You because nothing is difficult for You”. This is what we tell the Lord and then we ask God to purify us with His precious blood because His blood gives us life”.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Who Shall Separate Us From The Love Of God? (Part IV - hunger)
By Odon Bulamba (summary only)
Romans 8:35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
When you are hungry do you praise God? Sometimes when you fast standing up is a problem and everything around you makes you angry. This should never separate you from God. Through this fast and suffering we would see God’s love, but when Christians today go hungry they start complaining. As Christians we must know what kind of hunger we have and to make sure that it doesn’t break our relationship with God. If you have a hunger for the Word of God then praise Him, if you are hungry for prayer then praise God, if you feel in yourself that you want to serve God then praise the Lord, but if you are hungry for material things - woe to you! You might steal; have envy or hatred and when this happens God’s love may be far from you.
There was a lady in the Bible who had nothing except a bit of oil. A servant of God came to her during this famine and asked her to give him what little she had. Even though she had children she gave what little she had and was blessed. It means that if we are going through material or spiritual hunger we must share it with others, and the more you give the more you receive, the more you sow the more you reap. Will poverty separate you from God’s love? Are we really poor? Are there poor people in New Zealand? I’ve never seen anybody who is poor. It is written in some books that there are no poor people in New Zealand because of income support. Everybody has a roof over their heads, food and transportation, but if you go further on to Asia you will find poor people.
There is however spiritual poverty because most New Zealanders know there is a God. They have learnt about Jesus and that there is an end to this life, but go elsewhere in the world and God’s existence is not known. Some people are poor materially and spiritually, they try to find riches but can’t find it, so why do we keep on complaining saying that God has forgotten about us? Some people can work 7 days a week 24 hours a day but don’t have 10 minutes to glorify God, and they still say we are poor.
It is true that as human beings we are never satisfied. The Bible says that one day we will be satisfied in heaven, but you will never find satisfaction on this earth, only in Jesus Christ. Blessed are those who live in the Lord on earth because their blessing in heaven is great. Woe to those people who say they are Christians but waste their time looking for material riches, to the point where they forget about God’s love. Would it be possible to live without your wife for 2 months Steve? There are many Christians who can allow 5 months to past without reading their Bible or praying to God, and it is normal for them. Because God loves us He finds it hard when He is forgotten. God is always there to give us a solution.
SUMMARY
Don't let spiritual or physical hunger separate you from God
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
Romans 8:35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
When you are hungry do you praise God? Sometimes when you fast standing up is a problem and everything around you makes you angry. This should never separate you from God. Through this fast and suffering we would see God’s love, but when Christians today go hungry they start complaining. As Christians we must know what kind of hunger we have and to make sure that it doesn’t break our relationship with God. If you have a hunger for the Word of God then praise Him, if you are hungry for prayer then praise God, if you feel in yourself that you want to serve God then praise the Lord, but if you are hungry for material things - woe to you! You might steal; have envy or hatred and when this happens God’s love may be far from you.
There was a lady in the Bible who had nothing except a bit of oil. A servant of God came to her during this famine and asked her to give him what little she had. Even though she had children she gave what little she had and was blessed. It means that if we are going through material or spiritual hunger we must share it with others, and the more you give the more you receive, the more you sow the more you reap. Will poverty separate you from God’s love? Are we really poor? Are there poor people in New Zealand? I’ve never seen anybody who is poor. It is written in some books that there are no poor people in New Zealand because of income support. Everybody has a roof over their heads, food and transportation, but if you go further on to Asia you will find poor people.
There is however spiritual poverty because most New Zealanders know there is a God. They have learnt about Jesus and that there is an end to this life, but go elsewhere in the world and God’s existence is not known. Some people are poor materially and spiritually, they try to find riches but can’t find it, so why do we keep on complaining saying that God has forgotten about us? Some people can work 7 days a week 24 hours a day but don’t have 10 minutes to glorify God, and they still say we are poor.
It is true that as human beings we are never satisfied. The Bible says that one day we will be satisfied in heaven, but you will never find satisfaction on this earth, only in Jesus Christ. Blessed are those who live in the Lord on earth because their blessing in heaven is great. Woe to those people who say they are Christians but waste their time looking for material riches, to the point where they forget about God’s love. Would it be possible to live without your wife for 2 months Steve? There are many Christians who can allow 5 months to past without reading their Bible or praying to God, and it is normal for them. Because God loves us He finds it hard when He is forgotten. God is always there to give us a solution.
SUMMARY
Don't let spiritual or physical hunger separate you from God
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Jonah (part V)
By Odon Bulamba (summary only)
Jonah 3:4-4:4
Those people of Ninevah decided that not only they should fast but also the animals among them. This was my first time to discover that animals can also fast. Animals can fast? For the purpose of our sin? What we learn from this is that we have to give God everything that we have. We have to show God that if my body is fasting, my soul is fasting and everything around me also has to share that same sorrow or problem with me.
