|
Deliverance Church UmojaWomen of Purpose Conference 2002 |
|
Contents |
Reaching Out for your Dream Phil 3: 12-14
The servant of God Rev. J.B. Masinde opened the much-awaited conference on
Monday 1st April 2002 by introducing the whole purpose of this
year’s Women’s Conference. Each one of us has a dream or purpose we would want to achieve at one time in life. Committing it to God and seeking his will
concerning our dream is the backbone of what we are trusting God for. During
this week, we are going to see how we can identify our dreams, what we have to
go through and finally how we can achieve our dreams. This week we are going to
know our position in the kingdom. Back
to contents.
On
the following morning Sis. Betty Baraka took the congregation deeper by tackling
the topic ‘Identifying your Dream’ we need to identify our dream so that we
can live by it. She encouraged the faithfuls to have a worthwhile dream because
it attracts people. The dream should have a lasting value. It is important to
have a dream that has Godliness within it for you will have determination to
fulfill it
It
is important to ask yourself the following concerning your dream:’
Is
it a great thing for me to do?
Will
it help those who are hurting or will it serve people around me?
Will
it bring the best out of me?
It
is not right to ask yourself whether it will be an easy way or a cheap way,
concerning your dream. Or will be secure or without any obstacle. It is not good
to ask yourself question that are easy and cheap to answer or look for an easier
way out.
She
inspired the ladies to go for dreams that have a prize to pay because the Lord
will definitely go with you. The moment you realize you have a dream, do not
kill God given dream just because it is difficult. Joseph went through difficult
situations and obstacles until he was able to fulfill his dream in old age. He
dreamed as a young man. Caleb and Joshua were determined to achieve their dream
– the Promised Land. They were not scared of the giants. You are in full
control of your dream and nobody else can finish your dream – it is only you
who can kill.
When
we look at Hannah, she had a dream of one day having a baby boy. The other
people never understood her. It is only you who can understand you dream. People
would even mistake you just like Eli thought of Hannah to be drunk. According to
Phil. 3: 12-14, Paul had the dream of pressing on towards the mark so that he
could attain the prize; very contrary to what he was before his conversion when
he persecuted the Christians. When you have identified your dream, there are
obstacles and circumstances surrounding your dream. These shouldn’t let you
give up but you should press on. Remember there is nobody who has the ability to
hold on your dream. Only you who have the right to hold it. When you identify
your dream, forget what is behind you just as Paul did in order to pursue what
is ahead.
She
challenged the congregation not to dwell in the past in reference to the type of
people we were before. All these we should forget and concentration on what God
has laid before us. It is important to look ahead and protect what God has given
me. And because God is with me, I have a reason to press on and fulfill my
dream. This may not be possible to any one else but those who see the invisible
do the impossible.
Sis
Betty concluded by saying that it is only when we identify our dreams that we
can get up and pursue them. She ended by encouraging the women to know their
dreams and get on to pursue them. People who have dreams are never contented by
just sitting back and watch things happen; they pursue the dreams themselves
because they are the only ones who can implement them. Back
to contents.
Sis.
Mrs. Tuimising ushered the congregation to understanding their dream by first
reading the theme text from the Holy Bible (Phil 3: 12-14). She went on to say
that before Paul’s conversion he had worthless dream which was to persecute
the Christian in order to fulfill the law. Paul, then Saul, was very zealous to
fulfill the requirement of the law and went from town, to cities, to villages
looking for Christian to kill so that the law would credit him righteous. This
was a very worthless dream. But after he was converted, he came up with this
scripture – Phil 3:12-14. Here he identifies a worthwhile dream because he
identified with God’s will for his life and came to understand who Jesus
Christ was.
Sis.
Tuimising went on to introduce Nehemiah as another person who knew to which
direction to go in order to act on his desire. Nehemiah was sad because
Judah-the city of his father’s was destroyed and just laid in waste. So the
king realizes Nehemiah is sad and inquired from him. Nehemiah is sensitive to
seek the will of God and instead of answering the king first, he went to seek
God – He first prayed. He then goes to ask his request from the king that he
may be allowed to go and rebuild Judah. The king agreed without hesitating. Sis.
