Recently I heard a song saying the storm is over and it sounded so good in my ears. But when I pondered about it, many questions began to arise in my heart about the storms we face in life and I felt like sharing it with my friends and partners.

What causes storms in our lives? How do we get out of Storms? It’s my prayer that the Lord delivers us out of all our storms this year.

There is usually a cause for every storm in life and it is not always the devil responsible for these storms. We pray God to help us understand the cause of the storms around us, and why we face Rejections and resistances many times.

When we read the story of Jonah (Jonah 1:1-17) we see how we can lose favor with God when we reject His will and direction. Like many of us, Jonah was not only stubborn but took God for granted and went his direction. In his heart he knew that he was supposed to go to Nineveh, but he was even willing to pay the price taking him to a wrong direction as long as he would be comfortable regardless of the conviction of his heart.

The storm and loss of favor with people would be just enough warning but if we harden our hearts, storms keep multiplying and we also attract various problems to stand in our way and eventually get drowned or swallowed up just like Jonah was swallowed by the Whale.

We may have millions of excuses and our defenses may sound perfect to us and others as to why we take the directions we want but all our reasons can never defeat God’s Will for our lives. Obeying God’s Will and following his direction is the only way we can avoid the storms of life.

The storms, floods of Problems, Rejections and untimely deaths welcome all who reject God’s will and direction.
When we are out of God’s direction, we don’t only loose favor with God; we also lose it with people; even close friends and family members. And whoever accommodates us shares our consequences just like the sailors lost all their merchandise because of Jonah.

When Jonah left the boat, all was calm and life came back to normal. Jonah came back to his senses under very hard circumstances and realizes in his spirit how much he had sunk. After he had discovered that, Jonah was restored and he went back to God’s direction in his life.

Beloved let us analyze where we are, why we are going through those situations, what had swallowed our lives and why we have lost favor with people.

It is time for us to come back to where God wants us to be and do what he wants us to do otherwise we might sink deeper than Jonah and worse storms may blow everything we acquired in the wrong direction.

This year let us obey and follow God’s Direction and then the storms will be over.

Have a blessed week.
Steven Sebyala

This is another momentous year, and it has come with great opportunities and I know you are ready for them. I also trust that God has already given you great ideas, plans and thoughts as you lay strategies that will help make the year count well for you and the kingdom.

It is our prayer that God’s grace be multiplied to you as we together strive for the cause of the gospel and get the best out of 2012 as we make better plans, surrounding our self with right people and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead, govern and guide us in the right direction of God.

As we think of developing ourselves, we should also bear in mind that the time for fulfilling the great commission is running out. We must speed up the gospel to the weary world, which is urgently waiting for our words of encouragement, acts of love, hope and mercy.

Every where you look, multitudes are struggling to see the light but are still trapped darkness and sin with no light to find their way out. Let us this year focus on the great commission and invest all our strength, energy and resources on winning the lost and the dying World to Christ.

I am convinced that when we aim at preaching the gospel through our acts of love, kindness and generosity we shall be able to convert even those considered very evil and difficult in communities thus advancing the kingdom of God by winning them to Christ.

We also pray that this year God empowers and strengthen your prayer life, unite you in good fellowship with right people and open up the floodgates of heaven for what ever you need to fulfill your plans in 2012.

Finally, may God, grant you 12 months of great happiness, 52 weeks of great joy, 8760 hours of good health, 525600 minutes of stability and 31536000 seconds of his love.

We wish you a Happy 2012.

Steven Sebyala

Greetings in the name of our Father & Lord Jesus Christ!

Today I want to impress on you the importance of integrity. I want to share with you from Psalm 24:3-4, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.”

Lately, the Lord has been impressing ‘integrity’ on my heart. It seems that almost every day there are new stores in the media concerning politicians, celebrities, athletes, and church leaders who are coming to moral failing. Constant sexual scandals, adultery, and debauchery. Lies and deception coming to light. Financial misappropriations. These are all due to a lack of integrity.

But integrity is not just lacking in the public arena. It is lacking in our churches, homes, businesses, and lives. This is an urgent matter of extreme importance. Essentially David is saying in the Psalm, “Who may approach the Lord? How can we even be in His holy presence? By being integrous.” God is not one who judges by outward appearances (1 Samuel 16:7) but instead looks at the heart of man. Thus, the pursuit of integrity is an issue that must be individually addressed between you and the Lord. It is a matter of the heart.

