Pastor Muve

Theme: Guarding your progress (part 4) Anchor Text: Nehemiah 4:11-23 Continued from yesterday... Are human beings our enemies? The answer is yes. This is because certain men have yielded themselves as vessels for Satan and have become enemies. Hence the presence of witches, occultist etc. However we children of God (Christians) don't see, refer or regard men as our enemies. We must understand that we operate under a higher covenant. Jesus told James and John when they wanted to call down fire on men who were seemingly enemies of the Master. Scripture says: "But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village." (Luke 9:55-56) If the one whom we follow said His mission is not to destroy men's lives, now why do certain believers feel that has now become our ministry? Despite the persecutions the early ...

Theme: Guarding your progress (part 3) Anchor Text: Nehemiah 4:11-23 Nehemiah 4:11 Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, “Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.” The first thing you must understand in order to effectively guard your progress is that you have an enemy that doesn't want your progress. And that major enemy of every child of God is Satan the devil. Ignorance of this spiritual fact can be devastating. That's why the Apostle Paul encouraged the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 2:11 not to be ignorant of Satan's devices. The word 'devices' also can be translated as 'thoughts'. Therefore the enemy Satan has thoughts concerning us. If Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has good thoughts towards us then we can infer from that that Satan has evil thoughts towards us. If we become ignorant of this, Satan gets an advantage of us. Ignorance is a terrible flaw in the realm of the spirit. Whatever...

Theme: Guarding your progress (part 2) Anchor Text: Nehemiah 4:11-23 So many times one of the reasons most folks don't sustain success is because they don't guard their success and progress. Stories abound of many who have shot to the top only for them to fall back to the bottom. The truth is remaining at the top is actually harder than rising to the top. Under the leadership of Nehemiah, the children of God were busy rebuilding the ruins of Jerusalem. Yet their progress was almost halted if not for the wisdom Nehemiah employed. Therefore we will critically examine the strategies employed by Nehemiah to ensure that whatever progress God grants us is forever sustained. This series will help us remain at the top despite opposing factors the enemy might bring our way. I pray that God will grant you the ability to sustain every good progress in life in Jesus name. We'll continue tomorrow... Stay Graced... #SpiritBreakfast™️ #TestimonyTuesday™️ #PastorMuve™️ ...

Anchor Text: Guarding Your Progress Anchor Text: Nehemiah 4:11-23 (New Living Translation) 4:11 Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, “Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.” 4:12 The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, “They will come from all directions and attack us!” 4:13 So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and bows. 4:14 Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!” 4:15 When our enemies heard that we knew of their plans and that God had frustrated them, we all returned to our work on the wall. 4:16 But from then on, only half my men worked w...

Yheme: Coping with Aging Identity (Subjective Aging) (Part 13) Anchor Text: Psalms 90:12 New Living Translation Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. Medicine 5: Never compare yourself to anyone. Galatians 6:4&5 New Living Translation 6:4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. 6:5 For we are each responsible for our own One of the fastest way to get depressed is to constantly compare yourself with others who are seemingly doing better than you. Not only does this bring about depression it also brings about subjective aging. We are not to compare ourselves to anyone for any reason. Theodore Roosevelt said that "Comparison is the thief of joy" and that's an apt way to put it. Comparison steals your joy and you'll always feel bad about your present condition because there is always someone doing better tha...

Theme: Coping with Aging Identity (Subjective Aging) (Part 12) Anchor Text: Psalms 90:12 New Living Translation Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. Medicine 4: Always remind and reaffirm who you are. 1st Peter 2:9 New Living Translation But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. As a child of God, you must constantly remind yourself and reaffirm who you are. Understand that you are not defined by your circumstances and current situation. What defines you is what God has said about you. You must learn how to differentiate your experiences from who you really are. You may be beaten, battered and broken but that's not you. You may be confused, crushed and at a crossroads but that's not your end. You may be discouraged, depressed and disapp...

Theme: Coping with Aging Identity (Subjective Aging) (Part 11) Anchor Text: Psalms 90:12 New Living Translation Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. Medicine 3:  Understand that everything is working for your good. Romans 8:28 (New Living Translation) And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. The Omniscience of God allows Him to know the end of a thing from it's beginning. Therefore in His original plan for you, the issues that would seemingly overwhelm you were taken into consideration. These challenges were all accounted for. However instead of taking them away, (because there is no champion without challenges) He ensures that those challenges work out to favour us. This include every bad and sad event you ever went through in life. Unlike we humans who are limited by the scope of the smaller picture which we see, God sees the whole p...

Theme: Coping with Aging Identity (Subjective Aging) (Part 10) Anchor Text: Psalms 90:12 New Living Translation Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. Medicine 2: Understand God has a plan for you. Jeremiah 29:11 (New Living Translation) For I know the plans I have for you,” says the lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. The responsibilities, events and challenges of life can be overwhelming to say the least. However knowing that God has a plan for you should keep your mind at rest. Pastor JC Amah said "The devil has a PLOT...God has a PLAN". The devil keeps plotting to thwart the plan God had for you before the dawn of time. The assurance is that God's plan will always prevail depsite the devil's plots. God planned for your life even when the devil was non-existent, therefore he cannot destroy a plan that's older than himself. The attacks of the devil may look like they ...

Theme: Coping with Aging Identity (Subjective Aging) (Part 9) Anchor Text: Psalms 90:12 New Living Translation Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. Medicine 1: Discover and Understand your purpose Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Your Purpose is simply why you exist. You have a purpose because you were purposefully created. You're not a mistake or just one of the possible outcomes. No God took His sweet time to create you and made you who you are. And in doing that He designed you to accomplish something here on Earth which is your purpose. Discovering and Understanding your purpose is so important in coping with subjective aging because it allows you see a reason why most of the events in your life were allowed to occur. A man is designed and shaped by the challenges he faces so that he can effe...

