On the night of February 17th, 2023, an altar of Praise and Worship will be raised throughout the nation of Tanzania. This event will be a thanksgiving and worship night to thank Jehovah for His loving kindness, mercy and favor to the people of this nation. There will be intercession and prayer for the Lord to continue to show blessings and favor to the leadership, government and people of Tanzania.
(Usiku wa tarehe 17 Februari, 2023, madhabahu ya Sifa na Ibada ya Uimbaji itainuliwa juu ya taifa la Tanzania. Tukio hili inalenga kuwa ibada ya shukurani na kuabudu kwa kumshukuru Jehovah kwa upendo wake, huruma na kibali kwa wananchi wa taifa hii. Pia kutakuwepo na maombezi kwa Bwana ili aendelee kuonyesha baraka na kibali kwa uongozi, serikali na watu wa Tanzania.)
The event is expected to be broadcast live on national radio and there will be prayers for those who are sick and have various ailments to receive healing and deliverance from their circumstances. The District Commissioner of Ilala is expected to open the event as a representative of the Government of Tanzania at 8:30pm.
(Tukio hili inategemewa kurushwa mubashara kwenye redio ya taifa na pia kutakuwepo na maombi kwa walio na magonjwa na matatizo mbali mbali ya kiafya ili waweze kupata kukombolewa na matatizo hayo. Mkuu wa Wilaya ya Ilala anategemewa na amealikwa kuwa mgeni rasmi ili aweze kufungua tukio hili kama mwakilishi wa serikali ya Tanzania saa mbili na nusu usiku.)
Worship teams will be there to minister to God and a minister from Kenya has been invited and is expected to grace the event as prayers will also be lifted up for neighbouring countries in East Africa.
(Timu za kusifu na kuabudu zitakuwepo ili kumhudumia Bwana na mtumishi kutoka Kenya naye amealikwa na atakuwepo kwa kuwa maombi pia kwa ajili ya nji jirani za Afrika Mashariki zitafanyika.)
There is no entry fee but as there are limited seats in the venue entry will be by free registration on this link and by registering at the venue in advance to get a pdf ticket. The event will also be live streamed on Youtube and Facebook.
(Hakuna kiingilio lakini kwa kuwa ukumbi una idadi maalum ya viti kiingilio itakuwa kwa kusajili kwenye tovuti hii au kwa kusajili kwenye ukumbi ili viti vihifadhiwe na kupewa tiketi ya kuingia bure (pdf). Pia tukio litarushwa mubashara kwenye tovuti za Youtube na Facebook.)
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:1-4 NIV
On the day of Pentecost, a day that is commemorated each year as the day that the Holy Spirit was poured out and marked the beginning of the demonstration of the power of God in believers which enabled them to carry out the great commission as promised by Christ, we acknowledge the special place the Holy Spirit has in our lives as believers in Christ. He said that they should wait in Jerusalem until the promise of God to pour out His Spirit was fulfilled, and that He would not leave them alone but would send a counselor, a helper who would give them power.
What place does fire have in the operation of God’s will and His kingdom? Throughout the word we see examples of God sending fire to consume the sacrifice, or appearing as a column of fire, or even as fire in a burning bush that was not consumed. Let us look at the command of God to Moses when instructing Him on how the Israelites were to make a dwelling place for Him amongst them, which was called the Tent of Meeting. Also known as the Tabernacle, this housed the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant. Look at what it says in Leviticus 6:8-13:
8Then the LORD said to Moses, 9“Command Aaron and his sons that this is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the hearth of the altar all night, until morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar.
10And the priest shall put on his linen robe and linen undergarments, and he shall remove from the altar the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed and place them beside it. 11Then he must take off his garments, put on other clothes, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place.
12The fire on the altar shall be kept burning; it must not be extinguished. Every morning the priest is to add wood to the fire, arrange the burnt offering on it, and burn the fat portions of the peace offerings on it. 13The fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it must not be extinguished.
Is it not amazing to note that the fire was never to be extinguished but was to be kept burning? In the times of Elijah we see fire coming from heaven to consume the sacrifice, and that brought back the reverence of God among the people. A demonstration of the nature of God as being an all consuming fire. In Revelations we see fire in seven lamps, also called the ‘seven Spirits of God:
1After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits a of God. Revelations 4:1-5, NIV
The censers that are filled with incense which are linked to the prayers of the saints also indicate that there is fire, as incense requires to be burned to release its aroma:
3Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Revelations 8:3-5, NIV
Now we can see the relation to fire and why there is a requirement for an altar which is on fire! Paul tells us that we are the temple of the Lord, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, who baptizes us with His Fire, for indeed our God is a consuming fire, but he consumes that which has to burn in order to purify it, a refining fire for the redeemed yet a destructive fire to the enemy and those who assign their lot with His by refusing to acknowledge God’s sovereignty and position as creator and Lord. The Holy Spirit is our fire and we turn our bodies into a temple that has the altar of heaven inside it. Indeed when Christ says He and the Father will come inside and dwell within, it is by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
Today we have reduced our relationship of fire to one where we seek external fires of revival and moves of God in our nicely constructed buildings and organized worship that gently or even sometimes forcibly remove the Holy Spirit from our midst. We have succeeded at perfecting the religion but not the relationship. Jesus told us of a time when true believers would worship in Spirit and Truth, and that God is seeking for such. The hour has come when the outpouring that is beginning will cut through walls, borders, denominations, religious rites and practices, political systems and even enemy strongholds to reveal a bride that has a lamp trimmed with oil and burning, ready to receive the bridegroom.