Your integrity is not tested while on the pulpit or in a conference meeting. It is tested behind closed doors, when the world isn’t watching. But even when no one is watching you, the Lord is still watching. In the Bible, Jonah showed us that we cannot run from the Lord because wherever we go He is already there! In time, every deed, thought, motive and intention of our heart will be brought to the Light.
The phrase “Good guys finish last” is a phrase the enemy has employed to encourage cheating, lying, and stealing. If that is the case, there is no reason for integrity. Fortunately, finishing last is not the outcome of integrity. I believe one result of integrity can be summed up in Proverbs 22:1, “A good name is more desirable than great riches, to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” You cannot go to the store and buy your reputation. How you are viewed by others is formed by the thoughts and opinions of those around you, based on your actions around them.

If you have pledged or given your word to something – fulfill it; even if it turns out to hurt you. Never put yourself in compromising situations – alone with the opposite sex, maintaining the entire finances without help, and many other situations in which integrity can be compromised. Ensure your accountability by always letting people know where you are, where you’re going, and what you’re doing. There is never a reason or an excuse to risk your integrity.

We desperately need more men and women of incorruptibility to rise up in the Church, our governments, law enforcement, education system, and other places of influence in society. Leaders who cannot be swayed to the left or right but who instead honor God’s Word with their position of power and influence.

God is continually testing our integrity in small and large ways – did you give or receive the correct amount of change? Can you obey a law as simple as a speed limit? Do you ‘fudge’ on your taxes? We often create excuses to justify our actions – “Everyone does it,” “The government doesn’t need it,” or “No one will notice.” But can we still use that same excuse when we stand before the presence of the Lord?

Jesus is the author of integrity. Let us ask him to empower and equip us with his Spirit to guide us each day to maintain our integrity and be a light in dark places. I encourage you to strive for ‘clean hands a pure heart’ in His power.

Be Blessed.

EVANGELIST STEVEN SEBYALA
AFRICA HARVEST MISSION
P.O Box 8468, Kampala, Uganda, EAST AFRICA
TEL: +256 312 193759, +256 775449218
EMAIL: ahm4africa@gmail.com
WEBSITE: africaharvestmissions.org

This week I am writing to remind you of God’s expectations of us while we are still on this earth as his children. As Christians, we expect a lot from God all the time in every Season. On the other hand, God expects us to bear good fruits for him all the time in every season without any excuse because he has given us his spirit. He needs the good fruit of his spirit.

Mark 11:13

“And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.”

In the above verse, we find that Jesus lifted his eyes and saw a fig tree in the distance with leaves on it. He got so excited, expecting to get a fruit from it, when he came to it he found nothing but leaves.

Jesus was disappointed when his expectation was not met. The leaves on the tree signified that there were fruits on the same tree because fruit appears on fig trees before the leaves.

Most of us are exactly what Mark’s Gospel demonstrates, only showing our beautiful leaves. As new creatures, we are supposed to get the light of Christ and convert it to energy, in order to produce fruits. That is the fruit of the Spirit which is; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…”-Galatians 5:22-23

We have to keep in mind that, Jesus requires us to produce fruit in and out of season just like the fig tree message tells.

In Recession time? Produce fruit, Are you Angry? Produce fruit. Are you sad? Produce fruit. Are you Frustrated? Produce fruit. Are you Irritated? Produce fruit. Are you in a bad relationship? Produce fruit. Are you being mistreated? Produce fruit. Is your situation getting out of control? Produce fruit.

Do you know that this tree could have enjoyed the privilege of providing Christ one of his last meals before paying our price on the cross. This happened right before he entered Jerusalem. Instead Jesus was met with disappointment when his plant failed to meet his expectations.

What kind of tree are you? And what kind of fruit do you produce before your master?

When we demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit to others, we meet Christ’s expectations. May we be ever mindful of Christ’s expectations of us and display our fruit but not leaves.

God Bless you.

May the Lord of peace himself always give you his peace no matter what happens. The lord be with you all.

Beloved of God,

It is my prayer that you may be filled and kept with the peace of God regardless of the situations around you that may be shaking your life now.

The whole world in which we live in is in desperate cry for the true and lasting peace.

