Author: admin

In Matthew 6:33, the Bible says “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Success and happiness in marriage does not come about with seeking the spouse first, the job first or entertainment first, It all starts with seeking God First.

If your spouse is somehow putting you before God you must be seriously worried.

Marriage should start with the plea to be number two in all things. Seeking to be saved, seeking to walk with Christ, seeking see His face should be the first priority in life.

In Marriage, the spouse and the family, important as they can be, must find their place after God has taken His place.

If your spouse loves you more than he/she loves God you must be very concerned. If your husband loves you so much that he takes God’s tithe and offerings to buy you a new car or to pay for the bond of your beautiful house, you must be very worried for he won’t last. If your wife put material things before God, you must know that even though you are second after material things, soon you will be last or you won’t be in the list at all. We are only safe and secure in our marriages when our spouses love God more that they love us or anything else, therefore what should be first and foremost in marriage should be to encourage each other to love and serve God.

There is a blessing in obeying this instruction; the blessing is that after seeking the Kingdom, you don’t have to seek anything else, for all other things will be added unto you. In marriage, couples are seeking many things: love, joy, peace, happiness, security, comfort and care. These things are all added into those who seek God first.

As the family seek God first, they might face trials, but God will bring then through, they might face storms and God will give them peace in the midst of the storms.

Therefore, Seek God First.

From Conflict Resolution to Love Restoration.

• Few couples like to admit it, but conflict is common to all marriages. Start with two selfish people with different backgrounds and personalities, now add some bad habits and interesting peculiarities, throw in a bunch of expectations, and then turn up the heat a little with the daily trials of life. Guess what? You are bound to have conflict. It’s unavoidable. Regardless of the compatibility couple, a husband and wife will always have somewhat different perspectives, and these differences will create conflict.
• Conflicts are often over money, careers, in-laws, sex, child rearing, and a host of other common marital issues. These are part of the experience of being married. Some couples feel that if they could only rid themselves of certain conflicts, they would be happy together. But marriages can be excellent in spite of conflicts, even when some of them are never fully resolved.
• The difference between couples who live in marital bliss and those who regret ever having met each other is not found in whether or not they are free of conflict it’s found in whether or not they are in love with each other.
• The goal of restoring and sustaining love in marriage is much more important than the goal of resolving conflicts. Even if you made progress in resolving some of your conflicts, you still may have been unhappy with your marriage. The goal for marriage is for you and your spouse to be in love with each other. With love, marriage is sensational. Without it, it’s hell.
• In every marital conflict we need to stress the importance of resolving it in a way that builds the feeling of love in marriage. Since every marriage has its tensions, it isn’t a question of avoiding them but how you deal with them. Conflict can lead to a process that develops oneness or isolation.
• Conflict resolution is not the goal, the goal is love restoration, therefore we need to go beyond just resolving conflicts to restoring love.

Life and death, all in your sight

• In Exodus 14:11 the children of Israel said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?”
• The Egyptians were approaching fully armed for battle; the children of Israel had no weapon, military skills nor the will to fight the Egyptians and therefore they were terrified. They could not see how they will survive, in their eyes there was no hope, all that lies ahead was death, therefore the complaints about lack of graves in the desert. Now, since they are going to die, in their view it would have been proper to die in Egypt where were they had funeral polices, burial societies and reputable funeral undertakers. After all that God had done this might be seen as a lack of faith, yet to them they would see this as just been realistic.
• The question is, when you open your eyes what is it that you see, do you see life or do you see death, do you see the dark clouds or you see the silver linings, do you see hope or you see hopelessness. Whatever you see that’s what you’ll find out of life. The children of Israel saw death, they complained about the lack of decent burial ground, they all died in the desert only Caleb and Joshua made it to the Promised Land.
• Some time ago I met a young man who made a great impression on me, he is HIV positive and yet he is one of the most positive people that I have ever met, he is full of life, he has great plans for the future and he is living his life to the fullest. Every time he wakes up he does not see death, the grave nor is he planning to write his funeral program, instead he sees life, the privilege of been alive, he sees the people that he needs to touch by his life and the many opportunities to be exploited. Others who are in the same status like him can only see is death, so they become depressed, distressed and soon they are dead.
• If your eyes can still open then that means there is hope for you to see the sun shining, the flower blooming , the baby crawling, the birds flying, Yes! You have the opportunity to see the hand of God in action. Remember that for every sunset there is a sunrise, for every lost opportunity there is a new one waiting to be found, for every tear there is joy waiting.
• Look above the Egyptians (death) and see the Pillar of cloud (God) where there is life, Life in abundance, Look and live! Look to Jesus and be saved.

