adventure

         

 

                  A saying worth taking note of

  

             Jesus came to give us so much more than orthodox

religion, dry information or boring routine! He never intended to produce nice, well-behaved people.

No! What He offers is His own adventurous, even dangerous life. He has no desire to control or manipulate you, to limit or constrain you. His desire is simply to set you free to be what He dreamt you would be – an expression of His own limitless self – His image and likeness.(andre rabie)

Adventure, adventure. I love adventure. I hate a static cumbersome and an obvious life. A life scarce of adventure is like food without salt; like arriving at the bus station to find the last bus has already left.

An obvious life is a predictable life, scarce of spontaneity and creativity; a dull , lifeless life which is not worthy of what Christ came to give us. A normal orthodox life sounds like this. Being born, going to school, working hard to pass the necessary exams, after years of hard work, get employed in a good company, , get a wife to marry , bear children, live in a good house, have a good car/cars, wait for retirement and death then,,,,,,

These are good things that people look forward too. They are excellent and worthy of our investments but they can’t suffice to define the quantity and the quality of life Christ has for us.

Jesus came to give us life and life in abundance. Again not religion, not do’s and donts . Religion has managed to lock us in the pits of the obvious; survive by your own efforts. Religion is manipulative, gives births to slaves who are out there acting like confused zombies.

Christ is the real adventure

John 10:10b but I have come to give you life and life in plenty

A couple is said to have sailed from Europe to Africa collecting shells in  the sea as a way of adventure after years of hard work. This was the suitable way they could spend their fortune as they approached their latter years. It doesn’t matter how obvious your life has been, there is something in us that yearns to explode out of the normal tranquil of life and experience the superficial.

Religion will never give us the kind of life that is full of adventure and joy. Living under the laws of do’s and don’ts will never free people to express who they are. Its no wonder that our churches are full of Law seemingly abiding citizens but people who are full of rage; people who are too dull for life.

Christ is the real adventure. Jesus offers us life and not normal orthodox religion. Jesus is not about to manipulate you as if you were a puppet. Jesus is not a human rights activist proclaiming a moral change of behavior. Jesus wants to transform you from the inside out. He wants you to experience the joys of life.

Andre rabie one of my favorite grace preachers says that Jesus is not offering you a comfortable orthodox obvious life; rather life in Christ is a dangerous adventure like, enthralling encounter with the God of universe energizing himself in you. He says that the resurrection life we have received from Christ is not a timid grave tending life, rather a life full of adventure for his spirit rubs together with ours fully assuring us that we are the children of God.

The gospel does not reveal how to be successful in life. The bible rather is not a basic book for instruction of life. The gospel reveals Christ in you. He reveals the word made flesh and making his dwelling amongst us, that’s adventure! The problem is that many people engage the word of God for instructions. When you read the word of God to look for something to do; something to work on, something to apply then you are missing out on what the scripture is all about. The word is not a doing organism but its living and active. The word is full of the life of Christ.

Paul summarized the gospel as this

The mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory(col 1:26-27)

The summary of the gospel, the summary of what the bible is about is Christ in you the hope of glory, rather than Christ in history or Christ in the seminary theological books. The simplicity of life is yet and adventure worth delving into.

Christ in you is the most radical and spontaneous way of living life full of vitality and excitement, it’s a life that sky rockets above the normal routine full of boring Do’s and don’ts. Life in Christ is not basic principals How to maneuver in life kind of structure. Life in Christ is gigantic, ginormous; it’s a life full of love embracing life and circumstances full of positivity, embracing opportunities full of assurance of salvation. People who have the eyes of their understanding opened to reveal Christ who is in them never remain the same. They express creativity, spontaneity and vitality. Such a people are not boring, show me a person full of Christ and I will show you a person full of adventure and life. Lets embrace with open arms the limitless extent of life we have in Christ Jesus.

creativity part 2

You are not just what we are seeing on the outside. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You constitute millions of complexities. Being in the image and the likeness of God calls us to appreciate the complexity and the wisdom of God in creating us.

