Have an effective and Productive week!

Have an effective and Productive week!

Have you ever felt like you are too busy, and tired? Have you ever felt like you have too much to do and very little time to do it in? And have you ever felt like, whatever you do, you are just never effective or Productive enough?

We all go through that season when everything is just over whelming, when everything just seems to not go our way, and no matter what we try we just can't seem to take control of that situation. And sometimes our lives.

I was having one of those weeks where everything that could go wrong just decided it was time to go wrong. I was behind on my assignments, I still had a lot of work I had to get done, someone hacked into my bank account and was taking money out, and all this had put me under a lot of stress and I became very anxious.

Losing my mind over all of this I sat down and I asked myself; what would Jesus do? and I opened my bible and began to read.

In the book of Luke 5 we find Jesus living his everyday life, performing miracles and bringing Gods kingdom to earth. Here Jesus has commanded fish to get caught in Peters net after Peter had spent the whole night without catching anything and called him to be a decuple. Later on, Jesus Heals a man covered in leprosy, you know, everyday Jesus stuff. Then in verse 16 it reads," But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."

Why did he have to withdraw himself, could he not pray with everyone else who was there?

As I was meditating on this I came to understand, that sometimes, if a man has to be effective he/she must have time recuperate themselves. Through the busyness of the day, and all we have to do, all our schedules and appointments, and meetings, we become exhausted, our minds become tired, our bodies become week, and if we are to be effective and get right back on course we need rest.

The bible teachers us to be still and know that God is. This is to say that sometimes we forget that God is there with us when things are not going our way. Sometimes we feel, like we have to do all things on our own.

I believe Jesus withdrew Himself so that He could rest and recover from the demands put upon him by the world. Jesus withdrew himself to recover in the presence of God.

The beautiful thing about taking time out resting and being quite or praying is that when you come back from your rest, the weight is taken off you, you feel renewed and strengthened, you become even more creative and innovative, you are able to tackle life with greater ease then before.

So, this is my challenge to you for the week, take time out every day, and just pray, thank god for your life and what He is doing, thank him for being in control of your situation, and thank him for solutions to your hardships and problem. this worked for Jesus, it has worked for me, and I believe it will work for you as well.

God bless you and have a blessed week ahead. 

God wants the best for me, why then do I face all these problems

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Inspirational-Images/large/Jeremiah_29-11.jpg

We tend to read Jeremiah 29:11 which states," For I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

The questions that enter our minds immediately is, what are those plans, and when am I going to see these plans come to pass in my life.

I use to read this portion of scripture every day, I have read it so much that it has become a part of my being, and I believe that God has created me and has amazing plans for my life. But I kept asking myself, when will I see these plans come alive in my life?

If you are like me, I know you are eager to find out the answer. I would love to share with you what I discovered.

In Genesis 37 when read about a young man named Joseph, he is introduced to us as the child his father loved the most out of all his brothers. and also, the most favoured of his brothers.

There is no doubt that these dreams were from God himself, these were promises made to Joseph by God. God was saying to him, Joseph, one day I will make you a king and many, even you family will bow down to you, and you will be honoured and respected, because I have plans to prosper you, to give you a hope and a future.

One day Joseph had a dream, he dreams that he was king over his brothers and that they bowed down to him, he had a second dream and this time his father and mother bowed down to him as well.

Joseph told his dream to his brothers and father, and they all rebuked him saying, " are you saying that we will bow down to you, you must be way over your head." His brother became jealous and envious of Joseph and they ended up selling Joseph as a slave to Egypt.

We all have dreams, and I for one believe that whatever dream we have, if it is not to harm others or for the destruction of what is Good, I believe that that dream is from God. so like Joseph, God has given us something to look to, and he is saying, this is my plan for you, I want to prosper you, I want to give you a good hope and a good future.

God has said time and time again, "I will never leave you nor forsake you, I will be with you always." and this is something that Joseph Learned. Even though he was a slave, God was with him and even the Egyptians saw Gods hand upon him.

I want you to picture what must have been going through Josephs mind. God made him a promise, God said that he had good plans for him, god said that he was going to be a king, a ruler," God how could you allow this to happen, have you forsaken you promise to me!"

I know I have felt the same way," God you promised, why am I going through this, have you forsaken me!?"

He was falsely accused and put into prison. it was only after His imprisonment that God raised him up to become the ruler of Egypt.