Most of the time when we are praying we don't involve people around us, we keep quiet. When for example I am is crossing a problem it's not easy for me ask others to pray for me or to ask others for their support. We don't have to make it a requirement to know all about the problem, you can ask for support from a brother or sister in Christ, ask them to pray for you so you can feel supported. Sometimes we think we can pray by ourselves but sometimes God will work through someone else, outside of your family to answer your prayer requests. We have to support each other in our way of praying and we have to make others participate, make our friends to participate and teach our children to pray for others and that will help the world to recognize who God is .
In Chapter 4:1, after God seeing that those people didn't continue in their sin and they recognized their fault, God decided to forgive them. Jonah interpreted that in a wrong way and he was angry. Many times whenever someone tries to help us or gives us a warning, we can just interpret it in our own way and become angry. When I become angry I will not please God because anger is not a gift of the Holy Spirit, instead I will please satan. So what shall we do? When ever you receive a message we have to think about it and if it’s not clear we have to ask so we can understand clearly.
After listening to what God said, Jonah became angry and he interpreted the result in his own way. He complained to God, “how come you're not going to punish them anymore, you promised. They will think that God can promise and then changed his mind after two minutes, you promised to punish them, do it now”. He became angry. Do you think Jonah was angry against the people of Ninevah or against God? He was angry against God because God changed his decision and sometimes we can easily become angry against God too. For example, some people are not happy with the way they look and they complain to God because others are better looking. And when those who are better looking than them look in their direction, they become angry and think the person is vain and proud. Our way of interpreting things can sometimes lead us to sin. We have to ask God questions to understand better and we must thank God for whatever He gave us.
In verse 4, Jonah was asked, “do you have really the right to be angry?” Do you also have the right to complain to God? Do you have the right to become angry or to do whatever you are doing against God? That is the question we are called to ask ourselves, all of us. We have to know the Lord our God is always right and He will never change, He will be right every day and He can kill, He can heal, He can give or He can take away whatever He has given but He will still be right. We have to remember that if we lose something it’s not because God is against me or God is not just. If for example you want something and you are not given the chance or the grace to receive it, don't blame God.
Jonah's message was a poor message because he didn't do it with a spirit which was animated by the power of God but that message transformed the life of all the nation. That message of Jonah helped the people of Ninevah to recognize God. The way that we are here, all of us can take the gospel to others and preach to others. Maybe we can just write some pamphlets or some notes on a sheet of paper and put them in mailboxes around us. Although we don't want to go to Nineveh but if we do it our actions can produce fruit the same way it was for Jonah. Jonah didn't want to preach in Ninevah but whatever he did by telling people about God, God made it to produce fruit in their lives and the lives of those people changed.
So what will it cost you today to sit in front of your computer and type maybe one sentence, “my friend Jesus loves you” and then print maybe 20 copies andput them in mailboxes around your neighbourhood? Maybe someone will read it and find that Jesus loves them and wonder who wrote this for them and that message can give life to that soul and maybe ten years later or maybe two weeks later you will hear someone say, “I received a note in my mailbox saying Jesus loves me and that was a message of joy for me. I was crossing a hard situation and I needed love and I found Jesus”.
It will not cost you anything but through small actions like that one God can heal all the population of a country. We have to find strategies and find what way we shall preach. If you are not able to stand on the street and speak then find another way. Some people can even use email. If we are ashamed to speak we can find another way but if we have the courage to speak, what are we waiting for? We have to speak, we have to inform others because soon Jesus is coming back.
If there was a fire on this street, I believe each person here would yell and warn their neighbors of the danger. We are people who are called to help others from that fire so we have to shout, we have to open our alarms and put them in action and tell others that the end of time is here, the end of the world will be burned soon so you have to come out from wherever you are, if not you will perish. We are living in a free society so we can talk to others and there is no consequence or danger if you are telling someone about Jesus, so don't worry.
This message was just about Jonah's gospel but today I will call it Hayley's gospel, or Marcia’s gospel and Sylvie's gospel. It’s my gospel and I must share it with others and help them to find salvation. Let's pray so we can get enough strength from God to work for God to call people to his kingdom. Let's pray.
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
Jonah 3:4-4:4
Those people of Ninevah decided that not only they should fast but also the animals among them. This was my first time to discover that animals can also fast. Animals can fast? For the purpose of our sin? What we learn from this is that we have to give God everything that we have. We have to show God that if my body is fasting, my soul is fasting and everything around me also has to share that same sorrow or problem with me.