May Yeshua grant you the fellowship of the Holy Spirit as you pray for the precious gift of fire that will restore the broken altar in our hearts and keep the fire burning until He comes! Be blessed! Believe!
A Bible verse that we have probably heard many times is John 3:16, which gives us the core reason for our redemption through the belief in the name and the purpose of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Let us look back at David and his revelation of the greatness of God and His purposes for mankind described in Psalm 8:
1 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.
2 From the mouths of children and infants You have ordained praise on account of Your adversaries, to silence the enemy and avenger.
3 When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place—
4 what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?
5 You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him ruler of the works of Your hands; You have placed everything under his feet:
7 all sheep and oxen, and even the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!
How amazing that God would choose to make us in His likeness and then make us rulers us the work of His hands! Indeed, the Psalmist is baffled and astounded at the responsibility and honor given us, even though our earthly form is a ‘little lower than angels’! On a side note is it not amazing the nugget found in this Psalm that has to do with praise as a weapon of spiritual warfare that God has ordained to silence the enemy and avenger.
We then can see the relation with John 3:16 if we look at it more closely. Keep in mind that from Genesis chapter one, we are given an assignment to have dominion, or rule in other words, over God’s creation and to replenish the earth, subdue it and have dominion over every living thing. Now let’s take a closer look at the verse:
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16,17 (NIV)
The word used in the Greek translated ‘world’ is Kosmos. If it had to do with the earth it would have been ‘Terra’. When examined further the word Kosmos actually means ‘orderly arrangement, decoration and by implication the world and its moral order or system of moral governance (Strongs 2889). The word for love is ‘agape’, which is the highest form of love according to the Greeks, and if we are to then use these expanded meanings, we see that God is intent on restoring what David sees in Psalm 8 and what we read of in Genesis Chapter 1, which is a system of rule that had man in dominion and replenishing, subduing and having dominion and full authority over what God created on earth.
Why then is there a question of perishing and not having everlasting life? This is because when mankind fell through the sin of Adam and Eve, we lost the access to the tree of life and our bodies no longer carried the glory of God which we were supposed to be crowned with. The enemy lied to us and still does so today with the deception that we are not whom God has called us to be, with the purpose of us not having that relationship and all its rights and privileges restored as he is keen on our destruction in the end.
Praise God, as the Psalmist says, that His core character is love, and having loved the order of things, or Kosmos, that He had established in the beginning, He chose to give His only Son to pay the price so that all we had to do was just believe. No punishments. No fines. No retribution (John 3:17 ‘For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.’). No payments on our part.
Just by simply believing in Jesus and by having this relationship restored we begin to understand and operate in the kingdom principles rooted in the love of the very Father who redeemed us under the instruction of the Holy Spirit as we walk with The Son, whom the Bible declares has ‘the government upon His shoulders’. Halleluya! We then begin to change our ‘kosmos’ as we have the authority restored, and as we obey His word and operate under His guidance we have dominion over every circumstance and situation. Sicknesses have to obey. The enemy is under our feet. We experience the miraculous because it is the natural to those operating in the Kingdom of God.
May God give us the grace to understand our purposes and to accomplish them according to His will as we meditate upon how mindful He was to us to give us so much in the first place. Be blessed! Believe!
..and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick Luke 9:2 (NIV)
In the book of Matthew Chapter 24 and verse 14, Jesus explains to his disciples the events leading to the end times and his return. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. ((NIV)
Throughout history the gospel has been preached but let us examine what gospel, or good news, Jesus preached and commanded his disciples to preach. It certainly was not the gospel of Christianity, or a new religion. It was not a message of salvation for sure but it was clear that the good news would bring about mankind’s salvation. This begs us to ask why he insisted on it being the good news of THE KINGDOM. To understand the message of the kingdom one must understand what a kingdom is, how it is administered and ruled and who it’s subjects or citizens are as well as their responsibilities. According to the Merriam – Webster dictionary, a kingdom is defined as:
1 : a politically organized community or major territorial unit having a monarchical form of government headed by a king or queen. 2 often capitalized. a : the eternal kingship of God. b : the realm in which God’s will is fulfilled.
Thus a kingdom can be agreed upon as a territory or community headed by a king. Obviously even a community has territory, hence being able to organize itself politically. Having established that we then see that Adam was given ‘dominion’ over the earth and all that was in it and commanded to ‘subdue’ it.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1: 26-28, NIV
At this point you see that there is a territory and its possessions (all the living creatures and the land on earth) and one who is assigned to ‘rule’ over that territory.