Tuimising revealed that it is only God who can give us direction and therefore
it is absolutely important to ask which way forward from God Almighty. She went
to say that any dream that is not of God will not prosper and so is very crucial
to seek God concerning our dream. Nehemiah prayed first before he could answer
the king.
She
encouraged the sisters in the conference that when something is conceived within
you, then you should first seek God’s guidance so that He can show you the way
forward. The Holy Ghost is our teacher and the revealer of which way to go. It
is therefore only God who can help us to understand our dream and therefore very
important to have the Word of God with us. Just as God instructed Joshua that
the Book of the Law should never depart him, so that he could do according to
what is written, we also ought to have the Word. She told the women that they
need to pray and seek God continuously to understand their dream. Mrs. Tuimising
cautioned the women that God reveals what He expects of you bit by bit. He
doesn’t reveal everything at once. So we constantly need to seek Him
concerning whichever level He has taken us. She revealed to the believers that,
the thing that can wipe out our dreams which this is by keeping on visiting our
unpleasant past. From the moment we believe in Jesus Christ we need to forget
our past and now press on to achieve the mark/prize. She also said that one need
to be very disciplined in order to achieve the mark because one get trained and
press on according to the requirements of the race and so need to go through
this by prayer.
She
encouraged the women to be focused and determined to achieve the goal and do
away with the spirit of fear. Sister Tuimising pointed out that sometimes we are
afraid of what other people will say or think about us. We should emulate the
wife of Barak who never feared her husband but went on to get her dream. She
first prayed and later went to ask for the deliverance of the Israelites – she
was even ready to die if that was what it would cost.
She
concluded by saying, in 1Sam 25, Abigail never wasted time but went on to plead
with David not to attack her husband who had great wealth but very cruel though
she knew he was on the wrong. She never waited upon anyone else to act and that
is the spirit each one of us should have. Back
to contents.
Sis.
Rebecca Imende, a great teacher of the Word of God took the theme of the
conference higher by introducing the congregation to the topic of how to focus
on what one is trusting God for. Reading from the book of 1 Samuel 1:1-2, 6,
9-16, 19-20 and verse 24-28 she introduced Hannah as a woman who had a specific
dream and who knew which way to go in order to achieve what she was looking for.
She told the women to be focused. They first have to have a dream because unless
one has a goalpost, he/she will score nowhere. The dream one has will motivate
him/her to act accordingly and move in a specific direction in order to achieve
their goals. Therefore one should be able to define their goals or focus. Just
like the athletics who runs towards the finish line or a footballer who plays
the ball towards the goalpost, one should pursue the dream he/she have by
following or working towards your goal. The athletic or football player does not
first stop to receive acknowledgements from the spectators but goes on with his
business until he achieve the victory or reach the finish line.
She
also told the women that for any dream to become a reality, prayer is a must
because prayer waters our dream. Hannah had a dream to be the mother of a man
child. Here she was very specific and went before God asking for a baby boy.
‘Sisters, if you know your dream, you will pray specific prayer’, She said.
‘Any focused dream will have obstacles or trials which you will have to go
through’, She added.
Sis.
Imende went on to say that just like the baby has to be born when the birth time
comes after nine months, so does the dream come to pass no matter what happens
in the process. In Mark. 16, we find women who were focused to go and anoint the
body of Jesus. They went through the obstacle of the law and now the main
obstacle was the big stone which laid at the opening of the tomb, who could roll
it away for them, they asked themselves. But remember this never stopped them
from going forward to the tomb. Where God is involved, there is no room of
turning back because a Godly dream has a force to drive you to your goal, she
said. In Heb. 12: 2, the Bible says that because of the joy set before him,
Jesus endured the cross and now he is seated at the right hand of the throne of
God. We therefore see that focused people are achievers and it doesn’t matter
the obstacle one is to go through.
Sis.
Rebecca also gave the example of the woman who showed extraordinary humility. In
Mk. 7: 25-28, the Greek woman whose daughter was possessed by unclean spirit
pleaded with Jesus to heal her daughter, but Jesus told her to let the children
be filled first because it is not good to give the children’s bread to the
dogs. The woman answered and said that even the dogs under the table eat of the
children’s crumbs. This faith touched Jesus and immediately he pronounced the
healing of that child. On the other hand, Hannah called Eli ‘lord’ which
showed much respect and humility towards him. We therefore have to walk in total
humbleness in order to get what we are dreaming for.