Most of the time when we are praying we don't involve people around us, we keep quiet. When for example I am is crossing a problem it's not easy for me ask others to pray for me or to ask others for their support. We don't have to make it a requirement to know all about the problem, you can ask for support from a brother or sister in Christ, ask them to pray for you so you can feel supported. Sometimes we think we can pray by ourselves but sometimes God will work through someone else, outside of your family to answer your prayer requests. We have to support each other in our way of praying and we have to make others participate, make our friends to participate and teach our children to pray for others and that will help the world to recognize who God is .
In Chapter 4:1, after God seeing that those people didn't continue in their sin and they recognized their fault, God decided to forgive them. Jonah interpreted that in a wrong way and he was angry. Many times whenever someone tries to help us or gives us a warning, we can just interpret it in our own way and become angry. When I become angry I will not please God because anger is not a gift of the Holy Spirit, instead I will please satan. So what shall we do? When ever you receive a message we have to think about it and if it’s not clear we have to ask so we can understand clearly.
After listening to what God said, Jonah became angry and he interpreted the result in his own way. He complained to God, “how come you're not going to punish them anymore, you promised. They will think that God can promise and then changed his mind after two minutes, you promised to punish them, do it now”. He became angry. Do you think Jonah was angry against the people of Ninevah or against God? He was angry against God because God changed his decision and sometimes we can easily become angry against God too. For example, some people are not happy with the way they look and they complain to God because others are better looking. And when those who are better looking than them look in their direction, they become angry and think the person is vain and proud. Our way of interpreting things can sometimes lead us to sin. We have to ask God questions to understand better and we must thank God for whatever He gave us.
In verse 4, Jonah was asked, “do you have really the right to be angry?” Do you also have the right to complain to God? Do you have the right to become angry or to do whatever you are doing against God? That is the question we are called to ask ourselves, all of us. We have to know the Lord our God is always right and He will never change, He will be right every day and He can kill, He can heal, He can give or He can take away whatever He has given but He will still be right. We have to remember that if we lose something it’s not because God is against me or God is not just. If for example you want something and you are not given the chance or the grace to receive it, don't blame God.
Jonah's message was a poor message because he didn't do it with a spirit which was animated by the power of God but that message transformed the life of all the nation. That message of Jonah helped the people of Ninevah to recognize God. The way that we are here, all of us can take the gospel to others and preach to others. Maybe we can just write some pamphlets or some notes on a sheet of paper and put them in mailboxes around us. Although we don't want to go to Nineveh but if we do it our actions can produce fruit the same way it was for Jonah. Jonah didn't want to preach in Ninevah but whatever he did by telling people about God, God made it to produce fruit in their lives and the lives of those people changed.
So what will it cost you today to sit in front of your computer and type maybe one sentence, “my friend Jesus loves you” and then print maybe 20 copies andput them in mailboxes around your neighbourhood? Maybe someone will read it and find that Jesus loves them and wonder who wrote this for them and that message can give life to that soul and maybe ten years later or maybe two weeks later you will hear someone say, “I received a note in my mailbox saying Jesus loves me and that was a message of joy for me. I was crossing a hard situation and I needed love and I found Jesus”.
It will not cost you anything but through small actions like that one God can heal all the population of a country. We have to find strategies and find what way we shall preach. If you are not able to stand on the street and speak then find another way. Some people can even use email. If we are ashamed to speak we can find another way but if we have the courage to speak, what are we waiting for? We have to speak, we have to inform others because soon Jesus is coming back.
If there was a fire on this street, I believe each person here would yell and warn their neighbors of the danger. We are people who are called to help others from that fire so we have to shout, we have to open our alarms and put them in action and tell others that the end of time is here, the end of the world will be burned soon so you have to come out from wherever you are, if not you will perish. We are living in a free society so we can talk to others and there is no consequence or danger if you are telling someone about Jesus, so don't worry.
This message was just about Jonah's gospel but today I will call it Hayley's gospel, or Marcia’s gospel and Sylvie's gospel. It’s my gospel and I must share it with others and help them to find salvation. Let's pray so we can get enough strength from God to work for God to call people to his kingdom. Let's pray.
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Jonah (part IV)
By Odon Bulamba (summary only)
Jonah 3:5
After Jonah gave that message, the Bible says, the people of the town took the Word of God seriously. That message is really important and we must be serious because if we are not serious with this message we will perish. How many times do we take things seriously in our lives? Maybe when it's time for my studies or my exams I can study seriously, I can concentrate seriously on my work but when it's time to pray I will feel it's too late or I'm too tired. We are not motivated to do God’s work.
Those people were really wise because they were serious and the first step to winning our souls or winning the souls of other people is to be serious and to commit ourselves to God’s work. If we want our neighbors to be saved we must first of all be serious and make a decision and a plan. We have to pray for them and make a decision to visit them and then it will be accomplished. I must be serious. If I am not serious, God will never be serious with me.
