DailyScripture Reading and Paryer Builds Confidence.

As a boy in primary school I loved being in the school choir not because I was good at singing but because there was assurance that on the day of competition I would have a bottle of Pepsi or Coca-cola with a half loaf of bread from Paul's Bakery. Bread then used to taste nice that we could even devour it plain. To participate in the choir competitions, we practiced everyday to master the set piece and build confidence to stand before people and sing.

On the dress rehearsal day, each of us was required to stand alone and sing through the whole English song.In 1977 the set piece was Donkey Ridding (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSsyc). I was asked to sing it alone. I was panicking. I was not sure of some lines and because my voice was breaking, I couldn't hit the high notes. The rest of the students were looking at me and my body became hot. I went quiet as my fellow students laughed and giggled. It was clear that day that my 1/2 loaf and soda would be no more. Although I was disappointed that day,several years later I ended up becoming the choir master as a student in High school by default and had the mandate of singing on stage and also conducting the choir up to the national level.

In High school I could sing well because I had built up confidence. Confidence came from spending long hours practicing and rehearsing and after mastering the skill, I could sing and win. The same applies to our spiritual life. We need to constantly keep in step with the Holy Spirit by daily reading of scripture, prayer and fellowship.Where opportunity arises we need to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. These four pillars of a Christian life builds Confidence in us as we live in this troubled world.

Confidence is defined in various ways by different lexicographers. One says that confidence is full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing: The Bible speaks of this same confidence not just as belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities which is self-confidence; but assurance of salvation. If one is born again and walks with the Lord everywhere,reads the bible everyday, prays everyday without ceasing and fellowships, confidence grows in the person. That is why Hebrews 10:35-36 encourages us in these words: Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forever more, AMEN.

Through Tribulation Perseverance, Through Character, Hope.

When trials,tribulations and anything else that removes us from our comfort zones come in our life, we need not worry because God uses all these to make us stronger and to affirm His presence in our lives. Going without food, going to school without proper uniform, bare foot, and lack of school fees are things we grew up with and none gives gives us a surprise. I for one, I know how to maneuver through them because God through my mother taught me how to handle them.

However, there are some tribulations and suffering that befall us when we are least prepared. These tribulations have made many a men fall into temptations that have removed them from the path and now they are wondering in the desert of sin. I have personally been there seen it and done it. Our greatest problem is not falling into sin, it is the failure to identify and know that the circumstances and the situations we allow ourselves in when we are vulnerable or hurting, are the avenues through which satan entices us. He gives us plenty of man made solutions that bring short term reprieve including lying, pretending not to see what is happening, trying out on pseudo-medical treatments, yoga,transcendental meditation, witchcraft, atheism,taking to a binge, using drugs, joining a new church or religion, believing in a "new prophet",joining a gang, marrying another wife/husband and other enticing indulgences. All these are like setting off a sail around the world along the equator only to come to the point at which you began your voyage!.

Nothing solved. MONEY LOST.

Nothing learnt.TIME LOST.

Nothing gained.LIFE LOST.

FAMILY LOST.

ETERNITY LOST.

In Jesus Christ however, things are different and I am a living testimony. Whereas some of us would testify about God's goodness because we live in comfort and we can go wherever we want, we can own the car we want, we can choose what to eat, we can choose where to live, we can go to a hospital of our choice and we can take our children to schools of our choice,there are others who cannot even afford an opportunity to choose what food to eat. When they walk around a market, they do not look for quality, they look for quantity. When they walk around in the supermarket, they are not looking for the best things but for the things that fit the money in the pocket. Jesus Christ makes a difference in a person's life when it comes to contentment because Jesus Christ walks with us even when hungry, He walks with us even when we are in torn clothes. He never leaves us even if our friends and spouses leave us.

Majority of People in Kenya are poor, there are no jobs, the crime rate is high, tribalism or negative ethnicity is a boiling hotter and hotter and we are destroying the economy of our country because of greed. How can one person with or without a degree earn Kshs. 800,000 and the other with a degree earn Kshs. 23,000 or even Kshs. 50,000? Why should a retired president get Kshs 200,000 as entertainment when that amount can pay for four 3 high school teachers? Gas is so expensive in Kenya, paraffin or kerosin is expensive too. Now most families cannot even afford charcoal or even firewood because firewood comes from the forests and there are no forests now, the remaining forests are now a no go zones. The rich are felling trees for timber and exporting to the western nations whose ships are docked in Mombasa and other big ports in Africa. It is so ironical that our political leaders earn a lot yet they cannot see that teachers too have families that need to be educated, clothed, and housed. My encouragement to the teachers is to learn from the Apostle Paul who underwent some of the unbearable tribulations. in his letter to the Romans 5:3-4 ,he tells that all these are beneficial. He says..."And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Heavenly Versus Demonic Wisdom

I am reminded today that we have two types of Wisdom; Heavenly Versus Demonic Wisdom and it doesn't matter how educated one is, it doesn't matter what political party you belong to, what race you are or what religion you subscribe to. You either live your life on principles drawn from these two sources of knowledge. I don't believe in the existence of anyone called an atheist because there is nothing like that anywhere. I believe in all human beings being equal and that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.