Theme: Coping with Aging Identity (Subjective Aging) (Part 8) Anchor Text: Psalms 90:12 New Living Translation Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. Concluding my story... There I was in the seminary when I got a call from mum. She went ahead to inform me that my dad had passed on. She asked me to be strong for them. Them meant herself and my sisters since I was the only son of my father. So I stayed strong for them. Didn't have the luxury to be otherwise. So I shed no tear whatsoever not because I didn't miss dad or it didn't pain so badly but I couldn't afford to breakdown. Instead I spent most of my time thinking, planning and talking to God. Dad left huge shoes to fill and I had to step up and fill them. This was my Role-Transition into becoming the "daddy" of the family. Like I got to find out later; my money was no longer my money but "our money". At first I thought it's no big deal after I map...

Theme: Coping with Aging Identity (Subjective Aging) (Part 7) Anchor Text: Psalms 90:12 New Living Translation Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. My story continues... I've always been a good-looking boy. (I ain't bragging; okay maybe a bit). But mum usually tells me of how when I was a baby everyone who saw me would just want to carry me because of how fineeee I was. Anyway this good-looking nature of mine didn't keep me immune from health challenge. As I write this for as long as I can remember I've had a health challenge. Dad and mum told me that it began when I was 5. That's when the breathing issues started and the doctors called it Asthma. It's something I've always been ashamed of and never opened up nor revealed to anyone. If you got to know it's maybe you caught me when I was having an attack or someone told you or maybe you found my inhaler then like some friends did back in secondary school. I...

Theme: Coping with Aging Identity (Subjective Aging) (Part 6) Anchor Text: Psalms 90:12 New Living Translation Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. 2nd Corinthians 1:4 says: He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. (New Living Translation). Lecrae said these lines in his song 'I did it for you': I opened up my life and shared my life So that you can see we all need Christ I did it for you If you can understand my pain Maybe you can see we all need change I did it for you Gave you my life, my pain, my hurt Man I hope this work I pointed the verse above and those lyrics because what we go through in life aren't just lessons for us as individuals but also encouragement to others. Therefore I'll once again like to share my personal story in relation to what we've been discussing. Truth is I've been af...

Theme: Coping with Aging Identity (Subjective Aging) (Part5) Anchor Text: Psalms 90:12 New Living Translation Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. So far we've looked at the factors responsible for subjective aging. However I must comment that the factors discussed so far aren't exhaustive rather they are the major ones. Considering how vast the subject itself is I decided to focus on the key factors that are common occurrence for most people. Now that we've done a diagnosis of what the problem is, we'll begin with the treatment. Which is the main reason for this series. Before we begin that, let me critically state that addressing and bringing solution to these issues can't be done simply by man's ways. Rather God's Way can bring about healing completely. Without Him one cannot completely deal with this relatively unknown issue which is affecting a lot of people. Therefore I'm using this medium to invite yo...

Theme: Coping with Aging Identity (Subjective Aging) (Part 4) Anchor Text: Psalms 90:12 New Living Translation Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. The fourth factor that brings about a change in age identity is "One's Health and General Well-being". It's been discovered that a person who suffers from a certain health challenge can lose a grip on the whole essence of life and slip into a mental indifference which in turn alters such an individual's age identity. The mental outlook of a person is also important. Those who practise positive thoughts rather than negative thoughts  tend to feel good and young about themselves. Being able to control negative thoughts and emotions makes one feel younger. The fifth factor which might seem strange is 'Physical inactivity'. Those who were physically active had more likelihood to appreciate life and had a zest for life than those who lived sedentary lives. Those wh...

Theme: Coping with Aging Identity (Subjective Aging) (Part 3) Anchor Text: Psalms 90:12 New Living Translation Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. Another factor responsible for subjective aging is what is called 'Off-Time Events'. Off-Time Events refer to certain happenings that occurs too early or too late. Sometimes these are usually associated with Role Transition as they work hand in hand. Off-Time Events include early marriage, having kids before marriage, losing a child quite early, late admissions into tertiary institutions, late marriage, early job promotions, early financial breakthrough etc. Basically when things happen at the wrong time, it tends to have a negative effect on that particular individual. The third factor that leads to a change in age identity is 'Stress and Adversity'. The challenges we go through and the problems of life can change how old we feel about ourselves. Financial challenges, family...

Theme: Coping with Aging Identity (Subjective Aging) (Part 2) Anchor Text: Psalms 90:12 New Living Translation Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. Age identity is a serious issue because how old a person feels reflects on his outlook concerning Life. It affects performance level and a person who feels older might have a rigid outlook to life. Also what goes on internally tends to reflect outwardly. What I mean is when a person constantly feels older than he actually is, his mind begins to believe that he truly is older and his body begins to manifest such older traits. This is why you come across certain people and they look way older than they actually are. When this change in age identity occurs, it is regarded as subjective aging. Subjective aging is a dynamic process that is influenced by a person's chronological (actual) age as well as their life conditions and experiences. A change in age identity does not occur in isolation. It ...

Theme: Coping with Aging Identity Anchor Text: Psalms 90:12 New Living Translation Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. Permit me to share a personal story first. Growing up I found myself always among those who were older than I was. Right from when I was in primary School, down to my secondary school days. Even in the seminary I found myself in the same situation and even till date I still work with those that are older. My best friends and close associates have always been older than myself. Apparently this caused me to act more maturedly than my age due to those I surrounded myself with. Now this in itself can be a bit of a problem if not handled properly. In most cases anyone in such situation has the tendency to be young in age but actually old at heart. This could lead to all sorts of depression, anxiety and pressure to meet up with a particular standard whereas one is not yet ready for such. Age identity is a term in psychology th...