Those people of Ninevah were serious and they decided to fast. Do we as Christians really make a decision and commit ourselves to it? We have to know if we are really working for God or not. Are we living for God? If so, we must be really serious with this life because this life needs to produce fruit . If our lives don't produce anything, God will make us pay the price for that. I can tell you sincerely that God is sometimes nasty. When He is angry nothing will stop Him from becoming angry. When He punishes nothing will stop him from punishing. When he is unhappy no one will stop Him and no one can push Him to become happy. So we have to remember that everything that we are doing today God will one day say, “this is the end of the story of your life, you must change your way of living, you must change your way of talking, you must change and if you don't want to change it by yourself I will change it by force”. When God changes things by force that is the time the person starts to pray to fast and God will try to be a little bit far and observe and you will go through problems to the point that you will start to regret and say why did I do whatever it was.
Look at the example of Job; that man was really quiet. He didn't have any problem with God but because God wanted to prove to the world that even his servant can be allowed to go through suffering, he allowed Job to go through that. Job suffered for many years, he lost everything that he had, everything except his life. If he was really handsome he lost that beauty, if he was really rich he became poor, if Job was healthy that time he became sick. This means that our lives are not ours, our time is not our time, your activities are not yours. Remember, there is a God who lives in you and He controls your life, He controls your steps, your activities. If you forget that he controls you, you will go far away from His will and during that time he will punish you.
So those people came to God by fasting and then God accepted them. In verse eight it says, every person was supposed to pray to God with all his strength. Everybody was pushed and was asked to change their actions to good actions, to become people who will really please God.
These people decided to pray. They were serious and knew this was the time for praying, this was the time for forgiveness, this was the time for action. And to take action we must first of all confess, to repent of our sins and then to fast. Then we have to make a decision so that with all our strength we can pray.
So what does praying with strength mean or with all your force, what does that mean? With concentration, that's all. In the Bible, it says that we have to forget about what's going on around us. You have to focus your eyes on God and say, “here I am and my problem is this, this and that”. And when you are telling God your problems you must feel in your heart there is something. But if you are not concentrating on what you are doing at the time, God will not really listen to your prayer. If you say, “God, I stick on this, I concentrate on my prayer and if you are not responding to me now, you will see me again tomorrow and the day after tomorrow until the day that you respond” and you will see God respond.
But the thing that we don't have is courage. I can make the decision to pray but when it's time to pray I will say that I will pray later after TV or a movie but after that maybe something else will come and I will do something else and then I will decide to pray tomorrow instead.
We have to concentrate and when we concentrate on our prayers we have to make sure God is not far. The Bible says that God is really close to us and he's not far from us so the concentration now will make us to say, “God I am here and I'm here not for myself but for You. I'm here because I want You to listen to my voice. I'm here because I am crossing a situation which is really, really hard for me and I'm going into trouble and I need your support and help. I need your participation in my life and I need God your presence in my prayer”. Then tell God your problem.
Cry to God when you are crossing problem. Cry to God because of the souls that appear in front of you. Cry to God for the salvation of those people in front of you. Pray to God for any personal problem in your family, pray to God because of the personal problems in this world and God will listen.
Churches are facing a load of problems but do we really pray to God for those problems? We don't have time or the opportunity to cry in front of God or the opportunity to think about God's love for others or the opportunity to think about how Jesus was crucified because of us. We don't even have time to think about redemption and we think that's normal. We have to be serious and think about our lives and commit our lives between God's hands.
SUMMARY
- We must be serious with Word of God and with our lives
- We must make a decision for God and stick to it
- Our lives belong to God
- Pray with all your strength = concentratration
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
Jonah 3:5
After Jonah gave that message, the Bible says, the people of the town took the Word of God seriously. That message is really important and we must be serious because if we are not serious with this message we will perish. How many times do we take things seriously in our lives? Maybe when it's time for my studies or my exams I can study seriously, I can concentrate seriously on my work but when it's time to pray I will feel it's too late or I'm too tired. We are not motivated to do God’s work.
Those people were really wise because they were serious and the first step to winning our souls or winning the souls of other people is to be serious and to commit ourselves to God’s work. If we want our neighbors to be saved we must first of all be serious and make a decision and a plan. We have to pray for them and make a decision to visit them and then it will be accomplished. I must be serious. If I am not serious, God will never be serious with me.
Those people of Ninevah were serious and they decided to fast. Do we as Christians really make a decision and commit ourselves to it? We have to know if we are really working for God or not. Are we living for God? If so, we must be really serious with this life because this life needs to produce fruit . If our lives don't produce anything, God will make us pay the price for that. I can tell you sincerely that God is sometimes nasty. When He is angry nothing will stop Him from becoming angry. When He punishes nothing will stop him from punishing. When he is unhappy no one will stop Him and no one can push Him to become happy. So we have to remember that everything that we are doing today God will one day say, “this is the end of the story of your life, you must change your way of living, you must change your way of talking, you must change and if you don't want to change it by yourself I will change it by force”. When God changes things by force that is the time the person starts to pray to fast and God will try to be a little bit far and observe and you will go through problems to the point that you will start to regret and say why did I do whatever it was.
