New administration under Samia Suluhu gives hope after 5 years of hopelessness

Kumbe hata chama hawana sasa Bungeni mnamwakilisha nani?

Good Government?

Government is the system or group of people governing an organised community, often a state. It usually consists of legislative, executive and judiciary. Government is the mechanism for deciding state policies and the means by which those policies are enforced. Historically, forms of government have included theocracy, autocracy (such as monarchy), oligarchy, aristocracy and democracy (Government - Wikipedia).
Sir Winston Churchill once said that ‘Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.’
Governments have their ups and downs. Our politicians are human beings with human weaknesses like our own.
There is a certain ambivalence about all human government in the Bible. There are parts where human government is affirmed as God-given (for instance, in Romans 13), and others where it is pictured as being under demonic control (for instance, in Revelation 13). Together they represent the reality of human government. Governments reflect the mix that is in us all of what is good and true alongside what is sinful and flawed.
However, be assured that one day there will be a new type of government – the kingship of Jesus (John 12:12–36).

Psalm 65:1-13

Government of God

Do you realise how good God is? He loves you and wants you to enjoy his blessings today in your life. This psalm is all about the goodness of God. It paints a beautiful picture of what life can look like when lived under God’s rule. Meditate, today, on his goodness.
God hears your prayers (v.2), he forgives your sins, even when you may feel ‘overwhelmed by sins’ (v.3). God’s forgiveness is amazing.
‘We are filled with the good things’ (v.4) being in his presence. He gives you ‘hope’ (v.5b) and ‘joy’ (v.8b).
See his great love in the way he treats creation (the watering of the land, the provision of corn, crops, flocks, and so on, vv.9–13).
We don’t live in a society directly governed by God, but through Christ you have a direct relationship with God in your own personal life. You can follow his rule and experience the blessing of God’s presence. This is one of the ways in which you can experience ‘the kingdom of God’ in your life now.

Lord, thank you that one day your kingdom will come and every knee will bow before Jesus and he will rule rightly in a ‘new creation’.

John 12:12-36

Government of Jesus

Are you troubled by something you are facing? Are you distressed by some trial in your life? If you are, you have a leader who understands. Jesus said, ‘My soul is troubled and distressed…’ (v.27a, AMP).
Jesus gives us a model of how to respond to difficulties in our lives and to a suffering world. Then, as now, was a time of crisis. As Jesus said, ‘the world is in crisis’ (v.30, MSG).
At the time of the Feast of Passover, ‘the great crowd’ came to Jerusalem (v.12). Josephus estimated that around 2.7 million people would assemble. This may well be an exaggeration. Nevertheless, it was a massive festival and there must have been a great sense of excitement and expectation.
At the time of Jesus, people were awaiting the Messiah. They were looking for a human king, in the line of David, who would free them from their oppressors. As Jesus enters Jerusalem he is seen to be that king: ‘Blessed is the King of Israel!’ (v.13b). The crowd probably saw Jesus as a military king and were hoping for an immediate liberation from Roman rule.
Then, as now, there were different attitudes to the government. The Pharisees (v.19) took the view that Roman occupation, oppressive though it might be, must be endured until God removed it. The Sadducees favoured co-operation with the government. The Zealots were the most popular with the people. They wanted a violent revolt led by a messianic king.
Jesus is indeed the King. But he did not ride into Jerusalem triumphantly, powerfully, in a chariot or on a stallion. He is a different type of leader: ‘See, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt’ (v.15b) – humbly, gently, sitting on a baby donkey. He is the messianic King but not a military one. This acted parable was designed to correct the misguided expectations of the crowds and show the city of Jerusalem the way of peace.
He came as the victorious King – not by doing violence to the oppressors but by having violence done to him. He says, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified’ (v.23) – and yet he is talking about the cross. “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die’ (vv.32–33).
We see an insight here into the inner struggle in Jesus’ heart as he faces his imminent trial, suffering and death: ‘Now my heart is troubled and what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour”? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!’ (vv.27–28a).
The victory of Jesus came not through military force but through his self-sacrificial death, which defeated the demonic powers (v.31). The death of Jesus signifies judgment on the world, the overthrow of evil, the glorification of Jesus and a drawing of all people to him.
Here, indeed, was a different kind of victorious king. Jesus not only fulfilled the prophecies about the messianic King, he also fulfilled the prophecies about the suffering servant. He brought the two lines of prophecy together.
One day Jesus will return as the triumphant King to rule and reign for all eternity. In the meantime, you are called to be light in the darkness. If you live under the leadership of Jesus ‘then the light will be within you, and shining through your lives. You’ll be children of light’ (v.36, MSG). And God will honour you – Jesus says ‘my Father will honour the one who serves me’ (v.26).

