Falling Forwards 2

I know some of you, especially those who have known me for a long time, are wondering how my last post came about.

How can I be fixated on waiting yet they know me as one always on the move? Was I idle?

I wasn’t idle. I was in fact still involved in ministry.

But I was not doing much; At least not according to God, or even me.

Let me explain.

What happens when a vision is crystal clear?

Varsity on the Hill was very clear but it did not fixate me. Why? Its fulfillment requires enormity in terms of resources and ministers. It requires huge parcel(s) of land, several buildings and faculties.

In short, the clarity of the vision could not blind me to the fact that there must be time before God actualizes it. I was therefore sure that it was a vision for the future. That was the reason I put it down in writing.

Ministry and Mortality was also a vision. And it was also very clear. Probably that is where my problems started.

I could see the vehicle and the equipment it would require. Everything was ‘actually’ visible, so visible that I started organizing the van to make sure everything will be in its place so that every little cranny is occupied to minimize on the wastage of space. You see, we need as much seating space as possible without compromising on the equipment.

Then the vision was actually easily achievable. God would just need to order someone to give the van and a few others to give the equipment and we would be good to go. And there were enough partners who had bought that vision in terms of training and technical assistance.

In short, all we needed was a van, a van I had seen very clearly, and a few equipments and the ministry would be rolling. The vision was easily achievable, or so I thought.

I gave an artist friend of mine what God had showed me so that he could come up with a concept picture but was unable to wait for him to complete drawing because I thought about the urgency of that vision. I thought I was already late. I therefore posted the vision without that concept picture.

The urgency was blinding, if I may call it that. You see, I was already two years behind schedule (after my 50^th birthday). And it was something I had been thinking about, and even sharing for quite some time.

For me therefore the vision was the actualization of that, the final marching orders from heaven.

Why should it take time?

But God is not like us. His timetable is not like ours. And that is where I got lost.

I started waiting for the van. I started watching out for the van. I even started looking for similar vans on sale as God could as well challenge someone to ask me to point out one for them to buy for this ministry. And you can be sure I also was doing the same for the equipment.

But you see God is more interested in people than equipment. The more time and effort I spent on the visible, the less I spent on the necessary – people, the main reason for the equipment.

I hope you understand what I mean.

I started wasting (I thought I was spending) almost every waking moment thinking and planning about that vision. You see it was my next ministry arena.

About the same time my computer died and so I was also forced to stop writing.

If you think that is not frustrating I think you should look for the meaning of frustration.

That is the point at which God rebuked me.

At that time everything was falling apart. Support became non existent, ministry became frustrating. In short I came to the end of my wits, the best place for God to speak. At least I was able to hear.

Please pray that God reverses those fortunes. Pray that support for the ministry I am involved in revives. Pray especially that I will reconnect with the ministry God has for me this season which is walking with another generation of ministers to make them the best God will have them be.

Then send in support where you can as I am still in that wilderness.

God bless you

Why am I writing this? Three main reasons

First, the Bible admonishes us to confess our sins one to another and pray for one another that we may be healed. It is in my confession that someone will be able to easily identify with my challenges in ministry.

Second, many believers exempt ministers from foibles. Of course many ministers enjoy that so much. But the reality is that even the best of us is just like you. We depend on grace just as you do, even more. Remember that even Moses who spoke with God face to face was exempted from crossing over for sinning against God? We are therefore not superhuman. We are just clothed with that extra grace to serve God in circumstances different from yours. So pray for us.

Third, I know there is someone out there who is struggling with what I have gone through. There is someone who is stuck on an assignment God closed because it still feeds him. Someone can’t leave a ministry because they fear the unknown. Better the devil you know is more prevalent in ministry and calling than anywhere else because God will always call His people from the known to the unknown, from the familiar to the hidden.

There is a local evangelist who has been fighting the call to the uttermost parts of the world because they feel they just can’t go. There is someone who is stuck with singing in church when their call is elsewhere because they fear serving without crowds. And I know there are enough pastors who are in the wrong churches because they do not want to go to a church that does not have enough money to pay them.

God rewards faithfulness and obedience and not effectiveness. That is why Matthew 7: 21 – 23 parades these very effective ministers heading to hell.

My fellow minister, please get unstuck. There is more to God than the familiar. In fact there is minimal revelation in the familiar. Will you start walking with God to the unknown that He knows perfectly?

Falling Forwards

For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. (Proverbs 24:16)

I have a confession to make, a confession that comes out from some wasted times ‘Waiting on the Lord’ when I ought to have been pursuing His revelation.

Let me explain.

For some time I have been reflecting on God’s call concerning me in this season.