The
other content of Godly dream is when we realize the necessity of making a vow
when praying for our dream or our blessing or anything we could be asking God
for, Sis. Rebecca told the congregation. It is extremely important when you make
a vow to the Lord to honour it. In 1 Sam.1: 11, Hannah prayed to the Lord to
give her a man child and when the Lord would give her, she vowed to give him
back to the Lord all the days of his life. When the child was weaned, in 1 Sam
1: 24 she took the child to the house of the Lord with her sacrifices since it
is not good to appear before God with empty hands and there she presented the
child to Eli the high priest.
Sis
Rebecca concluded by telling the congregation that focused people gain what they
are targeting for and do not loose. After Hannah presented Samuel to God and
gave him to serve the Lord. We are told in 1 Sam 2:21 that she gave birth to
three more sons and two daughters. Surely the Lord removed all the shame of
barrenness from Hannah. Back
to contents.
‘This
means to accomplish the vision that God has given’ Mrs. Tuimising started.
Drawing her sermon from Genesis 37: 6-11, she went on to say that while Joseph
was still a young man, he dreamed ruling over his brothers. Much later, he still
dreamed even the sun, moon and even stars bowing unto him. His brothers were so
jealous of him to the point they sold him as a slave to the Egyptian so that
they would do away with this dream.
Sis.
Tuimising told the women that the devil is out to destroy our dream before it is
fulfilled. And when the Lord reveals something to us, sometimes we are very fast
to speak out about it and this causes our dream to be aborted. We should first
seek God about it until the right time to expose it come. The Lord Jesus
protects us even when the devil want to destroy us. As quoted in Psalms
91:1,‘He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under
the shadow of the Almighty’, so will He protect us if we hold on to him. She
went on to say that God requires us to have the right relationship with him. He
also requires righteousness from us so that our dreams would be fulfilled and to
see God in everything we are, we have to be right with him. In this way, Joseph
had favour with God. He stood alone against all the magicians pharaoh had and
interpreted the dream they would not interpret. She said that because of
Joseph’s faithfulness, God revealed to him all the contents of the dream.
There is the time of preparation we have to go through to finally receive our
dream and through this time, God is with us just as Joseph walked with God
through his training period. The other thing is that we have to be obedient to
God because disobedience does not please God and we will not know God’s desire
concerning our lives. We are the servants of God and therefore have to submit to
his will-a servant has no will of himself but does as instructed by the master.
In
her conclusion, Mrs. Tuimising told the women that without persistence, we
cannot achieve our goal. We should be persistent in prayer, in holding on
God’s will to achieve our desire. The fulfillment of our dream depends on our
persistence in prayer and worship. The Greek woman did not mind to be called a
dog; all she needed was her child to be delivered. Nothing stopped Hannah from
pursuing her God, she said. It is therefore important to have courage for your
goal to be achieved. She also added that humility is required of us. God want to
have room in our lives so that he can work in us and therefore need to worship
him and praise him alone, she concluded. Back
to contents.
Sis
Rebecca Odiege ushered the women into this topic by reading in the book of
Matthew 13:45-46 where the Kingdom of God is likened to a man who seeking goodly
pearls found one, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
So your dream has to cost you something. She said that if you have never
lacked in life you will not see the value or sense in someone else crying for
what you have. And anything without a prize you will not have any pain for it.
But if it has costed you, you will see the need of safeguarding it. Remember all
of us have a dream but it has to cost us something; you must buy it because
anything without a prize is valueless.
Sis
Odiege went on to say that your dream depends on you alone because nobody will
assist you to carry it out. ‘Jesus paid the prize for us to get heaven, for
our salvation and eternal inheritance of heaven’ she said.
We
find Jacob in Gen.28: 3-4 is blessed by his father Isaac to go to Laban his
uncle from where he would take a wife. We find him staying with Laban for
fourteen years to get the woman he had loved. Jacob started struggling for his
blessings right from the womb. Because of his brother’s- Esau anger for Jacob
had taken away his birthright, Esau wanted to kill Jacob. So Jacob decided to
run away from Esau after his mother had instructed him where to go. In Gen.