Look at the example of Job; that man was really quiet. He didn't have any problem with God but because God wanted to prove to the world that even his servant can be allowed to go through suffering, he allowed Job to go through that. Job suffered for many years, he lost everything that he had, everything except his life. If he was really handsome he lost that beauty, if he was really rich he became poor, if Job was healthy that time he became sick. This means that our lives are not ours, our time is not our time, your activities are not yours. Remember, there is a God who lives in you and He controls your life, He controls your steps, your activities. If you forget that he controls you, you will go far away from His will and during that time he will punish you.
So those people came to God by fasting and then God accepted them. In verse eight it says, every person was supposed to pray to God with all his strength. Everybody was pushed and was asked to change their actions to good actions, to become people who will really please God.
These people decided to pray. They were serious and knew this was the time for praying, this was the time for forgiveness, this was the time for action. And to take action we must first of all confess, to repent of our sins and then to fast. Then we have to make a decision so that with all our strength we can pray.
So what does praying with strength mean or with all your force, what does that mean? With concentration, that's all. In the Bible, it says that we have to forget about what's going on around us. You have to focus your eyes on God and say, “here I am and my problem is this, this and that”. And when you are telling God your problems you must feel in your heart there is something. But if you are not concentrating on what you are doing at the time, God will not really listen to your prayer. If you say, “God, I stick on this, I concentrate on my prayer and if you are not responding to me now, you will see me again tomorrow and the day after tomorrow until the day that you respond” and you will see God respond.
But the thing that we don't have is courage. I can make the decision to pray but when it's time to pray I will say that I will pray later after TV or a movie but after that maybe something else will come and I will do something else and then I will decide to pray tomorrow instead.
We have to concentrate and when we concentrate on our prayers we have to make sure God is not far. The Bible says that God is really close to us and he's not far from us so the concentration now will make us to say, “God I am here and I'm here not for myself but for You. I'm here because I want You to listen to my voice. I'm here because I am crossing a situation which is really, really hard for me and I'm going into trouble and I need your support and help. I need your participation in my life and I need God your presence in my prayer”. Then tell God your problem.
Cry to God when you are crossing problem. Cry to God because of the souls that appear in front of you. Cry to God for the salvation of those people in front of you. Pray to God for any personal problem in your family, pray to God because of the personal problems in this world and God will listen.
Churches are facing a load of problems but do we really pray to God for those problems? We don't have time or the opportunity to cry in front of God or the opportunity to think about God's love for others or the opportunity to think about how Jesus was crucified because of us. We don't even have time to think about redemption and we think that's normal. We have to be serious and think about our lives and commit our lives between God's hands.
SUMMARY
- We must be serious with Word of God and with our lives
- We must make a decision for God and stick to it
- Our lives belong to God
- Pray with all your strength = concentratration
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Intercessory Prayer
By Odon Bulamba (summary only -21 Oct, 05)
When someone is seriously sick and unconscious you will take him straight away to the hospital and talk on behalf of that person to the doctor. If not there will be consequences. When we are praying for people, we are praying on their behalf because they are unconscious of their sin. E.g. an alcoholic will not think drinking is bad. A sinner is like a sick person because they are unable to drink (they don’t believe in the Word of God = water) and they don’t eat (don’t like the taste of the Word of God = bread) and have a high temperature (sin). People who are saved don’t have this problem so we have to pray for them to find solutions to the other problems they have in their lives.
We as Christians have to consider the value of being a member of God’s family and remember it’s a privilege and a gift. We don’t have to resist God but we have to do what He tells us or He will be ashamed of us, as parents are when their children don’t obey them. Everyday we live and get new strength while we have brothers and sisters outside God’s family and we know God is a good father and waiting to adopt them so why don’t we call them to our family of God. We have to intercede for others so they can join God’s family; they need God’s intervention and touch.
Lamentation 2:18, the best formula for intercession is to cry and accept it’s a serious situation. Tell God you need intervention and explain everything to God, ask for support and if He doesn’t the people will perish. If you (1) pray for someone and the situation doesn’t change you have to (2) fast and if no solution you have to (3) fast again and then (4) cry out to God.
When I want to intercede for non-christians I have to first think of him/her who is a sinner and therefore is dead (spiritually). At funerals we will talk only about positive points and when we are interceding to God we have to bring up the importance of that person’s life. ‘You love him, You created Him but He’s dying’.