I believe, that there were many ways in which God could have fulfilled his promise, I believe God could have Handed it to him all at once. I don't believe he had to go through all that. However, if God did Give it to him all at once, it would have been destructive to others and himself.

Joseph receive a promise from God which came to pass 23 years later. After he was betrayed by his own brothers and sold to slavery, after He had been a slave and then falsely accused, after he had been in prison for 2 long years, only after did He receive His promise.

Why did Joseph have to go through all that before receiving the promise? was there no other way?

Just as God took Joseph through Trail and tribulations and heartache, so sometime he has to take us through the same... Hoping we will developed well enough that he can give us what he has prepared.

Joseph lacked the character and the wisdom needed for what God had for him. Joseph was arrogant, proud and he thought very highly of Himself, he had a few character flaws that needed fixing.

This applies to our lives as well, God wants us to prosper and he wants us to have all he has ready for us, but sometimes we just lack in our, character, in our wisdom and knowledge or experience. God knows that if we have to have it now it would ruin us.

I like to think of it in this way, every trial, and every hardship is like a test, and the faster you can conquer or pass that test, that faster you will be able to progress to that which God has for you.

Often times God will work on us, He will take us through problems, trials, tribulations, hardships, heartache, pain, and even allow sickness so that we will be build and ready for what he has prepared.

Hope this helped, leave a comment, click like, till next post.

-Salem

Satan's Secret Weapon And How to Avoid It

Satan has a weapon that He has been using ever since the beginning of time. This weapon has caused many to loose the good plans and gifts that God has for their lives.

This weapon has been used through out history and it is still being used today, and many, many people are still falling victim of this destructive weapon Satan has.

In Genesis Chapter four we find the story of Cain and Able, both of whom were children of Adam and Eve. Cain was a farmer and His brother Able was a Sheppard.

It came to be that when the time for offering came, and the brothers would go before their alter and offer their first fruits to God, God would take and accept the offerings offered by Able and would reject those that came from Cain.

Cain became bitter and angry and planned to kill his brother, God knowing the plans of his heart said to him, “'Cain' Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” However Cain did not listen or could not listen... He had already Fallen victim to the weapon of the enemy.

Cain possessed with the devil, when and did that which was in his heart, He killed His brother Able, God confronted Him about this, and Cain was cursed never to be in Gods presences again.

God wanted the best for Cain, but Gods desire for Cain was stolen and never manifested, All because Cain had fallen victim of Satan's weapon.

Another example of of this is found in 2 Samuel 13. the story of Absalom. Now Absalom was one of Davids Sons, and one of the most promising of all Davids sons He was, He was very Gifted and had many talents, this could have been a sign of the greatness God had planned for him, but we will never know what could have been. All because whatever God had planed for his life was all thrown away when he fell victim to the same weapon Satan used against Able.

We are introduced to the story with the mention of Amnon, Absalom's brother who has fallen in love or had become obsessed with their sister, the story goes on and Amnon, unable to contain himself ends up rapping his sister... This did not sit well with Absalom, he grew a hate for his brother but never said anything, he kept this in his heart for two years.

After two years had gone by, Absalom invited his brother Amnon to a party where where Amnon was assassinated by orders of Absalom.

Absalom also had anger against his Father King David for not taking action against Amnon's act against his sister, because of this he planed a coup against the kingdom, however this did not go as planed and Absalom ended up dead.... I believe this story could have ended up in a very different way if Absalom had not fallen for victim of Satan's weapon.

What is this weapon I speak of?

I am speaking about Offence. there are countless stories in the bible, and in everyday life that ended up tragically, only because of this one thing called offence.

Even John the baptist, after baptizing Jesus and seeing all he had seen took offence and ended up beheaded. the pharisees could not understand the teaching of Jesus because of offence. Offence id a weapon used to steal and destroy those thing which God has given us and has planned for us.

Jesus speaks in Luke 17:1-5

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Occasions for offence are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come!

It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, “I repent”, you must forgive.’

Offence will come, I'm sorry for who ever it comes through, but for your sake, if someone sins against you Seven times a day and seven times a day comes to you and asks for forgiveness, you must for give him.

Matthew 6:14

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

look back on your life, you will notice a lot of the problems you face today is because of offence, it is because God has not forgiven you, and the only way that God can be involved in you life again is if you let go of offence and forgive.

God has an amazing plan for you life, his got gifts and plans and love to give for, but you can never receive when you hold offence. offence is like a veil that covers your eyes from seeing God... allow God to give you freedom by forgiving and moving on.