28:3-4, Jacob is blessed by his father, Isaac so that he could depart to his
uncle’s place. He had to safeguard his blessing and therefore ran away to the
wilderness. He was lonely and hungry but God came through for him. He came to
his uncle Laban and served him for first seven years but Laban cheated him by
giving him the wrong woman. This caused Jacob to serve another seven years to
get Rachael because she is the one he had loved. God blessed him mightily in the
wilderness where he left with two wives and abundant riches.
Sis
Odiege said that a time came and Jacob went back to fulfill his dream. And
because he did not know how to perform that which he was called for, we find him
asking God how to go about it. Many times we do not see things clearly and at
times people will mock us and appear as hindrances to our miracle or dream.
Laban and his sons after realizing Jacob had gathered so much wealth; they
started being jealous and became trouble for Jacob. The only way to fight is to
go before God in prayer and He will show us the way to go.
The
Lord is with us always and knows every need we have and in his most appropriate
time he will give us the victory and meet every one of them. But even after we
achieve what we are trusting God for, we should safeguard what God has given us.
It doesn’t matter what we may face to make our dream stand but let us
continuously praise and thank our God because mighty are the things he does in
our lives. He will meet all our needs, she concluded. Back
to contents.
I have attended many meetings held by
Evangelist Wairimu before and I have always made a conclusion that this surely
is a woman under a mighty anointing of the Holy Spirit. So when Reverend J.B.
Masinde introduced her as the leading evangelist in the nation of Kenya, I
nodded my mind in affirmation as we all stood to give her a standing ovation as
she took the podium to bring the Good News.
She was, as is her trademark, exuberant and
witty as she swaggered onto the stage to bring the good tidings to us.
‘Today I will be speaking to someone with a
dream. My message to you is that even though you are surrounded, you will not be
destroyed. You shall not die prematurely but you shall achieve your dream. Time
has come for the Church to tell the devil that enough is enough! You will live
to see your dream fulfilled’.
The Evangelist told of how she used to get
saved every night as she went to bed just to ensure that she remained in touch
with her salvation and Savior Jesus Christ. She was by then going through
difficult times and therefore felt the need to assure herself that she was born
again every day. This was because she had already identified her destiny and was
relentless in staying focused to her dream. Saying that she was speaking to
someone who was pregnant with a dream, she warned that the moment you conceive
something that will lead you towards your destiny, the devil would be after you.
Nevertheless, you must remain focused and persistent until your dream is
manifested.
Joseph was man of destiny. He had a dream that
one day he would be a great man and his brothers would bow down before him.
Despite the hindrances that beset his way towards his destiny, Joseph kept on
dreaming. He was fully persuaded that no matter how long it took, his dream
would one day come true. When he was in the pit, he did not count that as a
negation but, rather, a transition towards his destiny. Rather than give up and
stay in the pit of despair like most Christians do, Joseph kept on pressing
through. Though he entered Egypt as a slave, he did not surrender his dream of
being a ruler over Egypt. With all the impediments lining his way towards his
destiny, Joseph knew that the secret to living his dream lay in focusing in God.
He did not focus on the difficulties. He did not focus on his current problems.
He focused on his provider, the Lord Almighty.
Trials and temptations are not meant to weaken us.
They are supposed to strengthen and prepare us to face the next challenge. The
Bible says that weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them from all.
Saying that everything has a cost, the Evangelist
said that many people want the anointing but are not prepared to pay the cost.
With every dream comes a cost that must be paid before that dream is fulfilled.
Trials and hardships that pave the way to your dream are therefore necessary
costs that one must pay for their dreams to come true. ‘Anointing is neither
easy nor cheap’, she added. ‘If you are not ready to pay the cost, forget
it’. You must stay focused on your dream. Critics will come and go, but you
must keep on keeping on.
Referring to the text of her sermon (Matt 14: 22-26),
Wairimu said that the disciples would have preferred to stay on the miracle
ground where Jesus had just moments ago fed more than five thousand people.
