COMMIT YOUR WAYS TO THE LORD | RAYM Virtual Conference 2021
RUWENZORI ANGLICAN
YOUTH MISSIONERS (RAYM) ZOOM/ONLINE CONFERENCE
2ND TO 5TH SEPTEMBER 2021
THEME:
“BE STILL AND KNOW I AM GOD” (PSALM 46:10)
TOPIC: COMMIT
YOUR WAYS TO THE LORD
KEY TEXT: PSALM 37:1-27
MINISTER: ROBERT MUGISA ABWOOLI
I
am so grateful to God for this opportunity to minister at this year’s (2021)
Rwenzori Anglican Youth Missioners’ (RAYM) Conference. Much as it is virtual in
nature, I feel as though I am physically present in a large conference room!
Praise Jesus.
My
name is Robert Mugisa Abwooli. In accordance with God’s Word in Ephesians 2:8, I can boldly say that I
am saved only by his grace through faith; it wasn’t and isn’t by my own effort
or works but I repeat, by his grace.
I am married to Abooki Moreen Karungi Mugisa who is one of us (RAYMer) and whom I met about
ten years ago through RAYM fellowship at Makerere University. We have
been married for eight years now through which God has blessed us with
two gifts of girls (Sheena Atulinda Adyeeri and Makayla Patience Ninsiima
Abwooli). I am a Lawyer by profession and a passionate human rights
advocate/defender. My heart beats towards the direction of seeing that everyone
around me has their rights and fundamental freedoms respected and realized each
second, minute, hour, day, month and year. By God’s grace, again, we moved to
Bombo where we have a place to call home and we are being blessed day after
day. Glory to God!
I
thank God for the leadership of RAYM (past and present) and for the Team that
has coordinated this conference, who have considered me worthy to be part of the
Programme to minister to us on the topic: Commit Your Ways to the Lord. God
bless you, Team and all those listening in and viewing us as we minister
through the days of the conference and thereafter.
I
thank God for our dear Bishop, Amooti Reuben Kisembo and our forefathers in the
ministry like our Special Guest Archbishop Emeritus Dr. Henry Luke Orombi, at
whose feet I have always loved to sit and to whose words I have always loved to
listen. God bless you more and more.
As
a family, we stand with and pray for all those who have recently suffered and
recovered from the deadly pandemic/COVID-19 and those who have lost their loved
ones whether due to COVID or other ailments or causes. May God continue to
strengthen and comfort you. Amen.
Let’s
pray:
Almighty
God, we commit to you this message and pray that you will speak to us in a way
that we can all understand, to the glory, honor and praise of your name, amen.
Friends,
let’s begin by looking at the key words:
“Commit”: Okwehayo (Runyoro/Rutoro) | Perpetrate or carry out (a mistake,
crime, or immoral act) | pledge or bind (a person or an organization) to a
certain course or policy | Cultivating
Obedience, Ministering Mercy, Internalizing Truth (mother/daughter conference). It means not giving up even if it gets tough. It means doing that
thing regardless of the reasons that tell you not to.
“Your Ways”: Emihanda
(Runyoro/Rutoro) | Path, walk way | We read from Psalm
121:8 that the Lord will watch
over your going and your coming both now and forevermore.
“The Lord”: Ruhanga
| God Almighty | Father, Son, Holy Spirit | God of
all Creation | The Way maker | Miracle worker | Promise Keeper | Light in the
darkness | The Great I am
Let’s
at this point look at and read through the assigned text:
Psalm 37
1 Do
not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do
wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away. 3 Trust
in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Take
delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit
your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your
vindication like the noonday sun. 7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for
him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when
they carry out their wicked schemes. 8 Refrain from anger and
turn from wrath; do not fret it leads only to evil.
9 For those who are evil will be
destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. 10 A little
while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them,
they will not be found. 11 But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and
prosperity. 12 The wicked plot against
the righteous and gnash their teeth at them;
13 but the Lord laughs at the
wicked, for he knows their day is coming. 14 The wicked draw
the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those
whose ways are upright. 15 But their swords will pierce their own
hearts, and their bows will be broken. 16 Better
the little that the righteous have than the wealth of
many wicked; 17 for the power of the wicked will be broken, but
the Lord upholds the
righteous. 18 The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care, and their inheritance will
endure forever. 19 In times of disaster they will not wither; in
days of famine they will enjoy plenty. 20 But the wicked will
perish: Though the Lord’s
enemies are like the flowers of the field, they will be consumed, they will go
up in smoke. 21 The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the
righteous give generously; 22 those the Lord blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be destroyed. 23 The Lord makes firm the steps of the
one who delights in him; 24 though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with
his hand. 25 I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen
the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. 26 They
are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing. 27 Turn from evil and do
good; then you will dwell in the land forever.
Allow
me relate this with what is written in Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the
Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in ways
acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”
Commitment
is a virtue that comes from God alone. You may agree with me that anything in
life that has had no commitment has failed or has not gone any far. On the
other hand, whatever we have committed to, has succeeded. This conference is a
simple illustration. The leadership and partners of RAYM committed their time
and resources to see the conference come to reality. Halleluyah!
Committing
our ways to the Lord means totally surrendering to Him every second of the
journey. For those who drive, committing your way to the Lord means allowing
him to sit in the driving seat and work through, with and around you to take
you safely to your destination.
We
are speaking at the youth conference and this means that we have many people
who are between the ages of 12 to 30 years, and if we are to give a bonus, we
include those up to 35 years. Beyond that, we approach the elderly category of
life. As we continue to journey on in life, it becomes very important to commit
all we are, all we own and all we hope to be and to possess in the hands of
God. After all, it is in him that we move, live and have our being according
what is written in Acts 17:28.
We
commit to people we can trust. Even in real life, before you commit to a
relationship, you must have spent some little time to know the person you wish
to take up or take on as a long term friend. Similarly, before we commit our
ways and lives to God, there ought to be a degree of friendship and knowledge
of this person/God we are entrusting our way and life to. We usually sing, “I am a friend of God, he calls me friend.” The
Bible tells us in John 15:15 that “I no longer call you servants, because a
servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you
friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
How I wish that we could truly commit to this friendship.
What are the signs of
commitment to God?
1. Faithfulness
(Hebrews
10:23)
2. Trust
(Proverbs
3:5-6)
3. Praying
at all times, through it all (Ephesians 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
4. Gratefulness,
at all times (2 Corinthians 4:15)
5. Affection
and admiration for God (Mathew 22:37-38)
Does committing our
ways to God have benefits? Yes! It does.
a. There’s
assurance and security that we will reach our destiny/destination
b. We
have a peace of mind when we know that God is in control of the journey
c. There
is assurance of better days and times ahead
d. You
get blessed as you start the journey and get blessed when you arrive where you
are going
e. We
are assured of victory for we know that victory belongs to Jesus
God
bless you so much.
Kind
regards to your loved ones.
Let’s
continue to commit all we are and all we hope to be to God. He is faithful.
Amen.
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