Isaiah 59:16, sometimes God sits down and looks at us to see if someone will intercede for the cause of others. We have hundreds of Christians but only a few will pray for others and we don’t because we are lazy, selfish and impatient but God is waiting for us to intervene, which means our intervention is very important. God wants us to intercede for His people and when you do that God will be proud of you.
Christians today pray for the same situation although God has already answered and closed that case. Our prayers are monotone. Every morning we pray the same prayer and every time we intercede it’s for the same people and God says, ‘why can’t you think about something else, there are hundreds of problems around us why can’t you pray for them?’ Jesus used to pray for someone and then move on to the next person but we just want to pray everyday for the same people.
II Chronicles 16:9a, God’s eyes are looking on the earth to support those who love Him and to love God is to first love your neighbor and if you love your neighbor (someone next to you) you will pray for them. If you don’t love your neighbor it will be impossible to love God and if you don’t love God it will be impossible for God to support you. The fruit of love is in I Corinthians 13:4 (patience, kindness, etc) so try to show love to those around you.
Exodus 32:7-14, because Moses loved the people he interceded for them and God changed His mind to kill them. How much do we intervene when we know that one day all sinners will be punished? What do we tell God about His people? God wants us to come to Him and ask for His mercy on them and that will make Him feel like He is God. If you see problems of others, it’s because God is trying to show you everything clearly and is now waiting for you to give to Him a feedback and can only do that through intercession.
Genesis 18:23, there is a day coming where everything will end so we can tell God will you also punish my family members? My nation? If you can find 6 or 5 or 3, can you please save them? We have to talk to God, to intervene. God will listen and will change His plan. How many times do you plead for the lives of others when you know a situation is getting worse? God visits you every second, have you decided to walk with Him and have a conversation with Him (as Abraham did). If you don’t pray your whole nation will be lost.
Isaiah 64:7,8, the Lord is our Father; how do we spend our time with our Father?
While our brothers and sisters are suffering and need prayer, we forget about them and just carry on with our own burden. Sometimes we don’t even have time to look at what is going on around us. People who don’t intercede for others don’t stand in a right position in front of God.
Intercession is a matter of preparing ourselves; we need determination, patience, concentration and purification. If we are not pure we can’t pray and if not ready we can’t pray so we must be ready. If not, it will end in a bad way and we will not get a good answer from God.
SUMMARY
- Intercession is talking to God on behalf of someone else
- First we pray and if no solution then fast and then fast again and then cry to God
- Tell God the importance of that person
- Don’t pray the same thing every day
- If you want God to support you, you have to first love Him and to love God you have to
first love your neighbor and if you love your neighbor you will pray for him/her
(our prayers need His support)
- When we see other people’s problems it’s because God wants us to pray for them
- Before to pray we must be ready (pure, determined, patient) and to concentrate
- The reason we don’t pray is because of laziness, selfishness and impatience
- When we intercede, God will be proud of us
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
When someone is seriously sick and unconscious you will take him straight away to the hospital and talk on behalf of that person to the doctor. If not there will be consequences. When we are praying for people, we are praying on their behalf because they are unconscious of their sin. E.g. an alcoholic will not think drinking is bad. A sinner is like a sick person because they are unable to drink (they don’t believe in the Word of God = water) and they don’t eat (don’t like the taste of the Word of God = bread) and have a high temperature (sin). People who are saved don’t have this problem so we have to pray for them to find solutions to the other problems they have in their lives.
We as Christians have to consider the value of being a member of God’s family and remember it’s a privilege and a gift. We don’t have to resist God but we have to do what He tells us or He will be ashamed of us, as parents are when their children don’t obey them. Everyday we live and get new strength while we have brothers and sisters outside God’s family and we know God is a good father and waiting to adopt them so why don’t we call them to our family of God. We have to intercede for others so they can join God’s family; they need God’s intervention and touch.
Lamentation 2:18, the best formula for intercession is to cry and accept it’s a serious situation. Tell God you need intervention and explain everything to God, ask for support and if He doesn’t the people will perish. If you (1) pray for someone and the situation doesn’t change you have to (2) fast and if no solution you have to (3) fast again and then (4) cry out to God.
When I want to intercede for non-christians I have to first think of him/her who is a sinner and therefore is dead (spiritually). At funerals we will talk only about positive points and when we are interceding to God we have to bring up the importance of that person’s life. ‘You love him, You created Him but He’s dying’.
Isaiah 59:16, sometimes God sits down and looks at us to see if someone will intercede for the cause of others. We have hundreds of Christians but only a few will pray for others and we don’t because we are lazy, selfish and impatient but God is waiting for us to intervene, which means our intervention is very important. God wants us to intercede for His people and when you do that God will be proud of you.
Christians today pray for the same situation although God has already answered and closed that case. Our prayers are monotone. Every morning we pray the same prayer and every time we intercede it’s for the same people and God says, ‘why can’t you think about something else, there are hundreds of problems around us why can’t you pray for them?’ Jesus used to pray for someone and then move on to the next person but we just want to pray everyday for the same people.