You are not the real target

• Before we continue from where we left of last week I think we should go back to a portion of scripture that we have skipped and that’s in Exodus 14:6, 7 “So he (Pharoah) made his chariot ready and took his people with him; and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.
• Egypt was the then world super power, it had the most powerful army and the best trained soldiers. The Bible says when Pharaoh realised that the children of Israel have left Egypt he decided to pursue them armed with the best weapons that Egypt had. This was overkill, how do you take the weapons of mass destruction to go and follow a people who have no army, nor weapons nor any military training. This does not make sense. Pharaoh new the capabilities of the children of Israel, he knew they were weak and were not going to be able to put up a challenge to him, therefore this military weapons could not have been brought to fight the children of Israel, they were directed to the God of the children of Israel. Pharaoh knew the power of this God and he was not about to take chances. Pharaoh had armed himself to fight the God of the children of Israel, the God who is the Great I am, the God who created the heavens and the earth.
• In the Christian journey, the enemy of our souls will contest every each of ground that we gain, as we make some spiritual progress the enemy will always be there to attack and try to find a way to discourage us. What we need to realise is that Pharaoh or the enemy has armed himself to attack and challenge our God; we are unsuited, untrained and unqualified to fight this battle. Since the enemy can’t go to heaven and fight God, he attacks God’s children so that in so doing he can hurt God.
• However, it does not matter what form the enemy might takes, it does not matter what tactics he might use, it does not matter what or who he might use to attacked you, it does not matter whether he attacks you at home, at church, in the street or at the work place, there is no need for you to take it personal, to be angry, to be depressed, to be discouraged or to retaliate. There is no need for you to “Show them who you are!”, No! No! No! You don’t matter in this battle, ‘Show them who Christ is!’ Remember the battle is not yours, it is the Lord’s and He says I will fight for you. Things will not be left as they are, there is no doubt that there will be a battle, there will be a fight, but will be battled and fought in your behalf. God says you are the apple of my eye, when the enemy touches you he must know that he is irritating God’s eye and there is no way that God will not notice it. This is why Jesus said to Saul (before he became Paul) “Why are you persecuting me?” God takes every attack on His children personal.
• You are not the real target, God is!

Before we continue from where we left of last week I think we should go back to a portion of scripture that we have skip and that’s in Exodus 14:6, 7 “So he (Pharoah) made his chariot ready and took his people with him; and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.

Egypt was the then world super power, it had the most powerful army and the best trained soldiers. The Bible says when Pharaoh realised that the children of Israel have left Egypt he decided to follow them armed with the best weapons that Egypt had. This was overkill, how do you take the weapons of mass destruction to go and follow a people who have no army, nor weapons nor any military training. This does not make sense. Pharaoh new the capabilities of the children of Israel, he knew they were weak and were not going to be able to put up a challenge to him, therefore this military weapons could not have been brought  to fight the children of Israel, they were directed to the God of the children of Israel. Pharaoh knew the power of this God and he was not about to take chances. Pharaoh had armed himself to fight the God of the children of Israel, the God who is the Great I am, the God who created the heavens and the earth.

In the Christian journey, the enemy of our souls will contest every each of ground that we gain, as we make some spiritual progress the enemy will always be there to attack and try to find a way to discourage us. What we need to realise is that Pharaoh or the enemy has armed himself to attack and challenge our God; we are unsuited, untrained and unqualified to fight this battle. Since the enemy can’t go to heaven and fight God, he attacks God’s children so that in so doing he can hurt God.

Therefore it does not matter what form the enemy might take, it does not matter what tactics he might use, it does not matter what or who he might use to attacked you, it does not matter whether he attacks you at home, at church, in the street or at the work place, there is no need for you to take it personal, to be angry, to be depressed, to be discouraged or to retaliate.  There is no need for you to “Show them who you are!”, No! No! No! You don’t matter in this battle, ‘Show them who Christ is!’ Remember the battle is not yours, it is the Lord’s and He says I will fight for you. Things will not be left as they are, there is no doubt that there will be a battle, there will be a fight, but will be battled and fought in your behalf. God says you are the apple of my eye, when the enemy touches you he must know that he is irritating God’s eye and there is no way that God will not notice it. This is why Jesus said to Saul (before he became Paul) “Why are you persecuting me?” God takes every attack on His children personal.

