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Volume 06, Issue 02: Look Back to Move Forward

We can easily move from one project to another without pausing to reflect and give thanks. Look back and thank God.

We have just entered into a wide screen of 2016 with a small mirror of reflection to help us look back at 2015 and before. We don’t want to hang on to the victories of the past. We set our eyes on new successes for the new year. Even so, look back and be grateful. Looking back at the things God has done for us will propel us with gratefulness in 2016.

Looking back helps us remember. We don’t want to forget the benefits God has bestowed upon us. Gratitude requires an appreciation of the positive elements of your situation. Perhaps some things are not working well in your life, but there’s no point dwelling on the negatives. Focus on what God is doing and be thankful. In any set of circumstances, there’s something going for you for which you can be grateful.

Look back and thank God but forget the successes of the past. There’s more to set your eyes on in the new year, more to accomplish. A story is told a young man who used the jawbone of a donkey to kill one thousand philistines. When he finished the mission, Samson threw the jawbone away and moved on to his next conquests.

Although he had great victory with the jawbone, Samson realized it was the power of God that gave him success, not the jawbone. What jawbones do you need to throw away? They may have worked in 2015 but they are not the source of your success. Samson’s destiny was not to kill donkeys. His destiny was to kill the philistines. Because he threw away the jawbone, he fulfilled his destiny.

Discard the jawbones of 2015, those things that worked so successfully in 2015 that you thought that’s all God can do. God will give you new energy, new methods, new strategies, new successes in 2016.

Don’t be stuck with the first breakthrough. Sometimes we hang on too long to the successes of yesterday that we get trapped in one place. Success can become a prison when we convert it to a monument.

The new year is an open door of opportunity. Let not your testimonies be the same year in, year out. Look back to remember the goodness of the Lord but don’t dwell there. Look back to move forward. God is always doing a new thing. Don’t be stuck in the new things of yesterday and miss out on today’s opportunities.

Lillian Chebosi

 

Volume 06, Issue 01: Begin with Thanks

It’s only a few days into 2016, a time when many people are preoccupied with New Year resolutions: setting goals and targets, making lists of things to accomplish this year.

How about starting on a note of thanksgiving? While making my gratitude list for 2015 several weeks ago, I was amazed at how incredibly the Lord had blessed me. Get your list out if you haven’t already. I bet you would be just as blown away as I was. Break it down into the categories of the wheel of life like you do with your goals. You will be amazed how blessed you were in each wheel.

We make plans, set targets, but God is never limited by our targets. Reflect upon the blessings you walked into that were not even on your list of achievements for 2015. Things your mind had not even fathomed, beyond your wildest dreams.

Count your blessings, name them one by one. We have thousands of reasons to bless the Lord. Command your soul to bless God. Let’s bless Him with all that is within us at the start of the year and beyond. Thank God for his goodness. Ponder over all the good things that happened, started or continued in your life in 2015. Thank God for his favour, for his mercies and kindness towards you, for his wonders and for his grace. Thank God for Christmas, for life, for his provision and protection, for his guidance and direction. Thank God for surpassing your expectations, for going before you and ordering your steps, for making a way for you, for opening doors you never imagined possible, for qualifying you for things beyond your reach, for taking you places you never dreamed.

All the benefits of life are because of the goodness of God. Imagine what would have happened if the Lord had not been on your side in 2015. Because of his goodness towards you, you were not a victim of a fatal accident, terror attack, health emergency, bankruptcy, divorce, eviction, grave bereavement from premature death of a close loved one, hopeless retrenchment, etc.

You could be thinking, “Some of these terrible things happened to me. I got sick, I lost my job, I was dumped, or worse.” Beyond the tears, give thanks to the Lord. Disappointed as you might be, thank God, because He has better things in store for you. In spite of the challenges you faced in 2015, God saw you through them, and He is still looking out for you. Praise your way through the storms of life. Lift up your worship through every trial, every situation.

Three times in a year the children of Israel were to appear before God corporately: the Passover, the feast of Pentecost and the feast of Tabernacle. During the last two feasts, they were to appear in celebration before the Lord, giving thanks for His goodness. As long as they honoured God with thanksgiving, He was going to continue blessing them.

We are commanded to give thanks. Don’t be preoccupied with targets. Pause and give thanks to God. Do not be blinded by your needs and lists. Learn to celebrate and thank God. Live a life of gratitude. Don’t take God’s blessings for granted. Give thanks continually. Let thanksgiving be your way of life.