-Salem

Take control Of your Life

I have a Question… Who are you?

I am not asking for your name, I am not asking where you are from, or what you do, far from that. What I’m asking is, who are you? Who are you without your name? Who are you without your job title? Who are you without the approval of those who approve of you? Because most people only approval of those who are like themselves.

Most of us are like a flower, we come in to the world full of glory, full of beauty and full purpose. We spread our petals at the early hours of dawn, excited and expectant to shine. Excited and expectant to be looked upon with awe, excited and expectant to share ourselves with the world.

But things do not stay that way, because life always finds a way, to pluck. Our. Petals… break. Us. In half. And throw. Us. Away.

We can’t blame anyone or anything for this, it’s just a part of life…

I remember speaking with one friend of mine, we were speaking about purpose and Identity, what he said to me was fascinating, he said,” Do you think you would be who you are today, if life was easy on you, I don’t think so.”

I always tell people: life is the “great teacher”, it has no problem making you go through the same test until you pass. I pray that I pass all my tests before I die!

You don’t have to let life, your circumstances, your environment or people dictate to you who you should be, you don’t have to become who you are not in order to deal with your hardships, but rather, it is who you are that will change your misfortune raise you from the ashes and make you great.

The problem we face is that we allow our circumstances and misfortunes to change us, we allow our challengers to stop us from being who we were born to be.

Abraham Lincoln was man, defeated eight times in elections before he became the greatest American president of his time.

Einstein a man who was denied a teaching post, made the syllabus being taught, even today.

Michael Jackson, a man born of a poor African American couple, became the super star of the millennium.

There are many more, people like Pele, greatest footballer to have ever live, was born in the slums of brazil, Muhammad Ali, greatest boxer and nation leader, live in a time of white dominance, Oprah Winfery, a neglected and abused child who became an icon.

There are all people, no different to you and me, all faced with impossible circumstances, but they came through… How did they do it?

They never allowed there circumstances to stop them from being who they were, they continued fighting, they continued improving themselves, they saw their circumstances as opportunity for growth, they never allowed someone to define them.

God has placed greatness with in all of us, but we can see the proof of this only and only if we live according to who we are, to who God created us to be.

And when we are finally living in our identity, or when we are finally living life as who we truly are, then and then only will we rise from the dirt life put us, and shine.

-          Salem Etaka 

Overcoming Stress, Anxiety and Worry

Ever wondered what the bible means when it says things like, "do not be anxious about anything" or, "do not worry about tomorrow" and "do not let your hearts be troubled" (Philippians 4:16, Matthew 6:25-34, John 14:27).

Could it be that the bible is saying just that? could it be that the implication thereof is true? Could we really live a live free of worry, anxiety and stress?

I remember a time back, I had just finished my first year of Bible school and I came home for the holidays. It was a real struggle to make it through the first year due to finances, and it was putting a real strain on the family. I came back and I decided that I wasn't going to continue studying but rather I would stay and help my family.

After three months of no work I started going into depression. I became so anxious that I couldn't eat, this went on for about four weeks. For four week I laid in my bed staring at the ceiling, for four weeks I went with out eating, for four weeks all I thought about was how bad my life was and how unfairly life was treating me.

And then, as I laid there, thinking about my life, I heard God ask me," Salem, Is your worrying solving anything, what good is worrying if everything remains the same?"

Why am I telling you this?

I want you to know that I know how it feels to worry, and know what is like to be paralyzed by anxiety, and I know how stress can blind us from seeing the good that God always has in place for us. I would like to share what God has taught me concerning worry, anxiety and stress, and how you can overcome.

Anxiety, worry and stress are all products of our meditation or our thoughts, it is natural for negative thoughts to come our way, and it is healthy to allow them to pass through, this can makes us aware of our emotions, state of mind, and what we need to work on concerning ourselves. However the problem comes when we harbor these negative thoughts.

Hears is three steps that helped me conquer.

First; We need to know that worry does not solve anything, all worry does is take our attention off the solution and makes us focus on the problem. Which then becomes the meditation of our heart, and we tend to see more of what we meditate on.

Second; We need to recognize what God is doing when we facing problems and have faith in his word that; He makes all things work together for the good of his children (Romans 8:28). When we start thinking positively and seeing the good that can come out of our situations we are more likely to trust God to do his work.