Let me live…                                          

• Lord, I would love to preach,
  • To tell the world the words of salvation.
  • To proclaim the love and the life of Jesus
  • To stand and declare His glory in the grand stands of the world
  • To shout the sounds of salvation around the globe.
• But above all, let me live the life that I preach to others.
• Lord, what a privilege it is to teach and instruct others
  • To reveal the revelations of your Word
  • To enlighten the minds of the little ones
  • To stand on crossroads and point the path to the cross
  • To guide and lead men into meaningful life
• But above all, let me live the life that I teach others
• Lord, I love to sing the Lord’s song in this strange land
  • To shout about the showers of blessing
  • To resonate the sounds of joy and salvation
  • To reverberate the theme of redemption and restoration
  • To sing about your great faithfulness in the midst of my unfaithfulness
• But above all, let me live the life that I sing about
• Lord, I know that knowledge is precious to you
  • I might not have read all the directives found in the Great book
  • I might be ignorant of some important information
  • I might only understand just a part of the puzzle of life
  • I might not have the wisdom of the eastern wise man
• But Lord, let me live the life based on the little that I know
• Let me live the life…
  • Let me live it in my home, at work, in the street and wherever I might be
  • Let me live it when I am alone and when surrounded by multitudes
  • Let me live it before my children so they might know the Father above
  • Let me live it before my wife so she could know the Man of Calvary
  • Let me live it before my friends so they could know a better Friend
  • Let me live it before my colleagues so they could know the Cornerstone of life
  • Let me live it before strangers so that they might desire to know my Redeemer
• Lord, let me live the life!
• When I have said and done all,
  • and I lay and wait in that cold grave,
  • let be written in invisible words
  • “Here lies a man who lived the life that was worth living!”

Author: Mashudu J.M. Ravhengani

There has been some silence at Living Power since I have been away for the past three weeks in Vienna, Austria where I was conducting an evangelistic crusade, thank you for your prayers, the Lord truly blessed and I am a witness to His mighty deeds.

It should have been a great day when Pharaoh finally decided to allow God’s people to leave Egypt. I could imagine that as the children were packing their backpacks and the adults were collecting their belongings there was great excitement throughout the camp of the Israelites.  There was jubilation in the air: “Free at last! Free at last, Thank God Almighty we are free at last!”

To some extent this has been our experience when Jesus saved us from the bondage of sin, many will agree with the chorus: “It was a great day when I was born again …” On that say we also sang another chorus “I am so glad that Jesus washed my sins away…” Indeed, we all start the Christian journey will a lot of excitement looking forward and hoping that indeed “every day with Jesus will be sweeter than the day before”

However, in spite of the liberation euphoria there was still a journey to be undertaken. Between the land of bondage and the Promised Land there is a journey to be undertaken, in fact, freedom important as it is, it is just the beginning, the journey has only begun. It would have been nice if there was no journey, it would have been nice if after one is free from the land of bondage the next day they wake up in the Promised Land. It would have been nice if after the day I accepted Jesus as my saviour I would wake up in heaven.

The greatest challenge is in the journey. It is in the journey where many people become discouraged, it is in the journey where people (even Christian and fellow church members) starts to gossip about you and say all kinds of nasty things about you. It is in the journey where you pray, fast and pray some more and yet there seems to be no answer. It is in the journey where your faith is test and your patience stretched to the limit. It is in the journey where many decides to look back and are turned into pillars of salt.

Why the journey? I would like to suggest that the journey prepares us for the destination, the journey is there for character development, and the journey is there to prepare us so that we can qualify to reach the destination. The journey which was by foot was not so much for physical fitness as it was for spiritual fitness. We need the journey, hard and painful as it might be sometime, for us to get ready for the destination.

Unfortunately only two men from the six hundred thousand that left Egypt made it to the Promised Land, and these are frightening statistics.  Don’t give in and don’t give up in the journey, the destination will be worth it all, when we finally get there we will say “Heaven is cheap…”

Our God has an amazing sense of humour Part 2 or Part 0.5

“Let my people go”

Last week we saw how God led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but before we continue with the story, I just want us to take some few steps back and look at the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt.

At the burning bush God spoke to Moses saying to him ‘Go and tell Pharaoh to let my people go’.

Now, God could have just kicked Pharaoh on his back side and on that very day God’s people would have been freed, but God in his own mercy (sense of humour, if you please) he allowed Pharaoh to play his games. Pharaoh will not allow the slaves to go just like that; he did what he can to keep them, even though God showed him one miracle after another.

• The miracles were necessary so that Pharaoh, the Egyptians, the Israelites and all of us can see the might power of God, that our God is not limited in power and strength and nothing is too hard for Him.
• The miracles showed that God is in control of the whole universe: water, frogs, lice, flies etc, obey Him, life and death is also in His hands. Therefore, why should I worry and why should I complain, He’s got the whole world in His hands.
• 10 plagues or miracles showed God’s patience and determination to save His people from Egypt. God is persistent in trying to get us saved; He tries and continues to try to reach us, and this mail is just another attempt.

