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, whatever the mountain is, what you believe and have faith for, you will attract. Having said that, how can we then get the desire of our heart?

Ways to actualize your desire

1) Establish your desire and then formulate a goal, one that is sharp, clearly defined and specific and not a fuzzy vague goal. Remember however that " To do righteouness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice" Proves 21:3.

2) Pray about the goal to ensure that you are in step with the Lord for "a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps" Proverbs 16: 9. Continue praying until the thing come to pass in line with what Christ taught concerning praying without ceasing,Luke 18:1-8.

3) Put the goal into your conscious mind, holding the image there tenaciously until it sinks into the unconscious. Remember it takes faith to get what you want and "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" Hebrews 11:1

4) Give it all you have got of thought, effort, imagination and innovation and do not forget that God works in us and we work it out, Philippians 2: 13

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/503089_believing-and-receiving-the-desires-of-your-heart#ixzz1PlIf98E6

Understanding our Righteouness 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 righteousness 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.

In admitting our sins and in seeking forgiveness through repentance not only do we defeat the devil in his whiles against us but we also;

a) Agree with God that our sin is truly sin and that we are willing to turn from it

b) Ensure that we do not conceal the sin from God and also from ourselves

c) We recognize our tendency to sin and in the process choose to rely on God for sustenance
Our goal as Christians should be to know Christ and becoming more like Him. To do so we must lay aside anything harmful and forsake anything that may distract us from being effective Christians. This could be a relationship, a job or material things, only you know .

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/503081_understanding-our-righteousness-in-god#ixzz1PlGz5lXs

Toby Ord Leads the Way to genuine Giving

Through a survey done by Coca-Cola in 2010, the people of East Africa, revealed that money contributed least as a source of happiness. Good health , knowing that loved one’s were okay and good friendship were top in the list as sources of happiness.

The survey showed that the source of happiness is based more on simplicity than on more money and gadgets. Toby Ord, a thirty year old academician at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, actually proves that this is true. Dr Ord pledged to give one third of his £33,000 salary to charity living him with £20,000 to live on for the year.

Toby also pledged to give one million sterling pounds in the course of his career and to ensure this happens he further pledged to give 10% of his income through out his working life.

Dr Ord is married and lives with his wife in a one bedroom flat (apartment). His wife works as a junior doctor and has also pledged to give “away everything over £25,000” of her salary.

What makes it possible for Dr Ord to do what he is doing is that he is not materialistic and has discovered that life is not made up of the abundance of stuff but in the simplicity of the little things that life brings to us. He says that "The things I gain most from – spending time with my wife, with friends, listening to beautiful music, reading beautiful books – don't cost money."

In a materialistic society where one is judged not by the conduct of their deeds but by how much gadgets and money they have amassed, Dr Ord’s action is commendable. It seems like we live in a generation where the amassing of things is of more importance than investing on relationships.

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/498570_toby-ord-leads-the-way-to-genuine-giving#ixzz1OLmRE7dv

Meditation Prayers to Remove Blocks in our Lives that Hinders Growth and Success

Life is a journey and that journey starts from conception. That little seed has potential of growing into something big. Considering that a human being is both physical and spiritual then as we grow physically we also ought to grow spiritually.

We all have a purpose to fulfill in this world in the days given to us. Moses recognizing this prayed, “teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” Psalms 90:12. When Moses died and Joshua succeeded him in leadership, God approached Joshua and instructed him on what to do if he was to find success in his calling.

God asked him to meditate on His word “day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” Joshua 1:8. Meditating on the word helps us understand what is right and what is wrong in God sight. But with understanding comes the responsibility of doing that which the word calls right.

The prayers addressed here are aimed at dealing with certain elements in our lives which scripture shows are contrary to God’s will for our lives. If we do not deal with these elements we will find ourselves going round and round in circles without progress and wonder why.

Everything we do must always start with our relationship with God and this is why it is important to meditate on His word. The greatest commandment is to love God first with all our being and the second is to love others as we love ourselves, (Mathew 22: 37-39).

1) Removing blame: When we blame others for the happenings of our lives, it is because we feel betrayed and have allowed anger to take captive of us. We must remind ourselves that scripture teaches that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose, (Romans 8:28). We therefore need to forgive according to God’s command and Let Him be the arbiter of the situation. If you find yourself in a blaming frame of mind, ask God to help you forgive and remove the blame in your heart and restore the love that He has called us to operate on.

2) Removing Depression: Depression is caused by many reasons and is manifested in the loss of joy. Scripture teaches that the joy of the Lord is our strength. When we lose this joy it shows that there is a disconnect with God and we need to act to reconnect. The Psalmist writes “my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope” Psalm 16: 9. Recognize that true joy is far deeper than happiness. We can feel joy in spite of our deepest troubles because we have learnt to be content in whatever state we are in. Instead of allowing yourself to fall into depression, pray that God will show you who to reach out to and express the love of God in you because it is in giving that we recieve.

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/331594_meditation-prayers-to-remove-blocks-in-our-lives-that-hinders-growth-and-success#ixzz1OLhZ7H5w