Lillian Chebosi

 

Volume 05, Issue 12: Amazing Results

A story is told of Simon and his colleagues who were out fishing one night but caught no fish. Jesus comes over in the morning and asks Simon to move in to the deep and let down his net, to which Simon politely objects given his knowledge and experience as a fisherman.

Jesus directed Simon to fish in the same lake he had labored without results all night. Though he first objected, Simon yielded to Jesus’ direction. But as he cast down his net, Simon didn’t expect anything spectacular.

What have you labored on in 2015 without results? It is one thing to try to solve a problem in your own knowledge and ability; it is another thing to go by God’s direction. God’s way may not make sense, but follow it because He said so and see what happens.

When Simon yielded to Jesus’ direction, he caught so much fish his boat could not hold the bounty. Talk of amazing results!

Sometimes it is our past success or failure that could be preventing us from achieving phenomenon results in new endeavours. There’s a difference between using your experience to fish and following Jesus’ direction to fish. Ask for his direction in the affairs of your life, and be patient for his response.

There’s man’s way of doing things and then there’s God’s way of doing things. There’s man’s way of pursuing academics and there’s God’s way of pursuing academics. There’s man’s way of being an engineer and there’s God’s way of being an engineer. There’s man’s way of leading a team and there’s God’s way of leading a team. There’s man’s way of doing ministry and there’s God’s way of doing ministry.

There’s God’s way of doing it, and then there’s man’s way of doing it. Jesus directed Simon, and that made all the difference. God directed efforts yield phenomenon results. Man directed efforts can be frustrating. Following God’s direction makes a big difference.

Thinking of my own flops in 2015, I am persuaded to conclude that if I am going to do anything in 2016, it has got to be God directed. It is humbling when you see phenomenon results that have nothing to do with you.

Jesus took Simon to the pinnacle of his success. The dream of every Galilean fisherman was to fill his boat with fish. Then He showed Simon that there’s something more than fish, something more than his profession. There’s more to achieve. There’s greater fulfilment to connect with.

Let’s go for phenomenon results in every area of life in 2016 by letting God direct the affairs of our lives – business, career, investments, relationships, marriage, parenting, studies, occupation, ministry, whatever it is. Reap amazing results in 2016.

Lillian Chebosi

 

Volume 05, Issue 11: Love Came Down

As we approached the Christmas season this week, there was talk about all the fuss. The question is not whether to celebrate Christmas or not. The question is how to celebrate. What to wear, what to eat, the decorations to put up, where to go, etc. Those are details. Jesus is the reason for the season.

We celebrate Christmas because love came down. Jesus is the game changer. A savior is born to us, Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

We have reason to thank God for his mercy today because our Lord Jesus Christ is born, born to save us. Our Messiah is born! Peace and goodwill to all men.

Any measure of human love pales in comparison to the love of God. God’s love for us is unconditional. His love never fails. It never gives up. It never runs out on us.

God demonstrated his love to us by giving us Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners. Jesus was the Christmas gift, and the way back to God.

The greatest gift you can get this Christmas is knowing the love of God. Knowing beyond head knowledge, being able to say from deep within your soul that “Jesus loves me, this I know.”

Lift up your praise this Christmas season because love came down. I could praise him till the sun goes down. I was there when his love came down. The savior came and took my place, changed everything.

Lillian Chebosi

 

Volume 05, Issue 10: Keep Your Vision Infront of You

Where there is no vision people perish. Where there’s no vision dreams fade.

Have a vision for your life. How else will you know you have arrived if you don’t know how your desired end looks like?

I have come to appreciate that God is not limited by our resources, education, and connections. With God on your side you stand to get much more than you are qualified for. He can do exceedingly, abundantly more than you could ever imagine.

God’s dream for your life is bigger than your own dream. If you will stay in faith, God will super-size your dream. He will do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond.

Keep something big infront of you. Don’t dream small. You are not inconveniencing God by dreaming big. My dream is that my family will impact millions of children. I don’t want to make just a couple of children’s lives breathe better; I want to make millions of children’s lives breathe better.

Imagine yourself fulfilling your destiny, being a history maker, touching millions of lives.

Put before yourself a picture of how your body will look like when you lose the excess weight, of when you receive your healing, of when you get your promotion, whatever it is.

Put before yourself a picture of your dream house. I have always declared that renting is not my permanent address; that a beautiful, spacious, debt-free house with a complete laundry room is mine. Sounds ambitious, but God told Abraham that whatever he could see, He would give to him. Abraham would possess as far as his eyes could see.

What have you put before your eyes? What is your dream?

It may not look like it now, but the odds are subject to change. Everything that doesn’t line up to what God put on your heart is subject to change. What you keep in front of you, you are moving towards.

Lillian Chebosi