Believing and Receiving the Desires of Your heart

“ Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” Proverbs 37: 4-5.

God does not change and neither does He give us things in a silver platter. Instead God changes us and our perspective in order for us to see things the way they truly are. Once we are changed we perceive things differently and are then able to change the situation.

Indeed Christ taught that “whatever things you shall ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” Mathew 21:22. He taught this message after He commanded a fig tree to die due to its lack of fruit and “immediately the fig tree withered away” (Mathew 21: 18). His disciples marveled that this could happen just by Christ speaking on the tree. Christ assured them that all it takes is faith without doubt of what one believes for the thing to come to Pass.

If God has given you a vision which looks impossible because of your current situation or because of the many obstacles facing you, remember the story of the fig tree and the words of Christ that “if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain , ’Be thou removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done” Mathew 21: 21.

The mountain maybe a financial handicap, a sickness, age, but whatever the mountain is, what you believe and have faith for, you will attract.  How then can we ensure we get the desire of our heart?

Ways to actualize your desire

1) Formulate a goal, one that is sharp, clearly defined and specific and not a fuzzy vague goal. Remember however that "a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps" Proverbs 16: 9.

2) Pray about the goal to ensure that you are in step with the Lord. Christ taught that we ought to pray without ceasing until we recieve what it is we want based on our faith, Luke 18: 1

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/503089_believing-and-receiving-the-desires-of-your-heart#ixzz1NwwooE57

Understanding Your Righteousness in God

“ not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” Philippians 3: 9.

No amount of law-keeping, self improvement, discipline or religious effort can make us right with God. The righteousness that comes from God is by faith through Christ. If it was by law or works, none of us would be right with God for His standards are way beyond our reach.

Our righteous comes by trusting Christ for God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” 2 Corinthians 5: 21. At our conversion, Christ righteousness is poured into us for God’s offer is to trade His righteousness for our sin.

By nature we tend to be attracted to that which is contrary to God. However when we accept Christ as our Lord and savior, God works in us “ both to will and to do for His good pleasure” Philippians 2: 13. God knowing our nature and weaknesses helps us to want to obey Him and also gives us the power to do His will.

God does not leave us alone in our struggles, but instead He comes alongside us and help us to “work out” our salvation, Philippians 2:12. When we make mistakes, we know that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”, 1 John 1: 9.

Confession eases our consciences and lightens our cares which helps us to be at peace with God. Unconfessed sin gives the devil ammunition with which to continuously torment us. True confession involves a commitment not to continue sinning because one has a changed heart and not because they are caught.

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/503081_understanding-our-righteousness-in-god#ixzz1NwvD0ESt

What is the Source of Your Happiness?

We live in a world where most people are unhappy for one reason or another hence the high cases of depression. People have defined happiness to consist of material things or a particular status and because that is lacking, they are unhappy.

The interesting thing to note is that the happiest people in the world today are found in the least materialistic societies. Ed Diener, a University of Illinois Psychologist observes that “materialism is toxic for happiness”.

In an article titled, “Psychologists now know what makes people happy”, (New York Times of Sept 2009), Marilyn Elias wrote that “ it was apparent that the happiest people surround themselves with family and friends, don’t care about keeping up with the Joneses next door, lose themselves in daily activities and most importantly forgive easily”.

Happiness is individually defined and when people stop looking outside of themselves to be happy then they start to find happiness in the simple day to day things. This was indeed established in a recent survey done in the three East African countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania on the level of happiness of the people in the region.

Kenyans came up top as the happiest and the most optimistic in the region and had a happiness score of 79% compared to Tanzanian 69% and Ugandans 63%. The survey on happiness was conducted by Coca Cola and is based on a theory emerging from Bhutan a state in Asia recommending the “use of the national mood instead of economic statistics as a measure of social development”.

A good health as opposed to money, to most Kenyans is what makes them happy. Further more “money means less for the self employed than the employed”. Perhaps being in control of one's ife through self employment, is more pay than being subject to the whims of an employer.

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/502422_what-is-your-source-for-happiness#ixzz1Nwtvrz18

Osama Bin Laden and the dangers of mob justice

The whole world it would seem has been celebrating the killing of Osama Bin Laden, the man they were told caused them harm and made them to live in fear. Suddenly president Obama’s popularity has shot up, all because he claims he ordered the death of a man.

What bothers this writer is that all that the world knows about Osama Bin Laden is what the American government has said about him. He was accused, sentenced and executed without a chance of defending himself.

It was also reported that he was unarmed when he was killed. Those who killed him cannot therefore claim that they were defending themselves against an armed Bin Laden. In reality therefore these people had the opportunity to take him alive and have him tried in a court of law for what he is alleged to have done.

Was it Justice?

After Osama’s death, Obama said that “justice has been done”. The president being a former constitutional lawyer should know better than define such actions as justice. The word justice connotes upholding or applying the law. This being the case was the killing of Osama Bin Laden an act of applying the law or an act of retaliation?

Most people could care less about legal niceties because they are convinced that the man was guilty as charged based on what their governments told them. Perhaps Osama Bin Laden was guilty as charged, but why was he not accorded a trial so that the world could hear his side and eventually say “justice was done“?

It would have helped the world to understand the man’s motives and why he felt what he did was right. Marjorie Cohn, a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law argues that “Targeted assassinations violate well-established principles of international law. —-. These are unlawful and deliberate killings carried out by order of, or with the acquiescence of, a government, outside any judicial framework”

In a 1998 report, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions noted that “extrajudicial executions can never be justified under any circumstances, not even in time of war.” The U.N. General Assembly and Human Rights Commission, as well as Amnesty International, have all condemned extrajudicial executions.

Read more: http://socyberty.com/issues/osama-bin-laden-and-the-danger-of-mob-justice/#ixzz1MAJ8wFje

The Many disaster predictions going on around the world

This year has had many events and disasters of unusual proportion to make even the casual observer to pause and think.

In January 2011 storms and torrential rains of unusual magnitude hit Australia leading to floods and mudslides. This heavily impacted cities like Brisbane and Queensland leading to many people being displaced. According to reports, three quarters of Queensland was declared a disaster zone with at least 30 people dead. It was estimated that the cost of reconstruction would amount to over A$20bns.

In the same January 2011, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil experienced the worst natural disaster in her History in the form of flooding and mudslides. The floods left over 900 people dead and many displaced. On the 21st of February 2010 an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 hit New Zealand’s second largest city, Christchurch leaving destruction all around the city and its outskirts and over 200 persons dead.

In March 2011, an earthquake of 9.0 magnitude hit Japan which was followed by a tsunami leaving many dead and others displaced. There was also the threat of nuclear disaster after the nuclear towers were affected by the quake. In April another quake of 7.1 magnitude was experienced in Japan leaving one wondering when, if at all it will all end.

The USA has also had a share of the many strange happenings. Currently certain states in the Southern part are experiencing tornadoes which have destroyed whole communities and left over 380 people dead. In places like Memphis, water from the Mississippi River has buried whole homes and cars and there is fear that the levies could break any time.

Read more: http://socyberty.com/society/the-many-disaster-predictions-going-around-in-the-world/#ixzz1LyC8wFNg