(By: Daniel Githinji)

'And so the Lord says, "Since these people say they are mine but do not obey me, and since their worship amounts to mere words learned by rote, therefore I'll take awesome vengeance on these hypocrites, and make their wisest counselors as fools. Woe to those who try to hold their plans from God who try to keep Him in the dark concerning what they do. God can't see us' they say to themselves. He doesn't know what is going on. How stupid can they be''? (Isaiah 29:13-16)                                     

The most dangerous thing I have personally encountered is ... to assume that one knows God, and more so, to assume that you are winning His heart ... when you don't know Him, which meant I had not won His heart.

After joining a college in town to pursue a course in accounting, I managed to successfully achieve Part II of the course. I secured a three month internship with a medium local financial organization.  

Immediately after the expiration of my internship period, through my neighbor back at home, I secured a job in Nairobi, so no tarmacking; hence life began looking positive in my eyes. During my stay in Nairobi, I engaged myself in Christian activities such as attending church every Sunday, honoring God with my tithes and offerings, attending and being involved in different youth services. 

Despite all these, I wasn't born again. I could go and take beer and involve myself in other activities once I entered in local places like bars with friends. I just assumed that going to church and paying my tithes and offerings was just enough to win the heart of God.

Prophet Isaiah falls pity of such characters who thinks they are winning the heart of God. We think that He neither knows nor sees what we do.

Come January 2006, I went back to the office after Christmas. I immediately started developing some complications, which I attended a local health center, but the condition got worse to an extent of losing my mind. Three days later, I was in the hospital. 

I was admitted for a month, after which I was discharged. I carried on with the medication at home, but the condition got much worse to the extent of me not being able to walk on my own. I was taken back to the same hospital and admitted for three weeks after which I was again discharged. I started walking with an aid of stretchers, which I used for a month, and then regained my walking strength though gradually. I was being medicated of TB and Meningitis.

I stayed on drugs until February 2007, but I noticed that my condition was getting worse. I started developing some brain complications which I could not explain. I saw myself dying. I could not sleep well at night and I was full of fear.  

When God wants to use you and time for it arrives, He will open doors for you and put the right people across your path so that they may help you discern that there is something in you that needs to be developed. He will even create a heart in you to know Him more and get involved in His service. The way I was involved in the presence of God before my ailment has showed me that really God is interested in our service while here on earth.

I asked myself, where will I go when I die, since now I am dying? The church which I was attending while in town came to my mind. The devil is a liar since every time I would think of coming to town to give my life to Jesus, something would arise and I could not make it.  

One day I said to myself, will I die and really go to hell? I must get born again. One weekend I said to myself, I must go and accept Christ. There and then I got up, spoke to my parents, and took off to Nairobi. When I got to Nairobi, it was amazing, since all my friends' houses were occupied and none could accommodate me. I was referred to the same club that we would go and have fun. It was a day that I will never forget.

I spent the night asking myself questions that had no answer and I remember the prayer I said to God that evening. "God, I have seen that I am not living. That I am dying. I don't want to go to hell, I want to go to heaven. Let me see tomorrow that I may give my life to you so that I die safely."

After that prayer, I had a peaceful night's sleep; something I had not experienced for a reasonably long period of time. I woke up the following morning and prepared for church, not to go and listen to the word of God, or even to pray, but to be born again, to get saved, to give my life to Christ. I was just thinking of "safe death".

It was Sunday, February 18th, 2007. I woke up very early that morning, prepared myself and went to church, to prepare myself for safe death. My heart was at peace that morning. The service kicked off on time, but since it was very early, people were coming in one by one. I was longing for that time when someone would make an alter call. 

Every time a speaker would stand up, I would wish that He was seated. When the preacher of the Word stood up and started speaking the Word of God, I could not listen. In fact, he was the person who bored me most.  He spoke less than an hour, but to me then was hours. 

Finally he asked whether there was someone who was in need of prayer. I was among the first to go down to the front. He said a general intercessory prayer but as he sat down, I asked myself, Is that all? But as the senior pastor of the church took over, she asked whether there was someone who had gone in the front to accept Christ as their personal savior. Four of us raised our hands. We were led to the Lord and given some words of encouragement as we left the church.