Fast forward to the time of Jesus, and you find man in a state of struggle to subdue the elements and living creatures, let alone his own carnal desires which bring about every known evil perpetuated against fellow man. In this state God sends his son to remove the barrier between heavens authority caused by man’s rebellion against that authority (sin).
One would have expected that John the baptist would have preached the message of salvation but instead we see him in Matthew 3 preaching the following:
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”[a] Matt 3:1-3 (NIV)
When Jesus begins his ministry again the same message in Matthew 4:17 and 23,24:
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.
In Matthew 9:35 we see the same:
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
At this point it is clear that Jesus was not bringing a religion but proclaiming the sovereign nature of God and his right to represent him. He was not interested in systems of the world, and neither was he interested in overthrowing them. The word repentance has its root in the act of having a transformation of one’s mindset to move in a direction completely opposite to where they were pointed at. Mankind, unlike the fallen angels, did not fall from the kingdom. Mankind fell from their position of authority as representatives of the king on territory earth. As witnessed by miracles, signs and wonders (which are not supernatural in the heavenly kingdom, but just a restoration to what was supposed to be the natural), the kingdom of heaven or God reclaims territory and authority when God shows up. It is the very nature of a king to have dominion over his territory. His command is final. There is no democratic counsel, or option to do otherwise. Hence bacteria and viruses come under the dominion of God, as do body cells and parts. They submit to the final authority. This is commonly known as healing.
This explains why Jesus sent out his disciples with the following instruction in Luke 9:1,2:
When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
Notice once again he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God AND to HEAL THE SICK. Those two are not mutually exclusive and are a non-negotiable part of the contract. In Luke 10:9 we see another reference to healing the sick and the kingdom of God:
9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
This then is the gospel of the Kingdom. The restoration of the authority of God in territories by His presence manifested in those who have believed in the message of Jesus and embraced their redemption found in the work of the cross. Indeed by His stripes we were healed. This is not a declaration of possibilities or probabilities. It is the living word of God available to all who believe in Christ and who then receive the power to become sons and daughters of the King. The king always sent his representatives out with authority, for he knew that his glory was represented by their appearance.
In this last hour the Holy Spirit will quicken us to understand that the kingdom of God is one of power and authority, not for the sake of ruthless dominion but a loving restoration that will also see creation rejoice, even if for a brief period, in the manifest presence of the Father on earth as believers experience the last great outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the world is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the see.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. – Matthew 5:6, NIV
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Matthew 5:8, NIV
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3, NIV
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33, NIV
Holy Spirit we are hungry. Fill us with His righteousness and cause us to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God and verify it with miracles, signs and wonders. Father, THY kingdom come and THY will be done here on earth, as it is in heaven. Amen.
1 John 3 (NIV) 1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
The most powerful words apart from the names of God and Jesus are the two that begin the Lord’s Prayer. Our Father. What a powerful declaration. The very declaration makes the gates of hell tremble as every power of darkness acknowledges who we are are when we declare that we have a father, and not just any father, but the father of lights, who resides in glory, majesty and power.
Indeed, when we take a minute to fathom the depth, width and breadth of the declaration that we are children of the most powerful yet loving being in the universe, who actually is its creator and our father, we cannot help feel a sense of joy, pride, security and freedom. In the same breath we acknowledge something even greater…the overwhelming sense of the love that God has for us and everything that He created. We often hear of the wrath of God, and in many cases we see it in the Bible, but let us take a minute and consider this. The word of God clearly declares that the Lord takes no delight in the death of sinners.
We can then get the sense that the wrath of God is not the angry tantrum of a displeased entity or person, but rather the immeasurable grief of a Father being faced with the prospect of being eternally separated from that which came from His very bosom, His very heart and the core of His being and was formed in the womb only to be born as a child into this world, and now is lost. Indeed, as the Father cried out and ran towards His lost son who returned, so is the joy in our Fathers heart when His own return back into His arms of love. What an awesome picture, of a redeeming God who delights in the salvation of His own from the destruction the enemy so gleefully plans for for His children. Our Father.
In these two words rest our very being and existence. The declaration that He is not just a father, but OUR FATHER, who art in heaven! In Him we live and breathe and have our being. He has numbered every last hair on our head. He knows us by name. He loves us! We are His children and He is OUR GOD! Halleluya! Be blessed as you believe!
For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] A psalm of David.
1 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory in the heavens. 2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?[c]
5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e] and crowned them[f] with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their[g] feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, 8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
If ever there was an insight into how much God values us, this Psalm by David gives us a clue as to how much the Father loves us and has endowed us with much responsibility and crowned us with glory and honor for His own sake. Indeed, Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have made us rulers yet we still do not grasp the authority you gave us and the dominion. May your Holy Spirit rekindle the fire that spurs us to take our place that you restored through the sacrifice of your son, Jesus. Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be done! Amen!
Rainbow over the Indian Ocean between Zanzibar and Tanzania mainland