In most systems of life, there are always two opposing sides, even in the so called democracy. This dichotomy is unlike the two poles of a magnet because the magnet does not have distinct north or south particles on opposing sides.A simple experiment can show that If a bar magnet is broken into two pieces, in an attempt to separate the north and south poles, the result will be two bar magnets, each of which has both a north and south pole.

The replete dichotomy I am talking about here is that which by nature is opposed to the other no matter what happens the two shall never become one. In the gospels Matthew 6:24 records that “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot belong to two opposing sides at the same time.This vivid picture of the dichotomy of wisdom is well described in the Holy Bible and to an extend in the Noble Qur'aan represented by what we all know as holy and evil. God is Holy and satan is evil through and through.

Therefore from the above scriptural testimony, the dichotomy of wisdom spoken about in the Bible is that which refers to a "partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets) that are: jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and. mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simultaneously to both parts. That is why James 3:13 asks us "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. Heavenly Wisdom is wrought in us by the Holy Spirit. A mature Christian lends himself/herself to the Holy Spirits workshop to be worked on like crashed car is worked on with a pannel beater or a bar of iron is produced or shaped by beating with a hammer. So the world of wisdom as we know it today is divided into two distinct parts: Heavenly Versus Demonic Wisdom

Unity through Humility in our Nation

I read somewhere that Humility is like an underwear. It is imperative for for us to wear underwear but we never go telling people that we have one on. I say this because I have been observing almost what our political and religious leaders do and say, I have been also observing my own life and that of my friends, including you who is reading this, that we are a lot filled with pride and arrogance. The following are the signs that make me say that we lack humility.

1. Teachers are on strike in Kenya because of what they were awarded by the court of law. The government through the President and his deputy have said they cant pay and they won't pay. This is arrogance, anger and poor leadership because the teachers issue is not new. Good leadership demands that we take the initiative to lead the way not to react to situations.Our leaders nee to be proactive, visionary and humble.

2. The teachers on their part have shown no humility.The teachers have held a very hard stance on this and their words show that they are ready to fight. They ought to have approached the industrial action with humility and decorum. It is shameful for teachers to act like hooligans on the streets, shouting, lying on the roads and lifting up their legs and dancing without care that they are examples for our children . There is no humility in the teachers' actions and unity cannot be achieved.

3. You don't need a weather man to tell you which way the wind is blowing and it is a clear fact that Kenyans are badly divided and no matter how many prayer meetings and fasting we shall have, no matter how many prayer breakfasts we will have, no matter what foreign intervention we are looking forward to, no matter political alliances we make and memorandums of understanding we shall sign. Kenya is still divided. There are very deep seated unresolved issues that TNA, CORD, AMANI coalition and others can not and do not understand. When Mutahi Ngunyi talks about the Luo Nation, the Kikuyu Nation, the Kalenjin Nation etc, it sends shivers down my spine because we are not nations in a nation but communities living in counties in a nation called Kenya. The past Presidents and other political leaders have never had a resolve to unite us Kenyans. Most have so hypocritical. In public they put the mask of nationhood while in private they push members of their communities in powerful positions, dish out scholarships to members of their communities and that is what was contained in what the Late Otieno Kajwang termed as "wanakula nyama na kutuachia mifupa"( they eat the meat and leave the bones for us)or what others say sasa ni wakati wetu kula (it is our time to eat) whereas 'our' here refers to the ethnic communities. When the political leaders from the ruling communities speak, you will never see an ounce of humility.

5. In the last general elections, it was clearly seen that President Kenyatta and his deputy worked hard to get support from their 2 populous communities and did very little to unite us as a nation. Each politician was mandated to drum support from his/her ethnic community and any member of the community who did not vote with the other members of the community was demonized. That is why issues like the Weston Hotel comes up, but there is no single pastor who comes out to ask the Deputy President to come out clear and take responsibility (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mS0ZgU9jtA). Pastors would like him to come and donate money for our church projects and we cannot tell him that as leader he is supposed to be above reproach. Whenever people point fingers at you and your name appears anywhere land grabbing cases are reported, a leader has to examine himself/herself otherwise there is no humility here and without humility there can be no unity.