You know that in the Bible priests were supposed to serve from thirty years and leave service at fifty. It might be interesting for some of you to realize that major Bible characters commenced their ‘work’ at thirty; From Joseph to David to John the Baptist to Jesus. It therefore means that God did not just put up a figure when He commissioned His priests.

Incidentally, though I responded to God’s call in my teenage so that He led me to the media school when I had chosen a Bible school, even ordering me to take a transfer to a place where my ministry was honed and my faith severely tested, it was as I was looking at thirty that He called me out of formal employment.

What does a priest do after retiring at that ‘young’ ripe age of fifty?

That is something I have reflected on and prayed over for some time now. And I have written a bit on the same.

But it is principally get off the limelight and allow and help others take that limelight (of course that word is misplaced where ministry is involved. But I want for you to grasp what I mean)

You see I am now past fifty.

I have posted my reflections elsewhere on this blog with the title Ministry and Mortality. This is a precursor to another vision I posted earlier with the title Varsity on the Hill. It would be instructive if you read those posts as I do not want to repeat everything I have already shared.

In summary, God calls those older ministers to the ministry of training, mentoring and walking with younger ministers as they minister. Then our lives will be more complete as we see another generation of ministers serving even better because of our input.

Among ministries I have been involved in are music (singing, playing instruments, starting and training choirs, etc), preaching (evangelism and teaching) and training those and other aspects of Christian ministry. And of course I am media trained. That is where I wanted to start.

What would I require for the intense instruction and exposure to give these ministers? (I am summarizing the post)

I will need a van with media capabilities.

Of course after sharing the vision I waited on the Lord for the provision. And of course I waited and waited some more. You see the vision was very clear.

Then God spoke, asking me this question. Will you sit still until I provide?

You see, many times we think that the vision is the starter’s gun for provision. We therefore become fixated on the provision instead of doing something we should be doing.

That I when I realized how far I had strayed. And no wonder I was becoming stressed out and frustrated over something I had no control over (isn’t this what depression is all about?)

Having walked with God for some time, I remembered that God provides as we pursue His vision and not before. It is as we seek His kingdom that those things are added. Things follow, not initiate.

I have therefore been wasting precious time waiting for provision instead of pursuing the vision with what I have, which is God’s capital investment, ME.

I therefore repented and decided from then to make myself available to any young person needing my ministry investment in his ministry and calling.

I therefore ask for your prayers so that no more time is lost

Pray that I will be sensitive to the young ministers God will bring my way so that none is neglected or ignored.

Pray also for resources as I sense that there will be some travelling to reach some of these ministers. As usual I will invite you to be part of that provision.

And pray that that rebuke is not repeated. In other ways pray that I will be consistent in the pursuit of what God has called me to.

If you know young men needing that ministry, please link them up with me

God bless you

Unnerved by Non-Existence

I want today to challenge some of you who spend insane amounts of their time trying to prove what they know doesn’t exist or is powerless. And the first statement I will make is that you do so because you realize that your premise or faith is questionable.

Let me start with the atheists.

If God does not exist, aren’t you really foolish to try to prove so? A poor man does not need to prove anything. It is evident. (Pardon me for using money as the yardstick for now) It is those who have some money who try to prove that they have it or the misers that they haven’t.

If I were an atheist (thank God I am not), I would let the theists prove that their God exists for fun, because I know He doesn’t exist. It would be none of my business, just as it would be foolish for a poor man to try to prove he is broke.

You see, atheism is a religion serving a god who pretends to be a vacuum. Their arguments are therefore meant to propagate the information of their non-existent god so that you stop believing in the God you serve and subscribe to theirs.

Another reason is that they know the true God but are unwilling to submit to Him because they are not ready or even willing to bow to His standards. They therefore disparage His existence to justify their rebellion as well as win other rebels. And that is the reason they target believers.

It is no wonder that the Bible calls them fools.

The other characters with a similar problem are those who think they are propagating their faith by disparaging others’ faith.

Again the problems are similar. If your faith is so precious, why not propagate it on its own? Why must you show others that their faith is inferior? Why try to prove that their books are bad? Why must you use your enemies’ vehicle to carry your message?

Unless you have doubts about your faith and books and think disparaging others will give you a better feeling about your faulty faith.

Stop talking to people about what they believe. Just tell them what you believe and give them the liberty of observing your faith in action. Then they will make a solid decision.

Chances are you do not even know that faith you proclaim, let alone live according to its precepts. No wonder you are pouring scorn on other faith to make yours look better. Then you will be able to escape questions to that faith you are following blindly.

Christ never went disparaging other faiths. The only people He confronted were those who were committed to the faith but had heart issues with the same. Otherwise tell me when He confronted the Sadducees and Herodians?

Know what you believe. Then be ready to defend it.

Jesus said that we will be known by our fruit and not arguments. Thoroughly knowing what you believe and living in obedience to it is the only valid thing that will draw people to your faith.

