Gospel – Page 2 – Mimi's Thoughts

When I say Chris Brown

I’ve had a number of people literally drop a jaw or ask me “really?” whenever they hear me say a song was sung by Elevation worship and Chris Brown

Yeah, Chris Brown…but not the one you imagine.

Let me introduce you to the Chris Brown I speak of.

He is 41 years old, born on the 22nd day of December, 1981. He is married to Beth (college sweetheart) and they have two children (Joah and Adelaide).

He grew up under a pastor dad and a singer/musician mom… So you figure. He has a degree in Vocal Performance which he got from Anderson University.

Chris has been singing since he was a teen. He has been leading Elevation Worship since 2007 and has been friends with the Pastor for many years.

Although Chris isn’t my favourite worship leader, this guy really knows how to stir a heart to worship and to praise. Pastor Steven Furtick has actually admitted that he is his favourite.

He can be calm and soothing when he sings songs like Trust in God, Same God or Talking to Jesus and then he can be wild and crazy when he sings LION and Water is Wild (With Brandon Lake) or Rattle (especially with Steven Furtick).

When I say Chris Brown, this is who I speak of

Jesus loves me

“Mngu wan u Aondo”

It’s what my mum would say, everytime. It got pretty annoying at some point. It means ‘I am a child of God’.

She often said this when she got wind of or caught my siblings and I doing something wrong or when she was blessed with something she had been hoping for.

I used to feel a bit jealous; why will God pick her out specially and not all of us.

Lately, I have been hearing myself say those words so much that I began to realise why my mum kept saying them. He didn’t pick her specially, she only realised that she was special.

We are all special, the problem is we rarely realise this.

When God keeps showing up for you in the little things that you thought were of no concern to Him… You can’t help but declare; Mngu wan u Aondo.

Just a few days ago I caught myself singing 🎶 “Yes Jesus loves me, for the Bible tells me so”… But then I decided to change the lyrics.

I know Jesus loves me, not only because the Bible tells me so… It has gone way past that.

I know Jesus loves me because He tells me Himself everyday; from the rising of the sun, when He wakes me up, to my going out and coming in… In the way He shows up for me in EVERYTHING I face.

Mngu wan u Aondo… Jesus loves me

Grace

We come and we go as we wish.

We leave or might I say, we are not so keen on Him when we seem to “have it all together” and run back when we need help, need a restart or when we get stuck and don’t know which way to go.

The thing is He is always there.

I like to think that even if he didn’t start out as a jealous God, He would very easily have become one now with the way we act.

It’s amazing how His being jealous never affects the abundance of grace He has and continues to extend to us. Nothing affects His love and grace for us; not the hardness or our hearts, the magnitude of our sins or even our evil thoughts and desires.

Grace, the one thing we receive so freely but rarely extend to our fellow friends, families, neighbours, colleagues, bosses, servants and all other people around us.

As often as I receive grace from God, I hope I can extend human grace to others too.

Is there someone we can give grace to today?

ABLE

Having recently concluded Holly Furtick’s six week study on the book of Ephesians, I thought I would share a thing or two about what I learnt.

The memory verse for the entire study was from Ephesians 3: 20-21

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than All we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us…to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through out all generations, forever and ever. Amen

I didn’t have to memorise it… thank God (I have never been too good with memorising verses). The reason I didn’t memorise it was because I already had it in my memory for about 25 years or so. They were the exact words to a song I learnt as a kid from an acapela mix tape.

The verse has always been a comforting one for me. Only, during the course of the study, one word seemed brand new to me; Able.

God is Able to do what ever I ask of Him. There are no limitations to His abilities. None. If He has not done or does not do a thing for me, it definitely isn’t because He can’t do it. He is ABLE.

In addition to the one word that got me, I learnt that the entire book of Ephesians has a guide for me for:

Immeasurably more Wisdom

Immeasurably more Grace

Immeasurably more Confidence

Immeasurably more Peace

Immeasurably more Love

Immeasurably more Strength

To learn more about the study, please visit http://immeasurablymore.com

Shekhinah

Prayer means talking to God. This is the simplest of definitions we all get taught right from children’s church from an early age…but I fear that we have mystified and complicated prayer so much that it has been interpreted as hard and tedious.

Prayer is not meant to be rigid.

For a person who finds it difficult getting up very early, I often have a difficult time doing a thorough word study or spending quality time with God before I leave the house.

The thing is, on week days, I am usually out of the house by 7am for school run and by the time I’m done with that, I usually find myself in the parking lot of my office with some extra 20 to 30 minutes to spare before the start of work or before the first humans begin to show up at work.

That’s where I make my sanctuary. In my car. I use this time to spend time with God, I tell Him everything and I listen to hear from him.

And He hears me. He hasn’t failed me. Not ever.

Prayer time is not meant to be bondage. It is a time to be free with your Father and your Friend. Take the opportunity anytime, anywhere. Speak and listen. He is Shekhinah.