II Chronicles 16:9a, God’s eyes are looking on the earth to support those who love Him and to love God is to first love your neighbor and if you love your neighbor (someone next to you) you will pray for them. If you don’t love your neighbor it will be impossible to love God and if you don’t love God it will be impossible for God to support you. The fruit of love is in I Corinthians 13:4 (patience, kindness, etc) so try to show love to those around you.
Exodus 32:7-14, because Moses loved the people he interceded for them and God changed His mind to kill them. How much do we intervene when we know that one day all sinners will be punished? What do we tell God about His people? God wants us to come to Him and ask for His mercy on them and that will make Him feel like He is God. If you see problems of others, it’s because God is trying to show you everything clearly and is now waiting for you to give to Him a feedback and can only do that through intercession.
Genesis 18:23, there is a day coming where everything will end so we can tell God will you also punish my family members? My nation? If you can find 6 or 5 or 3, can you please save them? We have to talk to God, to intervene. God will listen and will change His plan. How many times do you plead for the lives of others when you know a situation is getting worse? God visits you every second, have you decided to walk with Him and have a conversation with Him (as Abraham did). If you don’t pray your whole nation will be lost.
Isaiah 64:7,8, the Lord is our Father; how do we spend our time with our Father?
While our brothers and sisters are suffering and need prayer, we forget about them and just carry on with our own burden. Sometimes we don’t even have time to look at what is going on around us. People who don’t intercede for others don’t stand in a right position in front of God.
Intercession is a matter of preparing ourselves; we need determination, patience, concentration and purification. If we are not pure we can’t pray and if not ready we can’t pray so we must be ready. If not, it will end in a bad way and we will not get a good answer from God.
SUMMARY
- Intercession is talking to God on behalf of someone else
- First we pray and if no solution then fast and then fast again and then cry to God
- Tell God the importance of that person
- Don’t pray the same thing every day
- If you want God to support you, you have to first love Him and to love God you have to
first love your neighbor and if you love your neighbor you will pray for him/her
(our prayers need His support)
- When we see other people’s problems it’s because God wants us to pray for them
- Before to pray we must be ready (pure, determined, patient) and to concentrate
- The reason we don’t pray is because of laziness, selfishness and impatience
- When we intercede, God will be proud of us
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
Friday, April 24, 2009
Preparing for Intercessory Prayer
By Odon Bulamba (summary only - 14 Oct, 05)
Everyday we cross difficult situations and at the end of the day we start now to think, ‘o why did that person do this’ and you can think how much people are against you or how much they love you. Sometimes God puts aside sleep and you stay awake without sleep, the only solution is to pray and you find it’s hard. For all of that you have to glorify God. Our lives depend on God and without God we are nothing. If God didn’t exist, we could not exist either. If we know each other it’s because we believe in Jesus.
Sometimes we come to church and we don’t really know why we are here, we don’t feel God’s presence. God told the people of Israel to leave Egypt and go to Canaan and He chose Moses to give directions. Some didn’t want to leave believing it might be better in Egypt than Canaan and others had given up on God because He took 400 years to hear their cry. The Israelites are among the most intelligent people so they are clever and could think of many challenges for Moses to answer. When they started the journey they started to complain, first about the red sea, then about the manna, and then about the bitter water. Moses complained to God and God was quiet because He was measuring the actions of Moses when facing problems.
The purpose of God was to show the Israelites that they must walk together. If you know how to walk together, to respect each other, to collaborate and follow God’s instructions you can get problems but you will reach Canaan (a land of promises). But if you get problems and blame others and complain you’ll never cross the red sea.
Every time God says look, that is the time you’ll say, ‘I’m blind’ and every time God says listen, that is the time you’ll say, ‘I’m deaf’. This is human nature, the old nature and it is now alive in our lives and we even make it grow and be like a Goliath in front of God’s face.
To intercede it’s a matter of committing yourself to God and then to other people. Moses was afraid to set his people free because he was afraid to go back to Pharoah and we also fear. For example if we decide today to fast for four days, how will you feel? Reasons will follow the fear that we have to push God out of our lives.
When we say we will intercede for people, we make a step to come closer to God and God now comes when we are a bit isolated. E.g. ‘Benedicte come here and pray for my people, they need freedom’. If you are not a good servant you will think that it’s just your mind and carry on vacuuming. If you are a good servant you will stop and think, ‘is it my thoughts or God?’ and God will answer you, ‘it’s Me, are you ready to go?’ If yes you need to get prepared because you will cross difficult situations where you are going. When we want to pray for others we must be prepared because intercession is not a matter of praying for others and then going back but intercession is a matter of deciding, I will not give up this prayer until the day I see the result. ‘God I’m praying for Sally and I will pray until the day I see Sally receive such and such.’