We are witnesses. We are supposed to report what we have seen and heard like Peter and John said, not the wrong in others’ beliefs. The only thing the Bible admonishes us is to be ready to defend what it is we believe, meaning that we should have it completely in our minds and lives.

How well do you know what you believe?

Shut Up

A friend was giving me an experience with God that I thought can be very instructive for us.

He was in very dire straits and was therefore praying unceasingly, all the time enumerating his challenges and the need for God to get him through them. Aren't we all like that when badly pressed?

He literally heard a voice.

‘Shut up!’

Then God went on to tell him this,

‘I know you. I know everything about you. I know your needs and wants. I know your desires. I do not need you to tell me anything. Will you just listen as I want to speak to you?’

I remembered a verse talking about the sacrifice of fools just because they come to God to talk instead of listening to Him.

Why do we pray? What is the purpose of our praying? What do we achieve by praying?

Think about prayer meetings. How much time is dedicated to hearing from God as opposed to pouring our words to Him? What is the nature of that listening (if it is there at all)?

Could we be spending all our prayer time telling God things instead of listening to Him?

Is God more interested in hearing our voice than in leading us by His voice?

As God’s sheep, we are supposed to listen as opposed to speaking. And I am speaking as someone who has shepherded sheep.

My sheep hear My voice, I know them and they follow Me.

That is Christ the Shepherd speaking.

As opposed to goats, sheep walk close to the shepherd and follow his leading. Goats make a lot of noise and will never listen to anyone.

Will you allow God to shut you up?

Grace

I want to very briefly describe grace to enable us appreciate its impact in our lives as well as be able to notice the absence of its appreciation in our lives.

Grace is commonly defined as unmerited favor, especially when it applies to God. He relates with us using His grace. And that grace is the product of His love, also described as self giving.

That grace comes from God and does not dilute any of His other character traits, if I may call them that.

It therefore means that God’s grace does not negate His justice or holiness, for example.

Grace does nothing to reduce God’s hatred of sin. If anything it amplifies it.

Grace amplifies God’s nature in the one who has received it.

Paul wrote extensively about grace. In fact, most of what most people use to talk about grace is quoted from his writings.

Yet grace is as abundant in the Old Testament as it is in the writings of the apostle. You see, grace describes God. And His book, the Bible, the whole of it, is the evidence we have for the same.

Grace is allergic to sin just as God is. That is why anyone speaking about God yet comfortable with sin has no idea about grace. And anyone shouting about grace yet cozy with sin in his or his friends lives has no idea the kind of God that grace originates from.

But it does not stop there.

Graces invites the sinner into repentance and facilitates the same, even the recovery from its damage.

As an example, the Paul who ordered someone to be delivered to Satan is the same one who pled with them to receive him when he repented.

Most grace peddlers of today dangle between enablers of sin to judgmental Pharisees to holders of true grace. They are very lenient with sin in their circles yet brutal to those holding a different opinion, however scriptural it may be. They have no space for anyone singing a different tune. Differing from their theological or doctrinal position will have them damn you to hell for all they care. You are only safe in their camp.

Grace produces a parent who raises their child from a babe to a responsible adult, even another parent.

Grace walks with the toddler as it is crawling all over touching and tasting anything it can lay its tiny hands on. It allows the child to empty its bowels anywhere and everywhere.

But it does not stop there. It toilet trains him, teaches him to sit, stand, walk, talk.

Then it trains him to stop wallowing in all that dirt. It toilet trains him.

It then trains him to take responsibility, first for his things, then for the things of others.

Eventually it enables him to lead a fruitful life, even having his own family and raising children.

Lack of such kind of parenting is the reason we have spoilt children. You see, grace makes use of the rod just like a parent will do to ensure a child grows up properly.

But grace also makes for a wayward child to come back home after seeing the error of his ways. Remember the prodigal son? But he comes back not for the bounty of his father’s wealth but totally changed and ready to start life at the bottom. And there always is room for that in grace.

Grace is firm but not rigid. It is flexible but not wishy washy. Grace allows for growth. Grace prepares for growth. Grace anticipates growth. Grace has no allowance for the lack of growth.

Remember Jesus? He received people the way they came. But do you realize none went back the way they were when they were received?

That is how grace operates.

If you find yourself making allowance for sins and foibles and weaknesses instead of growth, then you are not walking in grace. If you find yourself rigid in your condemnation of different positions, you are not walking in grace. If the scriptures are not the only source you use for handling differences, you are not walking in grace.

You see. God is our example of grace in action. Though He razed Sodom for their sins, He saved Rahab the harlot and joined her to His people. The same Jesus who vigorously rebuked the Pharisees is the same one who found room for the thief on the cross.

Will we walk in that grace?