Some of us have been enslaved by many habits, the fact is that the enemy will not just let us go; he will fight to keep his slaves. There are many today who are enslaved by the love of money, adultery, materialism, legalism, pornography, gossip, pride etc. Don’t be discouraged if after 8 or 9 miracles you still find yourself waking up in Egypt; God still has one more miracle to make. God wants to give you a special miracle (encounter) from which you will have a testimony that will touch and change the world. Today might just be that day!

Taking about miracles let’s briefly look at how God dealt with the stubborn Pharaoh:

• After Moses changed his rod into a snake, Pharaoh looked at it and said to Moses, “Boy, do you think that’s something, I can do that also!”
• After Moses changed water into blood, Pharaoh instead of reversing the process by changing blood into water, he took some water from the fridge and changed it into blood, compounding the problem in trying to prove a point.
• After Moses brought in the plagues of frogs, Pharaoh also added some more of his own frogs as if the frog situation was not bad enough.

Then God decided (in His divine sense of humour) to up the stakes; I love it! He decided to set the standard of plagues higher, above the reach of Pharaoh and his magicians. He brought in the plague of lice, and Pharaoh and his gang could not duplicate this miracle, in fact, from here onwards they were not able to duplicate any other miracle. Pharaoh’s magicians said it well in Exodus 8:19, “This is the finger of God”

• What a testimony about the power of God. They were saying no man can do this thing; it is beyond what man (even with the assistance of the devil) can do.
• Moreover, God had not moved on Pharaoh, neither was He moving His hand, but He was just moving His little finger. “This is the finger of God!” What a might God we serve!

You have tried and failed, and you tried again and again you failed, the enemy seems to always reach whatever level of spirituality that you gain and he always finds a way to bring you down, back to slavery. Don’t be discouraged, soon God will lift up a standard against the enemy. God will move His little finger and the enemy will not be able to reach you.

Our God has an amazing sense of humour

I am not too sure if calling it a sense of humour is correct, but maybe I should just say that our God is amazing.

In Exodus 13: 18, The Bible says God led the children of Israel around by the way of the wilderness of the Red sea.  God led them, it didn’t just happen, and they we not lost or misled, God led them, it was a divine directive.

The way of the wilderness (desert)

• The wilderness has no open roads where two million people can travel easily
• The wilderness is hot during the day and cold at night,
• The wilderness has no water and there is no Shoprite, Pick and Pay or KFC on route
• The wilderness is dangerous, full of snakes and wild animals
• In the wilderness there is no employment and means for providing for your family

He leads them on the way of the wilderness. Is God leading you around, not direct to your goal, but around on the way of the wilderness?

In God’s own sense of humour,

• He wants to make a way in the midst of no-way (cul-de-sac), a highway (higher than man’s ways) in the wilderness (place or point of hopelessness); after all He is the Way, the truth and the life.
• He wants to be a pillar of cloud (air conditioned shade) by day and a pillar of fire (central heating system) by night, a visible and constant presents in your life, for He knows that we need Him in the morning, we need Him at noontime and we need Him through night.
• He wants to proof to you that it is not your job, your business nor your corrupt tenders that provides your daily bread but it is God who provides your needs 24×7, He is Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord my/your provider!
• Again He wants to show you that it is not ADT, Anti-hijack, Tracker or other security systems that has been preserving you life, but it is divine protection.
• He wants those who have been liberated (saved) to know that this world is just a wilderness, there is nothing attractive, not a place of permanent residence, we are just passing through, and we have a home on the other side of the wilderness.

I pray that you might walk in the way of the wilderness and enjoy the blessings (divine sense of humour) in the wilderness.

To be continued…

Forgiveness is not easy, there are levels or degrees of pain and hurt:

1. Someone hurts you unintentionally, and he/she quickly comes back and ask for forgiveness.
2. Someone hurts you, may be intentionally, and he/she comes back and ask for forgiveness.
3. Someone hurts you and he/she doesn’t know it, and so he/she don’t ask for forgiveness.
4. Someone hurts you in way that he/she takes away something/someone irreplaceable.
5. Someone hurts you and he/she thinks you deserve it.
6. Someone hurts you, and don’t intend to stop hurting you…

No matter what kind of hurt or pain we have suffered, Jesus said: “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” Matt 6:15.

If we don’t forgive men their trespasses, we are allowing those who have hurt us to imprison us in the prison of bitterness.

May the Lord heal those who have been hurt, and give them the grace to forgive those who have hurt them or are hurting them.