Your beginning/ birth is not just according to what has been registered in the hospitals and government records. You have the highest beginning called in God. Its important to be aware of he who was aware of us before we were even born. We were chosen in Christ before the foundations of the world,,, eph 1:4. Paul writes a scripture which catapults us from our natural tranquil into the heights and elevation of God.

When we have this view then, we delve into the realm of no  impossibility. Our lives have been engineered by God.  We are a masterpiece that expresses the most creative art of God. God has invested in you a life that never runs out, a courage that knows no walls, a thinking that is equal to the stature of Christ, for we have the mind of Christ,,,,, 1 st Cor 2:16. in your fabric lies creativity that n\knows no end, its a wonder that scientists tell us that a human being consumes only 15% of his brain.

I will challenge us like this; for every problem no matter what, for every hurdle I assure you there are more than enough ways of getting out of them. Are you stressed because of some situations in your life? God has invested in you a relentless spirit that sees possibilities and solutions.God has designed your brain to not only be a problem solver but a creative thinker. Are you in lack, there are million ways of creating wealth. Talk of every need I will talk of a God who has preceded all our needs. Before there was a need God provided. Before there was a problem God provided all the solutions we need.Actually the apex of our thinking according to God's master plan is not to navigate through hurdles and problems in life but to enjoy creativity and coherence together with him in dominating over the works of creation. Isn't it a surprise that Adam didn't require God's help when he was naming all creatures. Can you just imagine the creativity in operation then?

Am challenging us to mount on wings and behold the vantage point of Christ which is ours. This is my take on creativity. The spirit of God energizing itself in us to produce life over and over. Its said that wonderful innovations that has shaped civilization like electricity, airplanes, such discoveries were made by people who exuded great confidence. They actually knew God and they knew who they are, people without limitations. People who have changed the world were normal people who were bursting with exuberant confidence in understanding who they are(carrying the fullness of the God head in them, they may have not confessed it but deep in them knew it.)

The apostles and the believers in the early church were no different, everywhere they went they were noticed as those people who walk with Christ(Christians) and yet they were normal unschooled men like Peter, local doctors like Luke, tax collectors like Matthew and our lord Jesus Christ a normal Nazarite who went about partying with sinners and visiting citizens Like Mary and Martha.

The agenda of Christ was not superfluous, some matrix out in the space but simple, to reveal fullness in us. The word became flesh and dwelt amongst us and in the fullness of time the word now dwells in men. Am not saying that yee are now Gods but am saying you are a recipient of eternal life engineered by God. Your redeemed lives are hidden with Christy in God,,, col 3:1-3 a life full of creativity and fullness.

A little glance into the sub atomic world will dazzle us. Scientists will tell you that a iota of any matter consists of millions of atoms and molecules entangled together and rubbing against each other with immense activity.

Each time a matter moves atoms rearrange themselves to maintain coherence That is who God is in us. Rubbing himself together with us with immense activity. For its God who works in us to will and to act according to his god purpose, phil2:12-13

creativity part 1

For the fullness of god dwells in Christ bodily, and we are complete in him

The spirit of God, that which engineered our true design is what we have as our indentity.That spirit is creative. The creativity of God was transferred to man to have dominion over the works of creation.

Gen 1:26Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

When God made man, he influenced him with his own image and likeness. Man was endowed with a creative capacity to name the creation and to subdue and to exercise dominion over the works of creation.

This integrity and full capacity was marred by the fall. The fal was so great that a discordance grew between man and creation.

Rom 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

The first Adam subjected the whole creation to futility in hope that the second/last Adam Christ will set it free from bondage.

The spirit of creativity which engineered creation was breathed into man and man became a living soul. Let’s have a glance here. God said let there be light once and thousands of years later light is still shining on earth. The same spirit(for God is spirit ) said let there be creatures walking, crawling and flying all over and thousands of years later creatures are still reproducing and filling the earth.

The same spirit now dwells in us in Christ Jesus. We know that Adam screw it up when he fell in the garden and relinquished and fell short of the glory of God, however in Christ we are restored to that glory which was from the beginning.