History has proved that no one has and will ever achieve real and lasting peace using the best of all our skills, abilities, resources, weapons, systems, etc.

It is impossible to have peace in your life and with others when you are not at peace with God. It is until we are truly reconciled with God that we can have true and lasting peace.

God himself puts us in his path of peace by his son Jesus Christ through repentance and forgiveness of our sins.

After we receive God’s peace, we also become peacemakers in this troubled world.

Matthew 5: 9

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Having attained this treasure or fruit of the spirit of God, it becomes our responsibility to transmit this peace to every member of our families, our communities and our Nations.  Then it can be known of us to be called God’s children.

God asks us to be peacemakers even in the midst of life’s pain and confusion. He also promises us to be blessed as we make peace with others. During times of disagreements you may always have with the people around you. Some times the frustrations you go through when your spouse, friend, boss etc fails to understand you. No matter what happens around us to shake our peace, or to try to throw you out of its path, the peace giver will always help you not to loose it.

The testimony of our steadfast peace during hard and trying times can be a convicting testimony to those around us and they begin to look for it from us and from our homes

“Peace I leave with you, my Peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  John 14: 1-4, 25-28

Peace is kept when we amerce ourselves in scriptures, spending time with the spiritually maturing Christians, learning from ourselves to be mentored by our elders. It is by learning to understand and apply the truths of the Bible to our lives that we begin to find his peace, Plans and purpose for our lives.

Beloved, you can have God’s peace around you, no matter what happens to you because; His words are true, His promises are sure; Christ promised to give us peace not as the world gives, but only as he gives it.

Let the peace of the Lord govern you.

Steven Sebyala

In this life we face different challenges which may want to exalt themselves over our lives; they try to put us down, to walk over us and to subject us to their powers so that we can do everything according to their will.

In Matthew 17:14-21; We see a man who came to Jesus Kneeling down to him and saying, “Lord have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic” and he suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 18… And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him and the child was cured from that hour. And the Disciples came to Jesus privately and asked him, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you , if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain , ‘ Move from here to there,’ and it will move ; and nothing will be impossible for you . However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and Fasting.”

There are situations which come in our lives to just torment us, accuse us, and confuse us or to confiscate our lives or to make things not look health for us. Such situations can cause bitterness in our lives; they cause hate and fear in our lives.

This may be caused when we think others would help us and may be they don’t help or perhaps they fail because the situation is also hard for them and they cannot find a solution; like the disciples when the man had brought to them his sick boy, they tried their best but they could not, that is why they asked Jesus Privately why it did not happen.

Beloved, these situations can only be overcome when we seek God through prayer and fasting. With these persistent situations, we do not use Physical Weapons to overcome them but we use weapons which are mighty through God.

In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

For though we walk in fresh , we do not war after the fresh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations , and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God , and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ

The Bible talks about the weapons God has given us, When does God give us these weapons? The moment we say yes to Jesus Christ, he releases those weapons into our lives. And life becomes a battle field. We begin defending everything in our lives, our families, our children, our jobs and so on.

One of the things we need in order for us to overcome such things is Knowledge from God; we always win when we fight battles spiritually. If you fight by your physical wisdom the Lord has no room in that.

In the book of Esther, when Haman set in motion to have all the Jews destroyed out of the land, Esther’s Uncle Mordecai sat in ashes, praying. When Esther realized the seriousness of the situation and that she was in a position to possibly undo the decree, she asked that all the Jews fast for three days before she went in to petition the King. As a result, she found favor with the King and the Jews were saved.

Fasting humbles and brings us close to God, it helps us to build our faith up, it shuts up much of the physical communication and then spiritual communication gets fine tuned with God’s will, fasting also prepares us for a spiritual harvest.

A person usually has greater clarity during fasting, and sees spiritual needs and comprehends God’s Word on a deeper level. As we make extra time for God by meditating on verses in the Bible, a richer experience in prayer will begin to permeate our thoughts. God will show us the areas in our lives that we keep off limits to Him and the ways we seek to control our lives rather than let Him lead us. Any coldness in our hearts will melt during fasting, and we will be transformed and empowered to walk in God’s ways.

Brethren, I am encouraging you  to always seek God through praying and fasting, dedicate your selves to studying the word of God, involving your self in the things of God in and out side the church in order to overcome the different situations which may seem to be so hard and for us to be revived in our personal lives.

