Why You Should Not Pray For Food!

We have this religious act that just gets into my nerves... mumbling some words before we take food in the name of prayer and grace. I find it very fake. If prayer is a two way communication, have you ever paused a little to get authorization from God to eat or not eat the food you have prayed for? Or you just assume since you have asked him to bless the food he has done it? Oh, and what is that part of sanctifying it? I thought that was dealt with earlier? The worst is when we ask our children to pray for food as a way of impressing the guests on the table. Don't give me that look, you know we have done that and we felt so proud.

But let me brain wash you on why you should not be praying for your meal....

It is so naive for you to pray for food for our body and ignore the junk our souls are indulging in daily. How many times have you prayed for the stuff your mind feeds on? Have you even considered that the stuff you feed on your mind needs to be sanctified? Stuff we get from the media, the philosophies of men, stuff we are taught in school and stuff from the world around us? How many times did your mind capture a dirty song just because you had to use a matatu to church? How many times did you get influenced by someone opinions from a  newspaper column that is contrary to the will of God? How many times have you responded in fear when you watch a news items instead of standing in the faith based on what God is saying? How many times have you been influenced by a soap opera or a novel or a person's experience to accept something that God say's He detests?

Whether we like it or not, we are living in the information age where our souls are offered all kind of delicacies to indulge in. Sadly, you will find people who call themselves Christians who only feed on the word of God on a Sunday from the pulpit and yet they can never fail to pray before a meal.

Even this article is trying to feed you soul, and that is why everyday we need to be careful as we interact with stuff we allow to reach our soul. And just like Daniel in the bible was offered the King's delicacies and chose to do veges, we must be selective on what our soul feeds on. There is this lie that tell people they need to be open minded and flow with whatever you are feed on. But I warn you, an open mind can easily fall of your head. You need to guard your heart, your mind and your soul. Feed yourself with something edifying!

And so the next time you are praying for your meals, first remember to pray for the meals your soul is feeding on.

The Prayer of UPGRADING

Lord I come to you, an older version of me

The version that is outdated
The version that you have declared obsolete

The version that cannot accomplish what you desire

And I ask that you may upgrade me

Give me a new processor,with higher speeds and bigger RAM

So that I can be swift to carry out your commands

And a capacity to do more than I have been doing

Increase my hard drive, that I may store more of your values

In built in me a bluetooth that I may discern the sorrounding

And have the capacity to connect with those with similar values

Put a webcam that I may be able to relate better with others

Put some inbuilt speakers

So that I may be able to communicate with you

Dont forget to give me a nice finish

That I may reflect your beauty and character

Make my battery last longer

That I may have the strength to walk my salvation in strength

And not just rely on corporate power

Upgrade me oh Lord

That I may influence those around me

That when they look at me

They will desire what they see

They will come to seek out what I have

And they will find JESUS INSIDE

I pray also that you may provide the best softwares

A clean heart as my motherboard

Your word as my operating system

Your spirit as the internet connection

Your people as my networking system

And with that upgrading,

I will not miss out on being serviced

And I will take care my new version

The upgraded ME

Thank you Lord for you have done it

In Jesus Name

AMEN

Beat the System, not Yourself

We are socialized to think that life is a linear affair. There is a set way we raise our kids and expect them to do certain things so that they can become something better. This is true especially when it comes to education. Here in Kenya you are expected to go through the 8-4-4 system in hope to get a good job after graduation.

From my experience, the system loses so many people in between who are left figuring what to do with themselves. There are no proper provisions for those who are cut off from the system. And as usual, they ‘hassle’ their way into life. Some make it while others find themselves stuck in the mess.

Though this is a sad situation, there is still hope for those who find themselves cut off from the system. And the way to survive is by learning how to beat the system at its own game; by developing something that cannot be ignored and by creating one own niche. But since most people believe so much in the system, once they get cut off they imagine that is the end for them and live like losers the rest of their lives.

I have observed people who are cut from the system at class eight and by learning how to do things with their hands, they earn a livelihood. I have also observed great minds that go to high school and come out as hooligans. Yet I have observed form four leavers who do not manage to go on and they learn a trade that becomes Business Empire. Yet again, some great minds join campus and lose focus and direction, to go back to the village and live the same life the class 8 drop out has been living.

Then we have those who graduate and get good jobs and then they just get lost in the system. Attending a burial of such a person, you don’t hear anything significant that came out of their lives.

My point is in one way or another, the system may not accommodate everyone. But when we are cut off the system, we shouldn’t beat ourselves. We need to learn how to maximize the minimum resources we have to reap the maximum benefits. At the end of the day, it’s not the strongest or the wisest that survives, it’s those who learnt to keep adapting to the changing circumstances of life that finish strong and better.

It so easy to live life miserably, beating ourselves because we didn’t make it to campus or because we didn’t get our dream job or something of such sort. It is also so easy to deceive ourselves that since we are in the system we are safe, but nothing is sure these days, you could lose your job, your business can go bankrupt, your husband can die, anything can happen. But that should not worry you as much as the inability to adapt to the unexpected.

The system may cut you off, don’t beat yourself. Beat the system. At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter how glorious the beginning was if you don’t get to the finish. And when it becomes hard to continue, never hesitate to turn to God for renewed conviction, courage, and strength. “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ” – Philippians1:6 NIV

Who lost their memory?

I don’t like Christians who don’t think. I just don’t like them. Some folk will laugh at the Muslims for removing their shoes before entering the mosque, yet many Christians leave their minds outside before they enter the church. Something is grievously wrong.

God is divine, sovereign and almighty, but in all His divine initiatives He uses men who cooperate with him. There is a place for human partnership in the advancing of the work of God. And so we must get our hands dirty to ensure the purposes of God come to pass.

Let’s go back to Christians who don’t think. If you have been to some church like I have, you wonder which kind of God they are serving. Like the songs people sing, you wonder whether they are listening to what they are saying. Like this song in Swahili that says.. kuna makofi, makofi, halleluyah, kuna makofi ya ajabu, halleluyah. What do you mean? And that is during praise and worship. Asi?

Call me greedy but I hardly pray before eating food. I believe gratitude is an attitude. There is nothing wrong with praying for a meal before eating, but the kind of prayers people make, I am left wondering. If for some reason God whispers to you after the prayer, don’t eat, would you hear? No, cause we really never engage in such a prayer. It’s more often than not just a ritual. That is not the worse part, the part that irritates me most is when we pray; God, remember those who don’t have something to eat. You mean God lost His memory? Of all the people, would God really forget His children in hunger?

And while we are on the praying part, most folks we just remind God of His work. God, remember those who are in various needs, and sort them, oh God remember the widows and the orphan, oh God remember those in prison. I get it. God has so much work to do, He sometimes forgets what He needs to do and we need to constantly remind Him. Get serious!

Who has lost his memory? Christians, we don’t have to tell God to remember the hungry, we need to share with the needy. That is what we call human initiative. How can you say you love God and you can never share with the needy, the hungry, the naked, the prisoners, the lost and the mourning? 

There is a part for praying, I agree. But there is also your part to do. James 2:14-26 says that faith without deeds is dead. And in James 1: 27 says religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is looking at orphans and widows in their distress and keeping oneself from being polluted by the world.

And finally, I will leave you with a quote from a catholic activist Ammon Hennacy; “Love without courage and wisdom is sentimentality, as the ordinary church member. Courage without love and wisdom is foolhardiness, as with the ordinary soldier. Wisdom without love and courage is cowardice, as with the ordinary intellectual. But one who has love, courage, and wisdom moves the world”.