Its unfair to view yourself from the vantage point of the world. Whereas we are in a world full of limitations and boundaries, the spirit of God in us ushers us to the realm of freedom and creativity, inside of us is a deep conviction that we are above the normal. When hurdles present themselves , the creativity of God persuades us that there is a way where there is no way. How come we can hope against hope? How come we can face the future with enthusiasm and an ever present readiness even when trouble and death screams at us? How comes we have a hope that enters within the veil(heb 6:18) into the throne room of God ?

I tell you the spirit of God is engineering creativity in you to see above the normal, your life , a life full of creativity and fullness is hidden with Christ in God.

the truth about jubilee part 2

Christ is our jubilee, wow! He is our victory chant. What an amazing reality to live in this time and age called ‘in christ’. Its time to stop chasing the shadows, seasons and festivals, we have the real substance Christ, living and reverberating  in the inside of us.

Because we are in Christ , we are blessed coming in , we are blessed going out. We are no longer in the shadows of chasing God’s move, God’s season for his move and season came in the person of jesus Christ.

God created another day called today

Heb 4:7-11 again he appoints a certain day, "Today," saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience

In the past , in the days of ignorance of the children of Israel. God operated in times and seasons. Though he was their ever present king and a help in time of need. The Israelites delved in the dungeon of stubbornness and impatience. In the period of te law and the prophets you cold hear of days like Sabbath, the day of atonement, etc. You could hear of feasts like the feasts of Sabbath, the feast of the tabernacles. These were days when the nation would expect visitation from the lord. People would be freed and released from sin, Blessings would be announced on people.

But ever since the fulfillment of time, the fullness of time. God has apponted another day calling it today. Time and distance and delay were summarized in a day called today. Its no longer about a future experience or a delayed visiation from the lord. Christ simply became our jubilee, our perfect rest and you can experience him now.

The time and the statistics appended to divine visitation from the lord  or the so perceived the year of Gods favor are just but shadows. Christ is the lord of the Day. He is our today. Right now we experience Christ and the power of resurrection being revealed in our mortal bodies. The best favor that time and seasons does for us is to reveal who we are in an extended period of our earthly times.

Its time to cease from our works. These wow moments that we have created outside Christ must come to a dead end.

Otherwise lets emasculate ourselves and practice the jubilee chant.

If we fail to discern Christ who has become our jubilee, our restitution and our return to inheritance, then we may as well as revert back to the old Jewish ways.

While the church is captured in the waves of the jubilee season we ought to go back to the law investigate what the law said and abide by it to the latter because he who breaks even one law is guilty of breaking all laws.

We should supposedly see the whole land in Kenya lay idle for a whole year without ploughing, without harvesting lest we are held guilty of breaking the law of the year of jubilee. If that’s not enough all the prisoners (since they are slaves of the state) must be freed from our cells, be it Kamiti, Naivasha maximum prison, kingongo prison, wherever.

In addition to that we have to observe numbers and dates very carefully taking into consideration that the jewish calendar is very different from the Gregorian calendar we use today.

In short, its of no use chasing the shadows. Don’t demote yourself to go back to the struggle the Israelites had whereas you are found in Christ. We don’t do things because we see what is written in the bible. Our motivation is Christ who is the revelation of scripture. Let it be declared from the rooftop that Christ is our jubilee. Spiritual gymnastics built outside of the person of Christ amount to nothing.

Christ suffices. He is our ultimate rest. Our energy and life is wrapped up in him. Christ says that its time for the church to have its rest. Its time to strive to enter into that rest, the rest of God which catapults us as we see Christ. Enough of shambolic Christianity. Its time to reveal who Christ is. Christ in you the hope of glory.

We thank God that we can study numbers dates and years in the bible, and I say halleluyah because the best this revelation does is to point me to Christ and he lives in us to the glory of God

the truth about Jubilee part 1

Jubilee! Jubilee! It’s a shout that is being proclaimed in Kenya a nation in east Africa celebrates 50 years since attaining independence from her British colonial rulers this year. It’s a phenomenon that has erupted into waves of jubilation and excitement because we are deemed to have entered the jubilee.