Lord, help me to serve you in such a way that my life brings light to a dark world.

1 Samuel 8:1-10:8

Government of humans

God had planned that his people would be different from others. He planned a society in which God himself was the King. But Israel wanted to be like everyone else. Direct rule of God only works when the people are wholly devoted to God. If not, it results in the chaos we saw in Judges. It is better to have a human king than no king at all. We might list the preferences like this:

God as King (theocracy): The government God wanted – his perfect will

A human king (monarchy): The government God allowed – his permissive will

No king (anarchy): The government in Judges – chaos

The people of God rejected his rule. The Lord says, ‘they have rejected me as their king’ (8:7). The people ask for a king. They say, ‘appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have’ (v.5).
Samuel warns them that human governments are weak and fallible. Power corrupts. Samuel warns that the king who will rule over them will take some of their families, land, possessions and employees and use them for his own benefit and that of his inner circle (vv.11–16).
In other words, he warns them about the failings and weaknesses of all human government. He also warns them about taxes and ‘extensive bureaucracy’! (v.15, MSG).
In spite of the warning, the people say, ‘We want a king over us’ (v.19). The Lord allowed ‘plan B’: he gave them a king (v.22). Saul is chosen to be the anointed leader of Israel to deliver his people (9:16). The moment Samuel sees Saul, in the blink of an eye he recognises that this was the man who was going to govern the people of God (v.17). Saul, who comes from a humble background (v.21), becomes the anointed king (10:1).
God graciously blesses this new plan. Three remarkable things happen to Saul (which now happen to you and every Christian). First, when he is anointed the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him in power (v.6b). Second, he is ‘transformed’. He becomes a new person (v.6c, see 2 Corinthians 5:17). Third, Samuel tells him, ‘Whatever job you’re given to do, do it. God is with you!’ (v.7, MSG).
This was true of Saul and it is true of you. However down you might feel about a circumstance, however far from God you may feel, however difficult you may find it to pray, whatever doubts you have, the Spirit of the Lord is upon you; you are being transformed into his likeness and God is with you.

Lord, give wisdom to our leaders that they may lay aside their own personal agendas and work together to maintain justice, peace and unity in the nation for the glory of your name.

Pippa Adds

1 Samuel 8:3

Samuel’s sons did not walk in the ways of their father. Samuel had led so many people in the ways of God. How sad that his sons were not among them. We need to pray particularly for children of Christian leaders.

Verse of the Day

‘Whatever job you’re given to do, do it. God is with you!’ (1 Samuel 10:7, MSG)

References

Winston S. Churchill, Churchill Speaks: Collected Speeches in Peace and War, 1897–1963 (Atheneum, 1981) (Speech in the House of Commons, 11 November 1947)
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright [emoji2398] 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.
Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified[emoji2400] Bible, Copyright [emoji2398] 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright [emoji2398] 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Bury it before it buries us

Rutashubanyuma said:

The speech of Madam president today has given new hope of abiding to the rule of law and good governance which activists were clamouring for years.

We are beginning to see commitment to the rule of law and good governance after the rights of whistle blower will be restored. No more incitement to be used to clamp down freedom of speech and expression.

Without freedom of speech and expression the fight against official graft is lost even before it started because in opaque graft thrive unimpeded.

We are planning to follow closely the challenges and achievements of this new administration without biasness in the next four years or so.

As usual we will attempt to focus in the rule of law and good governance.

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Do you know the meaning of hopelessness or what? How dare you call five years under Magufuli hopeless ones. Hopeless for whom and why? If you are a thug, yes, five years were not good for you and the likes. However, for the majority of Tanzanians, the time you are referring to was golden one.