God Bless you.

This week I would like to share with you about forgiveness and why we should not look at it as a burden.

How often shall my brother sin against me? That is the Question in our hearts whenever someone wrongs us, how long do I have to let this go on? When is enough, really enough?

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, How often should I forgive someone who sins against me Seven times”? “No!” Jesus replied, “Seventy times seven!” Mathew: 18:21-22

When we read Matthew 18: 23-35; About the unforgiving servant, we realize that  the King was able to forgive him for a big debt but the same servant went out and found his fellow servant who owed him some money but he couldn’t forgive him he took him to prison. We desperately want to show that we have done our part and then draw a line in the sand for others to be condemned; unfortunately Jesus will not allow it.

He redefines what our part is and leads us gently back to realize how desperately we need to forgive and also seek forgiveness. In the story He shows us as the ones who were in great debt, that we might find new strength to forgive another.

In Luke 23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive these people, because they do not know what they are doing”.

By the time Jesus said this statement, this was the most painful moment  Jesus had experienced in his life, remember he had been betrayed by Judas , he was arrested with no crime , mocked, beaten seriously, His Friends like Peter denied him and on top of that he witnessed people shouting that he should be Crucified.

Nearly everyone has been hurt by the actions or words of another. These people can be our friends, our partners, our employers, our workmates, our relatives and others. These wounds can leave you with lasting feelings of anger, bitterness and even vengeance, but if you don’t practice forgiveness, you may be the one who pays most dearly.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean that you deny the other person’s responsibility for hurting you, and it doesn’t minimize or justify the wrong. You can forgive the person without excusing the act. Forgiveness brings you a kind of peace that helps you go on with life. Remember love covers it all, when Jesus compared pain with the love he had for the people, He said Father forgive them they do not know what they are doing. The pain he experienced to save you and me is the love he had for us.

Finally in Colossians 3:12- 17; as the elect of God, Holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering; bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you must do.

Brethren I would like you to learn that forgiveness can lessen its grip on you and help you focus on other positive parts of your life. It can also lead to feelings of understanding, empathy and compassion for the one who hurt you.

By embracing forgiveness, you embrace peace, hope, gratitude and joy.

EVANGELIST STEVEN SEBYALA

But I want to encourage you that God has been and will always be with us. He confirmed it through one of his name, Emmanuel “God with us.”
Matthew 1:23 …………… She will give birth to a son, and he shall be called Emmanuel (meaning God with us)
You may not feel or sense him but that does not mean he is not with you. You may be walking through unpleasant situation, climbing high mountains of life or walking through valleys of shadows of death, but he is still with you.
It is easy to think that the lord has forgotten you when you encounter strange moments; even this happened to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 43:1-2
But now, O Israel, the Lord who created you says: “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you go through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.
God assured Isaiah that in the journey of life sometimes you may walk through floods and through fires but I will be with you throughout and strengthen you.
Psalms 91:5-6 and 13; The devil may fill your path with darkness, poisonous and deadly creatures, objects, enemies, to scare you, fight you, but none of them will be able to bring you down, because God is with you, you will emerge victorious even though with scars and tears.
The patriarchs and matriarchs we follow in the Bible who walked with God, also encountered great resistances and fighting but the reason we love them is because, they won their battles and the lord was well pleased with them. They never denied or doubted God’s presence with them because of what they encountered.
In Mark 15:33-34, There was a time when all darkness surrounded our lord Jesus Christ while he was enduring the pain of the nails, the crown of thorns, and the shame of the cross; It looked like God had forsaken him, He cried out loud to his father in a loud voice but God wanted his mission to be accomplished. It is okay to cry when we feel like crying, but it is better to cry to God if you should.
I would like to encourage you that regardless of your situations have this assurance in your heart that God is and will always be with you even though all hell is loosed over you like it happened with Job. He refused to doubt God’s presence a midst the pressure to do so from his wife and friends.  Encourage your self like David did in Psalms 23.

This week I want to encourage and remind you of God’s care for all his children like you.
There are times when we are tempted to doubt God’s care and think that he has forgotten us. Mostly this happens whenever we face stiff resistances, Hardship, Rejection and delayed answers to our prayers.