Another man in the Bible had a servant who was sick (not his brother or son, just his servant) and he decided to find Jesus so he accepted to walk the distance and then fight through the crowd to meet with Jesus. He knew beforehand to get ready because it’s a battle. We are going to pray for people and we really need to get ready.
The first miracle Jesus did was to turn water into wine. In order for this miracle to take place the servants had to be humble to ask Jesus and also to accept all His commands (get containers, place water in them). We are preparing ourselves to pray and the way to get ready is to follow God’s instructions.
The first thing we have to do before to intercede for others is to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask, am I ready because we want to pray for x to find change in his life and so I have to first ask myself what did I change in my life. I’m struggling so x can change while myself is not better. Before to intercede for others we have to know first who we are and we have to try to rearrange ourselves. Before to intercede for others have you interceded for yourself? Get out what is hidden in your life and remove it.
When we are going to do our intercession and we are not in a good position with God or other people we will put ourselves in a position where satan will say, ‘here I am, I must eliminate you’. We must get ready spiritually so if I have a problem with someone I must fix it. God likes us not because we are special but because He loves us, but He needs us to be educated (in Him) and obedient (to Him).
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
Everyday we cross difficult situations and at the end of the day we start now to think, ‘o why did that person do this’ and you can think how much people are against you or how much they love you. Sometimes God puts aside sleep and you stay awake without sleep, the only solution is to pray and you find it’s hard. For all of that you have to glorify God. Our lives depend on God and without God we are nothing. If God didn’t exist, we could not exist either. If we know each other it’s because we believe in Jesus.
Sometimes we come to church and we don’t really know why we are here, we don’t feel God’s presence. God told the people of Israel to leave Egypt and go to Canaan and He chose Moses to give directions. Some didn’t want to leave believing it might be better in Egypt than Canaan and others had given up on God because He took 400 years to hear their cry. The Israelites are among the most intelligent people so they are clever and could think of many challenges for Moses to answer. When they started the journey they started to complain, first about the red sea, then about the manna, and then about the bitter water. Moses complained to God and God was quiet because He was measuring the actions of Moses when facing problems.
The purpose of God was to show the Israelites that they must walk together. If you know how to walk together, to respect each other, to collaborate and follow God’s instructions you can get problems but you will reach Canaan (a land of promises). But if you get problems and blame others and complain you’ll never cross the red sea.
Every time God says look, that is the time you’ll say, ‘I’m blind’ and every time God says listen, that is the time you’ll say, ‘I’m deaf’. This is human nature, the old nature and it is now alive in our lives and we even make it grow and be like a Goliath in front of God’s face.
To intercede it’s a matter of committing yourself to God and then to other people. Moses was afraid to set his people free because he was afraid to go back to Pharoah and we also fear. For example if we decide today to fast for four days, how will you feel? Reasons will follow the fear that we have to push God out of our lives.
When we say we will intercede for people, we make a step to come closer to God and God now comes when we are a bit isolated. E.g. ‘Benedicte come here and pray for my people, they need freedom’. If you are not a good servant you will think that it’s just your mind and carry on vacuuming. If you are a good servant you will stop and think, ‘is it my thoughts or God?’ and God will answer you, ‘it’s Me, are you ready to go?’ If yes you need to get prepared because you will cross difficult situations where you are going. When we want to pray for others we must be prepared because intercession is not a matter of praying for others and then going back but intercession is a matter of deciding, I will not give up this prayer until the day I see the result. ‘God I’m praying for Sally and I will pray until the day I see Sally receive such and such.’
Another man in the Bible had a servant who was sick (not his brother or son, just his servant) and he decided to find Jesus so he accepted to walk the distance and then fight through the crowd to meet with Jesus. He knew beforehand to get ready because it’s a battle. We are going to pray for people and we really need to get ready.
The first miracle Jesus did was to turn water into wine. In order for this miracle to take place the servants had to be humble to ask Jesus and also to accept all His commands (get containers, place water in them). We are preparing ourselves to pray and the way to get ready is to follow God’s instructions.
The first thing we have to do before to intercede for others is to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask, am I ready because we want to pray for x to find change in his life and so I have to first ask myself what did I change in my life. I’m struggling so x can change while myself is not better. Before to intercede for others we have to know first who we are and we have to try to rearrange ourselves. Before to intercede for others have you interceded for yourself? Get out what is hidden in your life and remove it.
When we are going to do our intercession and we are not in a good position with God or other people we will put ourselves in a position where satan will say, ‘here I am, I must eliminate you’. We must get ready spiritually so if I have a problem with someone I must fix it. God likes us not because we are special but because He loves us, but He needs us to be educated (in Him) and obedient (to Him).
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
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