Three years ago, a time like this was the most terrible for me. First of all, three months earlier, I had lost my Job as a lecturer in one of the main universities of Kenya. Secondly, my mother was on the sick bed, struggling with cancer in its last stages, and to add on that, my wife had just given birth to our second child. Now, the coming of our child of course was a blessing, but I could not refrain from wondering how on earth would I be able to take care of my young family without being gainfully employed.
I remember spending sleepless nights praying,seeking God’s face and crying to Him to heal my mother. It was not easy, I just could not imagine attending my mother’s burial. The thought of my mother dying was so dreadful to me! How of all people could she? She had been so dear to me, she had been so supportive of us and to add on that I was/am a man of faith! Nevertheless, this thought weighed heavily on my heart and however much I tried, I just could not brush it aside. I kept hoping against hope that God would somehow miraculously heal her.
Then the day came that I was supposed to go see my mother in Mombasa, by then I was living in Eldoret distance apart by some five hundred miles. Even getting the transport to go see my mother had been a struggle! But God intervened and I managed to begin the journey. I left my wife with my only phone so that I could be able to inform her once I had arrived as by then she had lost hers. So the long journey begun, I had missed my bus and had to get a Truck, (these long distance vehicles which transport cargo in East Africa and beyond).
When I was nearing Voi, I decided to call my sister and ask her to give me the details of the hospital bed where my mother was being hospitalized and the like. To which she responded by telling me to just go home and make arrangements later which I saw as reasonable and thus agreed.
On reaching home, I was troubled to see many people gathered, which was to me confusing because our place has always been a quiet home except for special occasions like birthdays and holidays. So I asked my sister what was happening and that is when she explained to me so calmly what had transpired. My mother had passed on in the wee hours of the morning when I was still on transit. That is when it dawned on me! My mother was no more!!! Oh, the grief! Oh, the pain! Oh, the anguish! I cried! I cried!
My mother was no more! My mother was no more! I did not believe it. I quickly arranged with a pastor friend of mine, Pastor Nathan Maina to go see my Mother. He quickly agreed and so off we went to St.Joseph Hospital, Ikanga where the mortuary attendant allowed us to see the body of my mother. There she was, in the cold,unfriendly room of the morgue, lifeless, motionless. I could not imagine it! I held her head and tried to talk to her but she did not respond! I removed the anointing oil from my pocket, anointed her and commanded her to arise and talk to me but to no avail. All my attempts failed miserably, Pastor Maina was looking at me so patiently, I knew he was wondering whether I had gone nuts! But I did not care. I just wanted to hear the voice of my mother, how she would gently call me “Mwakazi”.
I was confused! I was troubled! I felt like God had disappointed me. I felt like He had left me when I needed Him the most. I had loved Him, sacrificed my life for Him, served him faithfully and so willingly but now He had failed me oh so miserably. How could I face people and tell them that God heals? Had He not failed with my mother? How would I be sure that the people I prayed for would be healed? How would I believe God for a miracle? God had failed and I His servant too for that matter!
The days that followed were the most painful for me. We arranged for her burial and she was laid to rest a few days later. After fighting with the denial for some weeks and later accepting what had happened I fell into a depression.