Father of All said:

Do you know the meaning of hopelessness or what? How dare you call five years under Magufuli hopeless ones. Hopeless for whom and why? If you are a thug, yes, five years were not good for you and the likes. However, for the majority of Tanzanians, the time you are referring to was golden one.

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I recommend 2 u 2 read my earlier thread titled "The Magufuli administration misses a point on the government splurge..." 2 fully getting to the grips of issues at stake. As far as we are concerned he was a fraudster but few among us were able to discern this while the majority were bamboozled with the sternness of his deceitful countenance. You can fool some people all the time but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

It seems you were punk'd too which is regretfully. Please when you speak do so from personal volition and cease immediately to lend credence to your mea culpa to the "majority of us..." Nobody sent you to speak on our behalf nor has you backed your outrageous claims with an independent study to stratify your blunder. Even in the Parliament we see majority are now rowing back from his archaic legacy


Under his watch, he lead the nation astray by massively rigging himself and CCM back to power, official graft grew exponentially, human right abuses assumed new heights....the economy tanked, and an overemphasis on white elephants was to beef up his pockets and of his surrogates...where is Azory Gwanda? Where is Ben Saanane? Why bodies bundled in sandarusi with hands and legs tied were found floating in the Indian Ocean? Why did he block [emoji724]the finalisation of New constitution?

If this kind of wickedness troubles your conscience not it is because you are a devil worshipper.

I believe

Ninaamini

Ninaamini

Mixed signals

Wezi wa kura nao kitanzi chao kimewasili

Take Time to Celebrate

‘A glimpse of heaven’ is how one twenty-seven-year-old woman described her experience of our annual church holiday (Focus). She also described the year she missed it in order to go on an exotic holiday: each day she could only think of how she longed to be at Focus.
This is the time when the whole community comes together in a festival of celebration, worship, thanksgiving and praise. We often experience a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is a time of spiritual growth when we listen to visionary and practical teaching from the Bible on how to live our lives. It is a time of laughter and fun as we meet together for a week-long party: playing, picnicking, singing and dancing. We make new friends as well as having a great holiday. It really is ‘a glimpse of heaven’.
It takes time but celebration is an important part of life.

Psalm 66:1-12

Celebrate God’s goodness

Do you sometimes feel like you have been ‘to hell and back’? Have you found yourself ‘pushed to the limit’? It may be that God is training you, like silver being refined in the fire.
God had brought his people through very difficult times:
‘He trained us first,
passed us like silver through refining fires...
pushed us to our very limit,
Road-tested us inside and out,
took us to hell and back;
Finally he brought us
to this well-watered place’ (vv.10–12, MSG).
Don’t let these occasions go unmarked. Celebrate. Their celebration sounds a fairly noisy affair: ‘All together now – applause for God!’ (v.1, MSG). They sang praise: ‘How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power’ (v.3). They celebrated what God had done (v.5). They rejoiced and praised God in a way that everybody around could hear: ‘Bless our God, O peoples! Give him a thunderous welcome!’ (v.8, MSG).

Lord, I celebrate your goodness. Thank you that you bring me through fire and water in order to bring me to a place of abundance.

John 12:37-13:17

Celebrate Jesus

There will be times in your life when things go well. There may also be times when things go badly. But there is one thing you can always celebrate. Jesus died and rose again for you. Jesus said, ‘For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it’ (12:47). He said, ‘I have come… so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness’ (v.46).
The context of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet is set just before the Passover feast (13:1). There would have been great excitement in the air as hundreds of thousands came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. This time of celebration foreshadowed the death and resurrection of Jesus, which we now celebrate especially at Easter.
When he had finished washing their feet, he said to them, ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ (v.12). What was it all about? What were they to understand? We can see four pictures from the passage:

Love
The act of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet demonstrated ‘the full extent’ of his love (v.1). This is a very striking contrast to what the world thinks of when people use the word ‘love’. It is far more than a feeling or an emotion; it is a decision to treat people the way that Jesus would treat them (vv.14–15).