And finally, Pray and believe God has heard you. Philippians 4:6-7 New International Version (NIV)

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Prayer is a form of meditation, and it frees your mind from trying to do what you can not do and entrusts the situation to God.

That is it for today, I hope it helped, drop a comment or a question and I'll get back to you soon.

-Salem

https://www.facebook.com/thealphalight/

How to overcome Trails

The truth about you is revealed through trails and tribulations.

Jesus said, "trails and tribulations will come, but behold I have over come the world" John 16:33

Your problems can do one of two things, it can iether build you up and make you stronger and improve your life, or it can break you down and make you weaker and distroy you. The effects your problems have on you, is highly depended on your belief and relationship with God.
Romans 8:28 says," All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose."

Ask yourself the Questions, Do I love God? Has God called me?

Most of Us would answer and say, Yes I love God, but most people do not know wheather they are called or not.

I have Good news; the bible teachers that if you are a born again child of you are called to Gods purpose. What purpose? you might ask.

Mark 16:15-18 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

As we can see from the scripture God has called us and has given us power to do that which he has called us to do. This calling is to every born again child of God, to preach the gospel, to cast out demons to heal the sick. this is the purpose he has called us to, and if we are liviing for God, and what he has called us for, Roman 8:28 comes and plays in our lives.

Trials and tribulations are like tests that we take before a promotion. We can see this through out History. We see this truths when we read biographies of people like Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, The Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, and even people in the bible, people Like David, Moses, Ruth, Eshter, even Jesus.

What is it that all these people have in common, they faced great calamity, trails, tribulation and failure before they had their breakthrough. Some of them where very close to death and some died.

Before Gold becomes gold it has to go through fire, what this fire does is that it purified the Gold. The same aplies to us, before we can be who we were created to be, before we can be our purist form of being, we have to go through the fire.

As a child of God these trials, weather it be sickness, porverty, dissapointment, lost of loved ones. These are not there to distroy us but to make us stronger.

When we put our trust in God and see what he sees when we face the storm, when we know that all these things, weather good or bad are meant for our perfection, purification and victory, we start allowing ourself to grow and we start to become who we truly are, Powerful, Victorious, and Influencial children of God.

Start trusting God today, and alowing Hime to form you throught your storms, and I believe I will meet you at the top.

-Salem Etaka

The Alpha Light

God Purpose life

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose” – Robert Byrne

I remember waking up every morning, getting out bed, brushing my teeth, washing, eating my breakfast and heading out to the world. I remember facing everyday thinking to myself… There must be more to life than this! I want more! God please, I can’t go on like this! I want more?

More? More of what?

The more I sought after “more”, the more I sort after that missing “thing” and at the time an almost intangible “thing” I called “more”, the more confused I became.

What was the “more” I was looking for? I had no idea, all I knew is that if this was all there was to life, it would have been better if I was never born.

I want to ask you a question, are you satisfied with your life? Or are you trying to find something more? Are you asking yourself “What more is there to life?” Are you Screaming up to God and praying like I did,” God I want more!

The Question “What is more?” is a very important question. We always try and find that thing that we think will fulfill our “more” and put an end to that void we have.

What is more? Is it Money? Friends? Parties? Bigger house? Bigger Car?

I’m sure you can recall I time you got the “more” you were looking for; speaking for myself I remember getting what I thought would fill the gap, I remember thinking, “Maybe if I got more of this, maybe than the void would close” and I would chase more money, I would chase more friends, I would be at every party there was, but still I would tell myself, there has Got to be more to life than this! There has to!?

And this is why The Alpha Light was born, for people who like me are searching for “more”. I am going to call this “more”, this “void filler” we are so desperately looking for. I am going to call it Purpose. And I am going to call this aching, this feeling of un-fulfillment, this voice that keeps on telling us there has to be more. I am going to call this voice in side of us God. And finally I will call our journey with God and purpose, our peace that we will receive and joy unspeakable that will rule our lives, I will call the journey where we are happiness fules, with no worries, and no cares, I will call this Life.

The Alpha light aims to introduce you to the Light of The world, who said that he would quench our thirst for more, His name is Jesus. And with that I will be sharing everyday practical advice and training so that you can be all you need to be in order to fulfill you calling and purpose.

Remember, “You were created as a solution to a problem No one else can solve if not you”- Myles Munroe.

And God has given you everything you need in order to be who he created you to be. With that said, let us begin our journey to Destiny, and I believe that I will meet you at the top.

-        Salem Etaka