However, Jesus did not want them to stay in that comfort zone because there were
battles and challenges to be faced on the other side. He therefore put them into
a boat and told them to cross over to the other side. As they set of to cross,
Jesus was left dispersing the crowd. ‘The time has come for the Church to
cross over to the other side. You have been in one place far too long’, the
evangelist said. Time to leave your comfort zones was at hand. Like the exiled
Israelites, even though the rivers of Babylon are standing in the way of your
destiny, you must cross over to the other side. It’s time to move on.
As the disciples reach the middle of the sea,
suddenly there was a great storm. The waters are greatly disturbed as the boat
is tossed from side to side. It is dark, perhaps the darkest hour of the night,
and trouble is hitting them from all sides. They are surrounded! They have few
options at their disposal. Going back is not an option – they have come too
far to look back. If they stay where they are, they will die. If they press on,
they just might reach the shores, despite the storm. You have come too far to
look back. It does not matter what your friends say, you have to pursue your
dream. You must press on.
The moment the disciples decided to press on despite
the storm, there came Jesus walking on the very storms that were causing them
havoc. When the struggle thickens and darkness is at its most intense, Jesus
comes walking over your circumstances. At times the last minute arrives and
Jesus is still nowhere to be seen. Like in Lazarus case Jesus came after the
last minute – when Lazarus was dead and buried for four days. According to
Mary, if Jesus had come four days earlier, He would have saved Lazarus. What
Mary did not know was that it is never too late for Jesus. Jesus comes when hope
is gone. Jesus response to Mary’s statement was: “I am the resurrection”.
Is your situation beyond hope? Jesus is your hope. Is your situation dead? Do
not look for help elsewhere, stick with Jesus and He will revive your situation.
Do not run away from the storms of life. Rather, as you see a storm coming your
way, prepare yourself and rise above the storm such that when the storm reaches
you, you will be riding over it by faith. As you do this, you will see Jesus
approaching you from the other side – walking over the very storms.
As the disciples marvel at seeing Jesus walking over the storms, Peter, his faith now revived, asks the Lord to bid him to come. At Jesus Word, Peter leaves the boat and starts walking over the storm – over all his problems - his eyes fixed upon Jesus. However, Peter’s faith starts dwindling and soon he finds himself sinking. Perhaps the storm may have come between him and Jesus and he was afraid. As he starts to sink, he calls out to Jesus. Jesus grabs his hand and up He lifts him. ‘Why did you doubt’? Jesus asks him. I believe Peter may have responded this way: ‘Master, when I saw the storm come in between us and I could not see you, I was afraid. That’s when I started sinking.’ Nonetheless the two walked back to the boat where the other disciples were waiting, marveling at the wonders of God. At the fourth watch into your problems Jesus is coming walking right on your trouble, so do not give him a cry of fear but give him a cry of faith. And do not seek help anywhere else; stick with God until you see your destiny. She encouraged the congregation not to give up or turn away from the problems but to press on towards their goal ‘because at the Lord’s command I am pressing on, I do not know how to walk on my circumstances or my difficulties but just because you have said, Lord, I am coming’ This could have been Peter’s driving force and before he could sink, he cried out to the Lord. The Lord will always rescue us even when we seems to be going under if only we realize our help comes from Him and cry out to him.
On the other side, there lies our supernatural
miracle. We only get victory when we move out to the other side. Jesus
manifested himself in way the disciples had never experienced. So to go over to
the other side, there are some comfortable zones and people we have to say
goodbye to so that we can go on to receive our destiny. You have to say to
yourself, ‘ I have no business here I am going to more than enough’ she
said. The disciples would have stayed in the miracle ground and continue eating,
but they had to leave and go to the other side so that they would experience
more of Jesus. Back
to contents.
Dr.
Dorothy Kisaka started by looking into the lives of our fathers in the Old
Testament and introduced how we have become the beneficiaries of how they
carried out their dreams and lives. It is important to realize that our dreams
should come from the Lord God. In Psalms 139, God had all the dreams concerning
us and there is nothing about us hidden from Him. In verse 17, the Psalmist
marvels at the thoughts of God concerning him and sum them all as very great. We
are therefore supernatural beings on a journey.