Genesis: Moses Exodus: Moses Leviticus: Moses Numbers: Moses Deuteronomy: Moses Joshua: Joshua Judges: Samuel Ruth: Samuel 1 Samuel: Samuel; Gad; Nathan 2 Samuel: Gad; Nathan 1 Kings: Jeremiah 2 Kings: Jeremiah 1 Chronicles: Ezra 2 Chronicles: Ezra Ezra: Ezra Nehemiah: Nehemiah Esther: Mordecai Job: Moses Psalms: David and others Proverbs: Solomon; Agur; Lemuel Ecclesiastes: Solomon Song of Solomon: Solomon Isaiah: Isaiah Jeremiah: Jeremiah Lamentations: Jeremiah Ezekiel: Ezekiel Daniel: Daniel Hosea: Hosea Joel: Joel Amos: Amos Obadiah: Obadiah Jonah: Jonah Micah: Micah Nahum: Nahum Habakkuk: Habakkuk Zephaniah: Zephaniah Haggai: Haggai Zechariah: Zechariah Malachi: Malachi Matthew: Matthew Mark: Mark Luke: Luke John: Apostle John Acts: Luke Romans: Paul 1 Corinthians: Paul 2 Corinthians: Paul Galatians: Paul Ephesians: Paul Philippians: Paul Colossians: Paul 1 Thessalonians: Paul 2 Thessalonians: Paul 1 Timothy: Paul 2 Timothy: Paul Titus: Paul Philemon: Paul Hebrews: Paul James: James (Jesus’ brother) 1 Peter: Peter 2 Peter: Peter 1 John: Apostle John 2 John: Apostle John 3 John: Apostle John Jude: Jude (Jesus’ brother) Revelation: Apostle John
BIBLE STATISTICS
Amazing Bible Facts And Statistics
Number of books in the Bible: 66 Chapters: 1,189 Verses: 31,101 Words: 783,137 Letters: 3,566,480
Number of promises given in the Bible: 1,260 Commands: 6,468 Predictions: over 8,000 Fulfilled prophecy: 3,268 verses Unfulfilled prophecy: 3,140 Number of questions: 3,294 Longest name: Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:1) Longest verse: Esther 8:9 (78 words) Shortest verse: John 11:35 (2 words: “Jesus wept”). Middle books: Micah and Nahum Middle chapter: Psalm 117 Shortest chapter (by number of words): Psalm 117 (by number of words) Longest book: Psalms (150 chapters) Shortest book (by number of words): 3 John Longest chapter: Psalm 119 (176 verses) Number of times the word “God” appears: 3,358 Number of times the word “Lord” appears: 7,736 Number of different authors: 40 Number of languages the Bible has been translated into: over 1,200
Are you going through hard times? Be encouraged. God will never leave you nor forsake you and will make all things work together for your good because you love Him and He chose you.
There are many reasons why a believer might be going through hard times or suffering. Many a times people have considered that the only reason people go through suffering is because they did something wrong. However, that is not entirely true, there are a couple of reason why people go through suffering. Let us carefully look upon them as below.
1. THEIR OWN MISTAKES
At times people go through suffering because of their own mistakes.We have people in the Bible wh suffered because of their own mistakes.The children of Israel went round the wilderness longer than God expected them to because of their own disobedient.Samson died prematurely because he entangled himself with a woman even though he had been warned about it.This led the woman to betray him to the Philistines and Samson suffered a great deal.
Of late there have been some happenings in the Body of Christ and the world over that are causing a stir among many. For example, sudden deaths of our loved ones, young and premature, (just recently,two of my classmates have died mysteriously), Christians fighting one another, great animosity among Men of God, competition, struggles for power and money, rampant immorality, corruption, violence and murder, total disregard for holy things, and many others which are indeed an indication that there is something that has gone very wrong! If indeed there is a time that we need to review our lives, then it is now! If there is a time that we need to repent and turn to the Lord, then it is now! If there is a time that we need to get more serious in our walk with God, then it is now!These are perilous times.The devil knows that the time is short and he is trying as much as possible to win many to his kingdom of darkness and to destroy the lives of many others as well. Who knows, you might as well be a target! As we all know that he only comes to kill, steal and destroy. John 10:10. We need to ask ourselves, where did we go wrong? Where have we strayed from the ancient paths?
Jeremiah 6:16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
Jeremiah 18:15 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
I beg you to read what the father of the Charismatic movement in Ghana has for the entire church in Ghana and the world over.
Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams
“I want to use this medium to tell about a Revelation I had about our Church. I know some persons may attack me because of this maybe due to guilty conscience or whatsoever. But I have to take this burden off my neck and have my conscience free. God spoke to me expressly concerning the Church and I wept bitterly after he finished. It all happened this way; We lost a very good brother in Church to a mysterious sickness. This brother was too young and very dedicated. He was just about 22 years old and was a great lifeline in both the choir and the youth department. He was a born again child of God and I was always challenged by his level of dedication. When he fell seriously ill we prayed. The church prayed on many occasions seeking God’s healing for him, but at last, we lost him. This is one death that has pained my spirit even up till today and would never cease to. Prior to this, there was another sister we lost. She was very dedicated too and her husband was also a great Child of God. They were without children for many years after marriage, but they never wavered in their faith. But suddenly, she became pregnant and the church was in great joy. But we lost her during the child birth and upon the prayers, tears and pleading to God to spare her life, we lost her. A lot of deaths in the church which were not so before now and situations that refuse to respond to prayers nowadays which were not also like this before now prompted me to seek God to know what has gone wrong. Specifically, my dear friend’s death made me cry and I still cry bitterly till today. I embarked on a 33 days journey of prayer and fasting because I wanted to be restored from my weaknesses and failures and also to know the reason for various negative happenings in our Churches, and why such negative incidences don’t obey our prayers anymore. Throughout the period of my fervent prayers with tears, I heard nothing from God, but on the last day of my prayers, being so weak and feeling God was never going to tell me anything, He appeared to me in the form of an old man and he told me things that made me still beg for mercy till today. Here it is:
He said to me, ” You have requested to know and I will tell you. The gathering you call a church is no longer a church before my eyes but a place of tussle for power, position, fame, division, superiority, supremacy and authority. Many Shepherds who were supposed to protect the sheep from Lions have become the Lions devouring the very sheep handed into their care. The Hearts of the people are divided against each other and brothers are seeking the downfall of brothers for the sake of position and authority. The altar of the church has become a boxing ring where Shepherds, Pastors and Deacons/Deaconesses fight each other fiercely both with punches and fouls words to become the last man standing and the most superior to all. Pastors drug pastors in church to take over my altar for their personal interests. The church is divided among themselves choosing leaders based on what they stand to gain materially rather than what they stand to gain spiritually. Pastors fight Pastors for positions and members fight Pastors for possession of the church. Brethren who were of the same fold now divide against each other and pray to me against each other seeking the downfall of each other from my hands. The sacred things of the my temple are being used for selfish purposes and the occultic members of the world are now the people judging the sacred matters of the church in court and taking decisions for the church to make peace, yet my people wouldn’t stop fighting themselves. The church has become a war and battle ground where leaders fight for superiority and power due to quest for financial benefits and control over whatever and whoever they want to control. I am very bitter with the Church .”
Now this is the part that shocked me. He said; “Because of this, I no longer listen to their prayers as a church, but I only listen to individual prayers from a very few of her members who are still burning in desire to know me. The prayers from them as a church to me has become an abomination before me because the hearts from which the prayers come from are not united, but filled with division and hatred towards one another. When they pray to me as a church demanding for solution to situations, I tend to see a group of people who pretend to be together, but in the real sense, they are against each other and against me as well. They don’t pray for mercy and unity, rather they pray to me to deal with their own brothers and sisters because no one wants to be a subordinate to the other. Everyone wants to be the superior and the one gaining. I have decided to only listen to individual prayers from sincere hearts, not a prayer from a group of hypocrites who call on me from their lips, but inside their hearts lies wickedness, jealousy, envy, false witnessing, coverteousness, ungodly plans and great division. That is why they pray for healing, I become slow to do it. They pray for blessings, I tend to bless only a few with sincere hearts. Their offerings, tithes and seeds have become filthy before me because they come from unclean hearts and hands that have shed blood. I have decided to be calling home the upright ones in the church in death through various ways – Some through sickness, and others through situations I deem proper. I would have allowed them to stay, but I don’t want to lose them. So I take them home while they are in good standing with me. Cry no more for your brother and friend was called home by me just like I have called other children of mine. The time is too short and judgement day is at the corner. You should stand firm and don’t take your eyes off me for the evil day is very near. But as for the Church, a lot will happen and is yet to come, unless they come back together in one heart like in the days of old and seek me. And I will forgive them and heal their hearts and heal their lives and heal their lands. But if they fail to do so, I will deal with them in my own way. Go and tell them what I have told you . Tell them that I am He that was, He that is, and He that is to come.”
These were His words to me then I woke up. I have passed it across. Please help me forward and share it. Don’t stop this message or else you be held responsible for stopping His message to His people. I know I would not have been given an opportunity to tell the church this in a major national program like Peniel and the likes, but I thank God for this medium. I rest my case.”
What do you think of this? Can you hear the voice of God speaking to your heart? If you do, then this is a call for repentance.
Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
From the day that I gave my life to Jesus Christ, I have always marvelled at the awesomeness of God. You can never cease to be amazed at how glorious God is. He is a wonder! Christianity was never intended to be a boring experience. Religious folk have made a mockery of the Christian walk, replacing it with empty rituals devoid of the power and grace of God.