'You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.'  (John 8:32).  Jesus is THE Truth, and His Word (the Bible) is THE Truth.  

As I traveled back home, I could feel something had turned around in me. There was something in me that implied freedom. I got home safely, but couldn't tell anyone what had happened to me. That evening was, and still remains, my best evening ever. 

There was a condition that had developed in me that made me feel like all the contents in my head were boiling. This would happen about twice or thrice daily, a condition that had made me give up in life. However, that next Monday nothing happened in my head, even after taking my full daily medicine dosage. I could not believe that my head was at peace, all this because I came to know the Truth. A week passed and I developed confidence that my condition was under control.

When God created you and brought you in this world, He purposely did it and designed it that you should serve Him. When that time arises, a time for God to accomplish what His plan about for you, He will make sure that He achieves His purpose. God makes sure to get your attention and He puts you in a situation where only He can come to your rescue. When I had given up in life and accepted Christ as my personal savior, God spoke to me immediately through His Word in Job 33:14-31. I could not believe what I was reading in the Bible! 

Verse 24 says, "And God is merciful to him, and says, Deliver him from going down into the pit, I have found a ransom."

I came to learn: 

1.  God has plans for our lives. When God takes you through difficult moments in life, He does it with a purpose and a plan. (Jeremiah 29:11)

2.  'Our pain is for our gain.' When we face painful moments in life; if we open our heart's to God, we will one day rejoice that we allowed God to have His way in us. (1 Peter 5:10)

3.  If we do not do what God wants us to do, or maybe we simply don't ask God what he wants from us, we just keep on praying as if we are talking to deaf ears. Ask God what He expects from you, or else, you wait a little bit longer. (Hebrews 10:36)

4.  Maybe you are hearing from God, telling you to do something or to go somewhere, or even to say something, but you don't have the heart to know what God is expecting from you, or you know what He expects but you are not responding, stop quarreling with God. (Job 22:21)

5.  All things work together for good to them who love the Lord. (Romans 8: 28). If it gets tough, God says, "Forget all that. It's nothing compared to what I am going to do in you." (Isaiah 43:17-18).  

But, I repeat, you have to prove to God that you are listening and expecting only from Him. Teach yourself to wait upon the Lord only.

After I learned this, that everyone has a purpose on earth for the glory of God, I purposed to know what God wanted me to do for Him, since He has told me that all things work together for good to those who love Him.  

One day while going through my Daily Devotion through Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), I learned that God longs to answer the prayers of a righteous person, all for the glory of His name. When you want to know what God wants you to do, ask Him, and keep persistently asking Him until He answers you. Be patient (patiently persistent) in the matter. God is not in a big rush like we are, much of the time. (James 1:5). 

I prayed one evening:  'Lord, I thank you for the mercies you have given me. Farther I have decided not to simply exist anymore; I want to live. I will serve you my Lord, since you have truly won my heart. I want to know my reason for living. God, please send someone to me, to come and tell me what you want me to do. Lord, I am watching just like the servant of Abraham did when he prayed for Isaac's wife at the well. Amen.'

God answered my prayer three days later, and as I was resting at home preparing to enter my daily farm routine, my mom, (who is now with the lord), came holding her phone and told me, a message for you here. God has said, 'He is an Intercessor: Tell Mukiri that'. 

I knelt down and thanked God, just like Abraham's servant. I prayed to God to teach me how to do it, and in a vision, God referred me to the book of Acts 2. 

I woke up immediately about 5 a.m. and as I read the book of Acts chapter two, my eyes stopped on Acts 2:17. God usually speaks through His Word, giving instruction, direction and confirmation to His will, and today I am happy that I am never surprised. Now - God tells me in advance what to pray for, by giving me visions.

PLEASE HELP US HELP YOU SHARE THE BEST NEWS GOD HAS FOR EVERY PERSON BECAUSE...

JESUS DID IT! and...

YOU ARE SO GREATLY NEEDED!

Remember:  All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-20 is our assurance)