In our Christian Journey, everybody would love to see their prayers answered immediately but we struggle so much when we don’t get immediate answers to our prayers, and that is the time the devil uses to plant seeds of doubt and questions about God’s care for us.

I want to encourage you especially if you have waited for along time that God still cares and he has not forgotten neither forsaken you, he calls you his own, his chosen and his Bride.  You are very important to him and sometimes the delay for our answers may work for our good.

It is because of His love and care for us, that He keeps on sending his word to us through various ways to encourage and assure us that he cares and we are always in his mind.
Our faith grows stronger when we keep on glorifying God amidst our hardships, resistances, rejections etc.

We see the examples of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed – nego in the bible who demonstrated their trust and confidence in God’s care for them when they were facing a burning fiery furnace seven times hotter than the usual one.  God showed up for them with a mighty deliverance and the whole nation bowed down to him, and these young men were greatly rewarded for their trust in him. See Dan.3: 16-30.
Another example in the Bible is of Daniel who also had the same testimony of trusting God’s care for him when he faced hard times, rejection and stiff resistances of his time. See Daniel 6.

Another example is of Abraham; If you think you have waited for so long, you are not alone, the book of Romans.4: 18-21 tells us of Abraham’s trust and confidence in God in his time: how he trusted and believed God against all hope and all natural evidences, He did not grow weak in his faith, Neither did he put in consideration the inability of his own body which was almost dead when he was about one hundred years old, neither the deadness of his wife Sarah’s womb when she was ninety years old; He did not stagger at the promises of God through un belief, but was strong in faith giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what God had promised to his children, he was able to fulfill.

Considering what these early believers endured, their faith in God never weathered, they never thought that God has forsaken them, but kept glorifying God amidst all the resistances, rejections and the hardship of their time. We have no excuse but to follow their great examples of trusting God.
The God they believed and served is the same God we have believed and are serving. He will fulfill his promises to us just like he did to them.

Be encouraged, what you are facing will not destroy you, your victory is just around the corner; keep glorifying God with the words of your mouth, your thoughts and your actions.
He still cares and cannot forget you.

Nice week.

This week I would like to share with you about “Temptation to give up”. Many times we are over pressed, feel like we are cursed and crushed down to the extent of feeling that we cannot rise up again.

In John 10:10  He tells us that the devil’s work is to steal kill and destroy and that is his dream for all God’s Children, but a midst all that Christ stands to give us Life abundantly.

Satan will always paint pictures not only in our eyes but even in our minds, which leaves us with no other option but to think of giving up on anything whenever we face stiff challenges and resistances.

Over the years I have seen many of my good friends scam to that temptation of giving up of their jobs, Husbands, wives, Children and responsibilities which eventually create bigger disasters.

You or someone you know may be going through a very hard time and is on the verge of giving up but I want to encourage you this week to stay on the course, even Jesus was tempted with great offers to give up on his mission of saving us, and the devil gave him many alternatives but billions have benefited from his pain and endurance.

Matthew 4:1-11……….. then Jesus was led in the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he ate nothing became very hungry. Then the Devil came and said to him, “If you are the son of God, Change these stones into loaves of Bread.” But Jesus told him, “No! The scripture say, “People need more than Bread For their life; they must feed on every word of God.”…………………

Always when you reject the devil’s offers, he attacks us more furiously hoping that when he piles more pain, pressure, stress, rejections and stiff resistance we can give up and he wins but Jesus set a good example for us to follow.

Matthew 26:36-42…….. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay hear and watch with me and he went a little further and fell face down on the ground, praying “ My father if it is possible let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will not mine”…………

I want to encourage you to endure the pain of your trials, even though you may feel forsaken, and nobody can fully understand what you are going through, some times even your spouse may not fathom it just like in Job’s case where his wife stood on the devil’s side to persuade him to drop the course and take the alternative. He stood his ground, Endured the pain, fought to the last hour and we all read about his glorious end.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.

Despite all our Temptation, Trials and Struggles I am encouraging you never to give up. There is a reward for persistence but no reward for quitting.

Persistence will always overcome resistance, keep resisting the devil and he will flee from you, James 4:7
Keep fighting even though you may be wounded, and even if you have been knocked down, it is time to stand up and continue the fight and the Lord will strengthen you.

This is your year of Victory.

Together in the Harvest Field
Steven Sebyala