It is only in Christianity that we find God seeking man and desiring to have an intimate relationship with him. He woos man through every imaginable way to just see him come back to Him and He does not relent. He gave the ultimate sacrifice when He allowed His Son Jesus Christ to die for us. He desperately wants a meaningful relationship with us and He has created it through the cross! God is love!
The following excerpt, taken from Rick Joyner,one of the greatest Bible Teachers of our days sums it up thus.
One of the shortest, but most remarkable stories in Scripture is found in Genesis 5:22-24: Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Concerning this we read in Hebrews 11:5: By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because GOD took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.
In the last mention of Enoch in Scripture, but not the least important, we are told in Jude 14-16: And about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. Enoch’s is one of the most enigmatic and important messages in Scripture. As we read in Jude, it is also one of the most important for the last days. The special fact about Enoch is that he walked with God. Adam was still alive when Enoch lived. It is probable that he talked with Adam about what it was like to walk with God in the Garden, and his heart was so stirred that he began to yearn for such a relationship with his Maker. One of the great, eternal truths is, if we seek God we will find Him. Enoch found Him. He recovered the most basic call of man that had been lost by the fall—the relationship we are called to have with God. Because of this he was delivered from the consequence of the Fall, which is death. Walking with God remains the ultimate and highest quest of man. When this is truly recovered, we too will be delivered from the consequences of the Fall. Enoch walked with God so closely that the Lord took him directly to heaven. This was a foreshadowing of what has been popularly referred to as “the rapture.” As Paul wrote in I Corinthians 15:51-52: Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. Enoch was but the first fruits of the last day church that will also be caught up without tasting death. There have been many books written about how and why this takes place, and many have speculated aboutthe timing of it, but the reason this happens is the same reason it happened to Enoch. The last day church will walk with God so closely that He will be obliged to bring them into the fullness of His presence, transforming them from the mortal to the eternal in the “twinkling of an eye.” I have often heard Christians say that they were trying to decrease so the Lord could increase in their life. This seems noble, but it is not biblical, and is actually the opposite of what John the Baptist said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). If we try to decrease before He increases in our lives, we will just be empty, and the void will usually be filled with an evil, religious spirit. “Enoch walked with God, and he was not….” When we walk with God, we will decrease because He is increasing in our lives. The Lord did not come just to make our lives better and easier. He did not even come simply to change us—He came to kill us! Even though Enoch did not “taste death” in the natural, his old nature was consumed in God. When it says that “he was not,” it means much more than him just disappearing. By walking with God His glory changed him, consuming his fallen nature and replacing it with His nature. The same is our goal—to be dead to sin, dead to our former lusts, dead to this world, but alive unto God. Even so, if we try to crucify ourselves, the result will be self-righteousness. Our old nature was crucified with Christ on the cross. The rendering of our old nature as dead, so we can experience the resurrection life in Christ, is a process that takes place as we walk with God. We identify with His crucifixion, and therefore His righteousness. We will never be so good that we do not need His life and His righteousness. We are only able to enter into the presence of God because of His blood—His atonement. He will forever be our righteousness. Therefore, it is our goal to be found in Him, to abide in Him so that He might dwell in us. The more we walk with Him and see Him, the more we are changed by who He is. When we focus on crucifying ourselves we are still focusing on self. We will never be changed by seeing who we are, but by beholding who He is. As we behold Him, we embrace and identify with His cross and His resurrection. Christ is everything. He is the message and purpose of the whole creation. When we lose ourselves in Him we do not lose, we gain everything to infinity. We are exchanging the worthless and the death for that which is beyond valuation, and a life that cannot be destroyed. We will never make a better transaction. Your ultimate purpose for being on this earth can be summed up in one thing—you are called to walk with God. Your highest purpose for this day is to walk with Him. If you do, you will also make the greatest transaction that can be made on this earth, exchanging some of the death in you for the indestructible life inHim.
Do you desire a relationship with God? It is possible. It is possible to walk with God even closer than anyone who has walked with Him before,or who is walking with Him or will ever walk with Him! Remember, you can be as close to Him as you want. If you haven’t yet received Him, what are you waiting for?
Pray with me ” Lord Jesus Christ, I am a sinner. I ask for your forgiveness.I desire an eternal walk with you. Cleanse me from all evil and write my name in the lamb’s book of Life. I receive you in my heart today. I will live for you for the rest of my life. Amen”.
