What I Learned in Kenya -- "The Power of Prayer"

Posted by Matthew White | Labels: , ,

Of all the ways God speaks to us, prayer is generally the way I hear from Him the most.  In Kenya God spoke to me so vividly in a couple of ways just how powerful prayer can be.

The first way God spoke to me was in a very personal way.  The first morning in Nairobi I hurt my ankle pretty bad after a hotel employee accidentally ran into to me as I was heading to the bus.  After traveling all day and meeting to students and teachers at Uaso Nyiro Primary School I was in pain and was seriously discouraged about the week ahead.  Once I told Jake Beaty what happened at our nightly meeting he asked everyone in our group to lay hands on me as he prayed over me.  Wow! This was truly a moving experience for me.  Even though God didn’t heal me the way I wanted Him to, He healed me the way I needed Him to.  I didn’t wake up the next morning with no bruising or no swelling or no pain, but I did wake up re-motivated and for the rest of the week I was able to walk several miles a day.  God answered prayers; He used a bad situation to draw me closer to the guys I served with and made me more dependent on Him.

The second way God spoke to me about praying was when a group of us were teaching Class 2 at Uaso Nyiro.  After teaching on Nehemiah, I was preparing to pray with the kids.  Before I did, I asked the kids how I can pray for them; and their requests absolutely broke my heart.  They responded with food, water, rain, among others.  This totally floored me, I was trying my best to fight back tears as stood in front of them.  I’m positive God will answer these prayers for the Kenyans.  He also showed me how out of touch I was with what my needs actually are and how I need to become fully dependent Him, instead of being dependent upon myself.

The Bible says in Philippians 4:6 that we should bring all requests to God, and in 1 John 5:14 it says He will answer those prayers according to His will.  I think so many times we get confused on what is His will and what is our will.  When we start seeing our lives through His will, things will never be the same...I pray His will, not mine

What I Learned in Kenya -- "Removing Barriers"

Posted by Matthew White | Labels: , , , ,

It would be impossible for me to sum up everything that I learned on my recent trip to Kenya in a few words or stories, so I decided to just post the things that have impacted me the most.  The first being “barriers”. Whether it be the way we worship, the way we love, the way we serve, or even the way we think, we have created these barriers that prevent us from embracing the life Christ has called us to live.

Barrier 1 - Worship
We attended church on Sunday in the Black Tank community named Redeemed Gospel Church.  Words can’t even begin to describe how incredible the worship in this place was.  They didn’t need a nice building or decide to sing the first and last verses of the hymn to get everyone to lunch on time.  There was no structure, it was loud, and everyone was singing and dancing as much as they could.  The one thing that could be said about it was that God was definitely there and He was being glorified to the fullest!  This was worship in it’s purest form, with no barriers.

Barrier 2 - Love
From the moment we got off the bus on Saturday at Uaso Nyiro Primary School you could not deny the love that the Kenyans had for us and each other.  It didn’t matter to them that we were mzungus or even that we didn’t dress like them or look like them or talk like them.  They accepted us as we were and loved us anyway.  They were able to love us in this way, the way Christ loves us, because they had not created any barriers.

Barrier 3 - Faith
One thing I quickly realized once I arrived in Africa was how blessed I was and how much I have taken so many things for granted.  After spending a few days in Kenya, my opinion quickly changed.  According to American standards the Kenyans have nothing; no water, no food, no clothes, no medicine, but they have something that not many Americans have -- rock-solid faith in Jesus Christ! They ask God for rain, and they praise Him when it doesn’t.  They ask God to heal their diseases, and they celebrate His grace when they die.  Their faith in Jesus is absolutely amazing. We expect God to give us everything we ask of Him and get mad when he doesn’t.  After going to Kenya, I realized what true faith is, and I didn’t have it; I pray that I never forget the faith I witnessed in Kenya.  There faith was in Jesus Christ alone, because they had removed all barriers.

I wasn’t exactly sure what God was going to teach me when I signed up to go to Kenya, but after spending 10 days there, I heard God loud and clear.  I need to remove the barriers that are preventing me from worshipping Him, loving everyone as Christ has commanded me to, and having the faith to trust God alone for all things.


All You Need is Love

Posted by Matthew White | Labels: ,

I came across an update Facebook the other day that said “All you need is love. Love is all you need..”, and this got me thinking.  First of all, it’s probably a Beatles song, second, how much of a true statement that is, but most likely not the way this young lady intended it.  In 1 John 4:8, it says God is Love.  You can’t truly love someone else or even love yourself if you don’t love God.  You may use the word “love” or think you “love” something, but without loving God first, you can’t. In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus said that the two greatest commandments were to love God with all your heart, then love your neighbor as yourself. Notice that Jesus said you love God with all your heart first!  Back to that status update which I agree with, but with one correction -- “All you need is God’s love.  God’s love is all you need...” One of my favorite verses in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 13:13, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” Knowing that God will love me forever just blows my mind!