The religious circles have done more than enough to add logs of wood to the fire which was already burning. The question although is what is jubilee. What is the excitement that iss the talk of the day all about. The presidential elections happening in march 4^th 2013 has been centered in the great jubilee talk. This is deemed to be the year of jubilee when stolen public property will be returned to the state, where the poor will receive justice.

What is the meaning of jubilee?

Jubilee is the year at the end of seven cycle years of seven years. This cycle which is also known as sabbatical years was deemed to be completed  after 49 years after which the year was deemed to be the jubilee.

Lev 25:8-12-"You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field”

Its important to take note that this was an ancient practice among the jews some of who continue to observe this practice. This year was deemed as sacred and hence called  for a celebration in the whole nation of Israel. This was the year of freedom when everybody was eligible to a restitution of property lost, where slaves were freed and re united with their families, land was returned to their rightful heirs etc.

The term jubilee is derived from an Hebrew word yobel which denotes a trumpet shout made  from a rams horn. Yobel actually means a ram. These celebrations were made by trumpet shouts made from these horns.

The jubilee talks in Kenya

The church in Kenya has been invigorated with the idea that this is a jubilee season not only in Kenya but in the whole of east Africa region. Its rumored that God will move in this region like we have never seen before. These views insinuate a restoration similar like the one we see in the biblical days. Kenya is deemed to return to her place of inheritance. Public land that was stolen is to be restored. Generally this season has been rumored to have been reserved to a special favor to sweep across this region.

A lot of enterprising views based on numbers and years contune to rock the years of the church. I even read somewhere that Kenya holds the keys to revival of this region and Africa. Having had her jubilee as the last in the three nations of east Africa namely Kenya , Uganda and Tanzania, Kenya is deemed to suddenly sprint as we see waves of revival and awakening.

These statistics delve into cringes of revelation that when Kenya enterd  into the jubilee in 12^th of December 2012. that was te beginning of another fresh year of divine governance because the number 12 symbolises divine governance. The revelation of these statistics are tantalizing and tend to inject a spiritual upward inclinement.

The authenticity of these statistics may be true. Prayer movements have been established to mobilize the multitudes to pray towards repentance, plea for justice and restitution, a plea for us to return to our place of nheritance of this nation, I tell you the spiritual barometre has sky rocketed.

Its completely alarming and shocking how we have been caught up in some wow moments and completely forgotten the centrality of Christ. In all these sites talking about the jubilee, none has focused to bring us to Christ who is the apex of jubilee, Christ is actually our jubilee. We seem to have been carried away with some other sweet agendas outside of Christ in the name of prayer movements , prophecies and declarations (not that these things are bad) and completely miss out on the person of christ and the revelation of what Christ has already accomplished at the cross.

Christ is our jubilee

I appreciate numbers statistics and dates but honestly God lives and operates outside time. God enters in time to reveal his eternal purpose which he did it through Christ.

Isn’t Christ the word which was from the beginning ,that was made flesh and dwelt amongst us?

God did not go in a slumber and woke up to the realization that Kenya needs her jubilee. All these confusion arise from a shambolic dividing of scripture when we fail to discern Christ in the scriptures and get confused on how God used to operate in the old testament and how he operates in the new testament.

Every scripture ought to be interpreted in the light of Christ. Everything in the law and prophets including regulations about jubilee points to Christ.(read luke 24, gal 3) The law was a shadow of the better things to come but the substance is Christ.

Col 2:16-17 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Stop chasing shadows! One message to the body of Christ, his beloved church is to cease from the wow moments. Christ is our substance our jubilee. He is our restitution our return to inheritance, our justice, our answered prayer. He is our climax, the sole good news awaited by the nations not some other agendas built around him; everything revolves from the depths of Christ.

he is the passover lamb, the lamb who was slain that Jon saw at te centre of the throne in the bok of revelation. He is the ram(yobel) in whom we blow the trumpet proclaiming a jubilee that extends to the entirety of mankind. Halleluyah