Service
The roads of Palestine were unsurfaced and uncleaned. In dry weather they would have been inches deep in dust. In wet weather they would have been liquid mud.

In a wealthy household, on arrival there would be a bowl at the door. The second lowest slave of the household would untie the sandals. The lowest slave would wash the feet.

While the others are reclining, Jesus gets up, takes off his sleeveless tunic and strips down to a loincloth. Like a slave, he starts washing their feet. Jesus is taking the place of a person at the bottom of society, the last place, the place of a slave – the one who does the dirty jobs. This is a total reversal of the world’s model of leadership.

Jesus, their ‘Lord and Teacher’ (v.14), reveals himself as the least one in society, the one who does the dirty jobs, the one who is in the last place.

Jesus shows us that if you love people, you will be willing to serve them and that those who serve you should always be treated with the greatest respect.

Humility
Jesus uniquely combined absolute love (v.1) and absolute power: ‘The Father has put all things under his power’ (v.3a). In love, he chose to act in humility and serve his disciples.

Those who seek their own glory (like Judas, v.2) are reduced to nothing. Those who exalt themselves are humbled. Those who humble themselves, God will exalt.

Jesus reveals a new way of exercising authority through love, service and humility. In this dramatic way, he bridges the gap between those in leadership and those under their leadership.

Forgiveness
The washing and cleansing is a sign of forgiveness – cleansing from sin. Foot-washing is a picture of what Jesus is about to do on the cross for them (v.7). Through Jesus’ death for you, you are totally forgiven. Why then does Jesus teach us to pray regularly for forgiveness?

I find the most helpful analogy and picture is the one given here. When Jesus moved to wash Peter’s feet, Peter said, ‘“No, you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me”’ (v.8). Peter replied, in effect, ‘Well, in that case, wash my whole body.’ Jesus said, ‘Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean’ (v.10).

This is a picture of forgiveness. When you put your faith in Jesus you are made totally clean and you are forgiven – everything is dealt with. You do not need to repeat this one-off act of repentance and faith that leads to total forgiveness. It is the equivalent of having a bath.

However, as we go through the world we do things that tarnish our friendship with God. Your relationship is always secure but your friendship is sullied with the dirt that you pick up on your feet. Each day pray, ‘Lord, forgive me, cleanse me from the dirt.’ You don’t need to have a bath again, Jesus has done that for you, but a measure of cleansing may be necessary each day.

In addition to our great Easter celebration, each week when we gather on the day of the resurrection (Sunday), we remember and celebrate these amazing events. Furthermore, every time you receive communion you are celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus for you.

Lord, help us to follow Jesus’ example, not just in words but also in actions. Thank you that you have given us so much to celebrate.

1 Samuel 10:9-12:25

Celebrate success

Saul began his reign as king with a honeymoon period. The Spirit of God came upon him in power and he prophesied (10:9–13). God gave him great wisdom in dealing with opposition. He knew when to keep silent (v.27).
Saul soon had to deal with ‘troublemakers’ (v.27). God is in the business of touching human hearts (v.26). But, as always, the Bible is realistic. Troublemakers were around the corner. Wherever God is at work in power, expect to find troublemakers as well.
When the people of God were facing appalling cruelty from a man who wanted to gouge out the right eye of every person, ‘the Spirit of God came upon [Saul] in power’ (11:6). God gave him a great victory and he had the wisdom to say afterwards, ‘No one shall be put to death today, for this day the Lord has rescued Israel’ (v.13). Instead they held ‘a great celebration’ (v.15).
In Samuel’s farewell speech, he spoke of how often God has given success to his people when they cried to him for help (12:8,10–11). He urged them to ‘consider what great things he has done for you’ (v.24). Many of these things came about as a result of Samuel’s prayer and he said, ‘As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you’ (v.23).
Don’t get so bound up with your own needs and worries that you fail to pray for others. It’s very important that we pray for one another.
The passage for today ends with Samuel telling the people to ‘consider what great things he has done for you’ (v.24). Whatever else is going on in your life, look back, consider and celebrate your forgiveness, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the promise of glory and all the other great things God has done for you.

Lord, today I want to look back with thanks and celebrate all the great things you have done for me…