Scriptural guide:

Jeremiah 23:24
Psalm 139:
John 4: 24

Elevation at 17

A couple of months ago I wrote in Beauty in Candour about candor. In my post I mentioned how my pastor drew me with his openness and his vulnerability.

As I celebrate with him, his wife Holly and the entire Elevation Church on their 17^th Anniversary as a community, I will like to share something I learned afresh from the anniversary worship experience.

It is okay to be vulnerable:

2 Corinthians 12: 9-10

As the church waited to hear a word from Pastor Steven, it was clear, from his red skin colour and his bent head that he was crying and emotional. It was not till he whispered to Holly; “I can’t talk” that it hit me; this man was okay with showing the world that he didn’t always have it all together. Trust Holly to take it up from there and speak beautiful words of wisdom and encouragement.

This renewed realization coincided with something similar I recently read from day 35 of Rick Warrens The Purpose Driven Life, he said “Vulnerability is the pathway to intimacy” and then he also said “Honestly share your weaknesses, ministry begins with vulnerability”.

I pray for God’s grace upon the entire Elevation Church worldwide, may we continue to be renewed in our minds and our hearts. As we continue to build the “New You”, may we not forget the value of community and the need for deeper intimacy with each other through honesty, openness and vulnerability.

Kisses to my egroup, I love you ladies so much.

How do we know?

On the 16th of October, 2022, Pastor Steven Furtick preached a sermon on The Faith of Abrahan. While going through views and comments from the sermon on an online discussion group, I found something written by Thelma Allen, I thought it was worth sharing:

“How do we know?”

How do we know when we’re doing something in our own strength, according to our own blueprint, like Abraham did with Hagar, or when it’s God that’s prompting us.

I love what Chad said about relationships and how the more time we spend in them the better we know the one we’re in a relationship with. So it’s important with God – to spend time – and the longer we’ve known Him and the more time we spend with Him, the more we know.

It made me think of a verse that has really helped me with this: It’s Jer 29: 13 & 14a – “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD,” I came across another translation once that really helped me: NASB20 – ‘And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ‘I will LET MYSELF BE found by you,’ declares the LORD.

I thought about when we play hide and seek with little children and how, if the game depended on them, they’d never find us. We let ourselves be found by them. That game depends on us. And so it is with God. It doesn’t depend on how smart we are to figure it all out. It depends on God! He shows Himself to us when He sees our hearts searching for Him. We can count on Him. We watch over our little children and God watches over us, looking for our searching hearts.

Shush

Everyday… every minute. Scrolling. What’s the content?

Is my soul quiet?.

Can I hear a still small voice?

Did I miss it?

Was it too quiet? Or was I not paying attention? Scrolling… Dark Blue app, Light Blue app, Pink app… App… App… App

Oh my soul, be quiet. I missed the whisper before.

I don’t want to miss it anymore.

God help my soul.

Community

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 10: 25 that we should not give up meeting together. That means we ought to belong to a community.

I belong to a number of communities;

OBF: I was born into this community.
Tre and Stace family: I have been a part of a community for a long time.

I love these communities. They give me joy, I try to give them joy, they work with me, I work with them, they listen to me, I listen to them, they encourage me, I encourage them, they celebrate me, I celebrate them… This is community.

We all belong to several communities; school, work, alumni/alumnae associations and lots more. The community mentioned in the book of Hebrews is what we know now as Church. The church community gives us spiritual encouragement. We are asked not to neglect this community.

Recently I have been a part of a church community that has helped my spiritual and emotional growth. Finding the right church is very important. Our local church is our main community. It gives us a lot to hold on to, especially at those moments in our lives when we are not so certain of anything.

Benefits of being part of a church community

You have a sense of belonging.
You get to encourage others and be encouraged.
You have a safe place to go to, physically and mentally.

Whether we find the right church community or not, it would be lovely if we could find and be a part of any community that will build and encourage us.

Try as much as you can not to be alone.

Idolatry

I heard Dante Bowe sing the words to a song and I got confused. The words sounded so familiar to me. Words I had heard and read in romance movies between lovers. Words I had used my self to express my need to please a fellow human like myslef. I must confess that I had never really spoken those words to my God.

Tell me what what moves you?
You are my treasure.
No matter how much the cost.
You are the only thing that matters.
I live to please you.

We say these words so easily to people and things; our phones, self, friends, spouses, parents and children.

The word idolatry has been defined from the stories in the old testaments, especially from Deuteronomy where it explicitly states that “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything………”.

Over the years, our idols have changed from carved lifeless images to every day people and things. We commit idolatry when we make anything more important than our God. I found myself guilty of idolatry through the song. I repented and I am depending on a friend like no other, Jesus, to see me through.

Is there anything more important than God in your life?

Click on the link below to listen to the song-

Move your heart – Maverick city music & UPPERROOM Download