Referring
to Adam and Eve, Sis Kisaka warned the ladies that we do things without any idea
what they could do to others. Adam and Eve disobedience still affect us today.
If they never sinned, there could not be sin or death today. But their
disobedience caused us all these. In Gen. 2:13, God took man and put him in the
garden to work on it. He had given him all dominion over everything that was in
it. But the woman decided to listen to the serpent’s arguments. In 1 Tim. 4:1,
Paul is strongly warning Timothy not to converse with a spirit and deceiving
spirits, infact he was warned not to listen to them by Paul.
Because
of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, in Gen. 3:14, the serpent was cursed, Adam
(the men) was cursed, the woman (Eve) was cursed and the earth as a whole was
cursed. Today we are the beneficiaries of Adam and Eve disobedience. We
inherited the curses.
In
Gen. 12:1-2, God presented an opportunity to Abraham, which was like an open
cheque, Sis Kisaka went on. He was to obey or disobey. But thank God Abraham
obeyed and therefore we are the beneficiaries of all the promises made to
Abraham. You know we should make this chapter ours and all the promises therein,
she said. Abraham obeyed when he was told to sacrifice his son Isaac and because
of his obedience, today we are the heirs of all the promises made to Abraham.
David
is known to be a man after God’s own heart. He loved God so much and had a
hunger of building a house for the Lord. We find the prophet approving David’s
desire before he prayed but after his prayer, God shows him the plan he had for
David. The Lord had a dream of building David an everlasting throne while David
dreamed of building an earthly temple. God wanted to establish for David a
center of rulership, which will never depart from his house because it will be
everlasting. David obeyed God and therefore had all room to perform the dream he
had for him. David had the desire to serve the Lord and in return, God gave him
the reward of establishing an everlasting kingdom for David. Our Savior Jesus
was born in the family of David.
Kisaka
also introduced Mary in Lk.1: 26-35,38, a little girl seeking God and waiting
upon God. When the angel appeared to her, Mary obeyed the words of the angel.
Our Saviour was born by this obedient girl who just agreed without knowing how
it would happen.
The
other important person whose life has made a great difference in our lives was
Paul, Sis. Kisaka said. In Acts 9:1-6; we are told of the conversion of Saul who
was persecuting Christians. God appeared to him on his way to go and kill other
Christians in Damascus. After his conversion Paul wrote all the Mysteries of
Christ, as we know them today. He was the instrument used to carry out the name
of Christ to the Gentiles. And in the Epistles, he laboured to explain the
mysteries of Christ for our benefit.
At this point, we should ask ourselves who are the beneficiaries of our dreams. In 2 Cor.5: 16, the Bible says now we live for him. He died for us so that we will live for him. So dreams have got a service to the house of God and therefore should use our gifts or dreams for the benefit of the church of God. We should therefore use our gifts to the uttermost limit, she said. The reason why God gives us a gift or a dream for that matter is that we should reach out to the lost. Our dream should bless others. In 2 Cor.5: 18-20, God has given each one of us a ministry of reconciliation. We are the ambassadors of Christ and he is telling us to impose his policies in the world. The Bible is useful for instruction to anything we ought to do. She told the ladies that in Eph.3: 10, the earth is the beneficiary for the revelation of God’s word to his children. And in Rom.8: 19-22, the creation is groaning for when the sons of God would be revealed. She said that we might be known by very different names in heaven than whatever name we use on earth. You could be a cleaner but in heaven you are known as a great teacher of the Word of God and so we should do whatever we’ve got to do with excellence. ‘Do justice to everyone’ she concluded because all that will definitely affect others.
These reports were prepared by Jane
Mwangi (pictured), a founder of an internet based ministry called The Living
Word. For more information about this ministry visit their website at www.swordofthespiritministries.net
or email them at ssm@swordofthespiritministries.net.
You may also mail your letters to: Jane Mwangi, The Living Word, P.O. Box 51188
City Square, Nairobi. You may also contact her by telephone on 072704355.
©
Sword of the Spirit Ministries, Kenya, 2002, 2003
ssm@swordofthespiritministries.net
www.swordofthespiritministries.net
P.O. Box 12147-00400 Tom Mboya,
Nairobi
Tel. 254-722704355
HOME