6. Pastors and leaders of churches have gone to courts to have their disputes resolved by non-believers. they fight and even kill each other, pastors fighting and taking church land, and fighting public. Take a look at the following clips and you will see what I am talking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K6WQrhuNZw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWZR2OvqOwI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtexQapQhxY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR7pi4mqKHM

If a christian leader is implicated in a scandal, the right thing for him/her to do is to step aside. If he/she knows well that he/she committed the crime, there is no need to wait for a tribunal or a court case to vindicate him/her. We are asked to confess our sins to one another. What makes our leaders so hard necked? My advice to the deputy president is, if it is true that the land on which the hotel is standing is government land then he should return it to the government. Christian leaders should keep off the Law courts by solving their won problems amicably as the bible requires of us. In Paul's letter to the 1 Corinthians 6, Paul asks the Corinthians thus;Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 4 If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? 5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? 6 But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!

7 Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? 8 No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,[a] nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.. 

Many of our leaders are so rigid. A scholar defined rigidity as: "The inability or refusal to change one's actions or attitudes even though objective conditions indicate that a change is desirable." Most of our leaders cling to certain ways of thinking and acting, even when they know very well that their stances are injurious to their own personality and those they lead. This is not humility.

We only need Jesus Christ in our midst. When Jesus is Lord of our lives, then we can embrace other Kenyans irrespective of their religious affiliation, ethnic background or status in society. The Bible says through Humility UNITY can be achieved in our nation. Philippians 2:1-2 admonishes us thus; Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Pray for our leaders. Pray for our Nation.

Growing Old in Jesus Christ.

           Just a few days ago I realized that now I am a mzee (old man).My first born has twice called me mzee and it did not sink. I also looked at myself in a mirror and realized that there are some activities taking place on my head.Some young people in Nairobi also called me "buda" (slang for old man). Now it is a fact that I am an old man and no longer kijana. There are things I no longer do, places I no longer go foods I no longer crave . My friends, who may also be reading this, and I used to square a whole loaf of bread 'kavu'(dry) and go home and eat my ration as well. Now I seldom eat bread. Now I find some verses in the Bible directly addressing me.     
       I have come across some Christian pastors, leaders friends and  even some acquaintances who say that we should not face our political leaders and tell them that they are wrong. Doing this they say is becoming judgmental and  they even go ahead a quote scripture that says  “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use,  . This verse to me is quoted out of context and it does not tell us not to correct those we see doing unbecoming things.Paul told Titus to deal with such people in the following words: Titus 1: 10 For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans arealways liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth. 15 To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
      The Apostle Paul writing to Titus continued to say,  To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. It is very possible that we may claim to know God and even claim to believe in Jesus but our actions of complacency speak louder than what we profess to be. Paul warned Titus about some of us who have this behaviour in vs16 of chapter 1. "They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work". 
     In Titus 2: Paul instructs Titus thus: "But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: 2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; 3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— 4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. Now having the above qualities as an old man I need fervent study of scripture to keep sober. I need the Holy Spirit to make me humble and temperate. On the other hand older women have a task here. My question to the older women reading this post is; are our women discreet?  Discreet is defined as having or showing discernment or good judgment in conduct and especially in speech :  prudent; especially :  capable of preserving prudent silence,  unpretentious, modest <the warmth and discreet elegance of a civilized home : unobtrusive, unnoticeable. But the definition for children is what caught my eye; careful not to attract attention or let out private information. How many of our beloved women can stand up and say I kept all private information in the four walls of our bedroom? What does being obedient to own husband mean? Do Christian women teach the younger women to love their husbands, to love their children,  to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed? Let me get some feed back on this. 

Pastors and Complacency

 Pastors and Church leaders, we have another big problem caused by complacency. For those who have any training in theology and pastoral ministry, we have fallen victim of "monumentmeosis" (my own coined word), a disease that turns the energetic zeal for God into a monument. We hardly listen to what the Holy Spirit says in Galatians 5:16-26 about Walking in the Spirit.The Apostle Paul exhorts us saying:

16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
       There is no single Christian Leader who has preached a sermon against the murder of people like Yebei,. And I know this is a no go zone because we feel that our political leaders are being targeted here. The death of People caused by whoever is called murder. And the Apostle Paul admonishes us thus:

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,[a] fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders,[b] drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
  What do we need to do now? Repent and wear sack clothes, weep over what we have done against our God. Otherwise the Lord's wrath shall fall upon our country and people while we the watchmen are sleeping on the job. Then we should go back learn from the Great teacher the Holy Spirit and say with King David in Psalm 143:10,  Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.