Dear friends,

August is usually called “tigkiriwi” or a lean month that causes you to cringe. This is mainly because rice harvest is not yet around, and the sugarcane milling season has not yet started. Most money was already spent during the June to July months – enrollment and school expenses. All that is usually left are little savings.

In the midst of our troubles, Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Let me share three things that we can see in this assurance of Jesus:

First, we are assured by Jesus that if we are in him we have peace. If we will follow the ways of the world, we will only have trouble. The ways of Jesus is not easy and is often called “a road less traveled.” The ways of the world is very easy – just be your natural self – selfish, lustful, retaliatory. We need to a make a choice. When we accept Jesus in our lives, He is transforming our very nature and He is now the one living in us.

Second, we are assured by Jesus that we are over comers because of him. The world around us wants to overcome us. We can give up and follow the flow of the world which is a very easy thing to do, or we can stand up, take heart and start to be over comers. As Paul said to Timothy, “God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power, and of love, and of wise discretion.”

Third, we are assured by Jesus that he will give us the power of discernment.  When Jesus said to his disciples “I have told you these things…” we are assured that through the Holy Spirit, He will continue to talk to us so that we may discern the troubles around us. In this way, we are not caught unaware but we are ready on what will happen next.

May God bless us all!

Sincerely,