That potent prayer has moved you from one realm to another. You are now a new creature! Yes a new creature! God has now accepted you as His Son/Daughter.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
My prayer for you is that God will lead you to a true Bible Believing Church and establish you in the faith as you continue in prayer and the study of the Word of God. It is well with your soul.
In my previous discourse, I talked about what happened in my life that triggered the depression that attacked my life and was a heavy load about my neck.
A lot of things were happening by then. As I already told you, my mother had passed on and I was struggling to get a descent job to take care of my family. I also had my own personal desires and aspirations that I felt were taking too long to be accomplished. These and a host of other things made me feel like I had had enough and was tired. I was tired of everything and nothing seemed exciting in life at all. I battled with dark and unhealthy thoughts. My days were filled with sorrow, grief and gloom.
Now you may be asking yourself “What is depression”? What does it feel like when someone is depressed? These are frequently asked questions by many and can only be answered by someone who has gone through the ordeal and come out victoriously.
Depression is a feeling, a sickness, a certain foreboding and deposition of sadness, pessimism about life, thinking that things will never improve, that life will always be gloomy, that circumstances will never change for the better. It is usually accompanied by a tendency towards inactivity, the things that you loved doing in the past, your hobbies, preoccupations and desires are no longer as exciting. One tends to delink himself/herself from friends, loved ones and family alike. Depressed people want to keep to themselves, lock themselves in their rooms and refuse to associate with other people with whom they are living with in the same house and neighbours.You may hear them crying and lamenting in their rooms, sometimes even shouting and screaming. In the extreme cases, depressed people struggle with thoughts of suicide and if not taken care of, they may eventually take their lives.
Depression does not just come, it is often in many cases triggered by a chain of events that take place in an individual’s life. Depression can attack anybody but in many cases it is fierce among the introverts, people who keep to themselves and are always introspective as opposed to the colourful sanguines.
In my case, I began getting depressed when I felt that God had failed me, that He nolonger answers prayers and that my goals in life were not being reached as I fast as I had expected. I compared myself to my peers, as foolish as it may seem, trying to keep up with the Joneses, in the rat race for fame, success and affluence.
Depression comes mainly from looking at things from a worldly perspective. It is seeing things from a limited narrow human view as opposed to a healthy godly perspective. One going through depression feels like a failure, feels like they will never do anything right, feels rejected and unaccepted.
This was not an easy time for me. I thank God for the support of my wife and family members too. Of all people, my wife was the most supportive because she had to live with my moods and experience my negativity on a daily basis. She stood strong through it all, giving me all the necessary emotional support I needed and even helping me cope with the tough times we were going through as a family. I have to say here that it was not easy for her, nor was it easy for anybody who would see me when I was in my worst.
As for me, there were times little things would trigger my mood swings, I became very sensitive, even something very trivial would become a mountain for me. Normal conversations would be impossible, as you would never know when I would just get angry and leave. In my worst, even taking care of myself was arduous. I did not care how I would look like before people. My physical appearance would be shabby and very pathetic to say the least.
I struggled with hypersomnia, a way of escaping the reality life through excessive sleeping. I thought evil of everyone and everything, it’s just by God’s grace and mercy that I pulled through, because I could now be among those who went to an early grave.
I thank God because, there is one decision we took that helped me during these trying times. When I lost my job and things were tough in Eldoret, I decided to relocate with my family to Coast/ Voi where I would stay at our place as I struggled to get back on my feet. My wife advised me to buy a free-to-air decoder to be watching Christian channels at home. I agreed. This decision was a major turning point in my life because the inspirational messages and uplifting sermons that I heard from Men of God stirred up my heart and gave me hope that things will get better and that God would see me through these tough times. This was very instrumental in my healing because the Word of God is an anchor to our souls. The Word of God can change anybody and any situation.
I started fortifying my life with the Word of God and prayer and my life started taking shape. I developed a new outlook of life and a new resolve. I began realizing that with God all things are possible and that with Him I could be able to change not only myself but even my world.
The Word of God challenged my dark thoughts, my pessimism, my moods and lifted up the depression that wanted to choke my life and destroy me. I began praying and pushing the blanket of darkness away. It was not easy, but I chose not to give up. I knew there was much more in store for me. I wanted to grasp the reason as to why God had chosen me and called me. And with the help of the Holy Spirit the war raged on…
Psalms 119:130
The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
1 Corinthians 10:13
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Walking With God 