The Real You

By Angela Murenga

We spend much of our lives chasing our dreams and busy with the rat race thinking we are living meaningful lives, but in reality, we are not. What we have overlooked is the fact that God created each of us for more than we are experiencing, and we need to align with His original plan for us.

The Real You is an eye-opening book, which aims to show you how to align with who God created you to be and His purpose for your life. The real you is made up of and expressed through eight aspects of your life – spirit, soul, body, social, financial, professional, leadership, and geographical.

The Real You is a book that will bring strategic alignment to your life by showing you the importance of developing an intimate relationship with God.

Learn how to live as the Real You and deliver value to the world in a way that is unique to you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WordPower Publishing Kenya
• Release date: Jun 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9789914703566

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Angie Murenga

Email: [e-mail]

www.justangie.org

Edited by:

Josephine Ngatia

www.theurbanchristian.co.ke

Apostle Catherine Brown

Published by:

WordPower Publishing Kenya

P.O. Box 55988 00200 Nairobi, Kenya

[e-mail]

www.wordpowerpublishing.co.ke

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright owner as permitted by copyright law.

ISBN 13 (eBook): 978-9914-703-56-6 

Scriptures marked AMP are taken from the AMPLIFIED BIBLE (AMP): Scripture taken from the AMPLIFIED® BIBLE, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation Used by Permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to my father John Murenga; I am because you were. You are always in my heart and I am stronger and better because I watched you live your life. Love you daddy forever and always.

FOREWORD

By Apostle Michael Kibinge

Spiritual Father to Angie Murenga

Father God is both raising and showcasing a new generation of leaders in the earth that have been in different stages of training and development in the school of the Holy Spirit. These leaders are taking up mantles left behind by generals or giants of the Christian faith who have recently left the earth. Individuals like Dr Myles Munroe (2014), Reverend Billy Graham (2018), Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke (2019), Warren Wiersbe (2019), Dr Morris Cerullo (2020), Ravi Zacharias (2020) together with many others across multiple nations.

The emphasis of the ministries and callings of those leaders that are being highlighted in the present season is in making the bride of Christ ready for the soon return of the Bridegroom, Jesus - The Christ. And therefore, we expect to see a heightened emphasis on teaching and equipping of the saints (Ephesians 4:11-15) until the earth acknowledges a mature corporate son upon which Jesus Christ can lay His head (Mathew 8:19-20).

It is time for the Ekklesia of God to arise in the earth in a way that transforms every sector of life with Kingdom values and principles. These values and principles once applied, will provide superior solutions for the most complex problems and cause those who do not know God as Father to exclaim teach us your ways! It is time for the sons and daughters of God to manifest and fulfil their governmental mandate as Christ’s ambassadors.

I am, therefore, immensely thankful that Apostle Angela Murenga has devoted the time to write a book entitled "The Real You, that aims to help believers access their best life now and not in a postponed reality that we know as heaven. Through a more accurate understanding of the body, soul and spirit – and spiritual counsel on how these aspects of ourselves interact and align with our original identity or blueprint in God – it is the hope of the author that many believers will yield to the person of the Holy Spirit and come to a place of maturity in Christ. Thus, enabling them to enter and not just see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3), in a way that ensures they live the meaningful and fruitful lives that our Father predestined before the creation of the earth.

As a minister of God and a business leader, I am honoured to write the foreword to this, the first of what I am sure will be several books in the life and times of Apostle Angela Murenga. As one placed in the position of a representative spiritual father to this woman of God, I proclaim that in this father-son wineskin that this book will impact many cities (Ruth 1:19, Mathew 21:10) and nations (Psalm 2:8) for the glory of God Almighty. Amen.

INTRODUCTION

I have heard the statement living my best life now spoken and said by many, which is one of the reasons behind writing this book. Are you living your real and best life now? What if you are not living the best life, the real one that you were placed on the earth to live? Imagine with me, the irony that we have a Creator who created a life for us to live and we insist on living another one, taking another way, a different path from the one He created for us to follow. Therein lies the problem; we need to live our best and real life now.

As I engage with humanity, it saddens me how many people I encounter who have no idea why they are on earth and what they were created to do. Through my interactions with others, facilitating discussions around the Purpose and Leadership Forum’s twelve modules, hosting four annual signature events, coaching and raising leaders through core teams, projects and assignments, I am amazed that a change in thinking and a slight tweak in how we live life as the "real you" turns everything around.

Becoming the real you and all you were created to be is a process, and you need to trust it and enjoy the journey. Many times, we are so focused on the goal that we don’t take time out to enjoy the journey, smell the roses and coffee and take time to stop and just take it all in. It is a journey of self-discovery which has positive and not-so-positive moments. It’s a confrontation of self, an inflection, and also an exciting journey as you peel off the layers, unlearn to relearn and erase the untruths, labels, and names the world has called you. Life starts as a war; the moment you are born, you step into a battle zone that you do not even realize is there.

From my countless interactions with fellow human beings, I have concluded that demonic forces have fought against us all our lives. Many things appear on our path to stop us from being who we were created to be. That is why Ephesians 2:10 in the AMPC version makes me so happy because it tells me that there is a path that was set for us before we came to earth, and we need to align with it and get back on track quickly. The Scriptures say that we are God’s handiwork, a masterpiece, His workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus and born again that we may do good works, which God predestined and planned for us. We are taking paths which He prepared ahead of time that we should walk in them, LIVING the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live. God has a prearranged, predestined path and plan for our lives and the world has been trying very hard to derail us from it.

Many of us are not on the right path, we have veered off, and this book is my attempt to get us back on track so that we can truly live our best and real lives as God intended from the beginning.

One

REALNESS

Realness ministers is a statement one of my mentors said to me as I began my purpose journey. We live in a world and society where realness is a rare occurrence, because we have learnt to wear masks and hide behind our real feelings and thoughts. Granted, we cannot and should not share everything with everyone, but we must try to be real with ourselves and the world around us. We can choose who to open up to and be real with so that they can keep us accountable. We need to show love when being real with others, because realness delivered with love ministers to them.

Identity in Christ  

The Real You is about discovering and aligning with your identity as given by God, the Creator. Life happens, and with it comes experiences and exposure, which diminishes the real you. As I listen to early development stories of life trying to pull the rug from under people, it seems like there is a deliberate plan to fail and fault us even before we start. Adults sometimes tell us we can never make it or say things that cause us to retreat, flinch, or stop believing in ourselves. For example, you can be excited about your purpose and articulating it, then feedback or ridicule comes and crumbles your dream or makes you surrender, and you let it go. It could be a sibling, parent, teacher, friend, classmate who said something that killed something inside you, and you gave up even before you started. Extreme cases are where people have been raped, sexually abused, molested, experienced trauma or death of loved ones, and so on. The passing on of a loved one can sometimes leave a foundation that is unbalanced where we wonder whether life would have turned out differently if that void were filled.

Parents or guardians going through issues in life have taken them out on those closest to them. Insecure parents have meted out their insecurities on their children, making them insecure and the cycle of generations with insecurities continues. Parents who encountered abuse have often now become the abusers. Those who received unhealthy parenting continue the pattern with the next generation until someone puts an end to it by understanding their identity in Jesus Christ. This identity allows them to live and love life as God intended.

Which Dream Are You Chasing?

We chase our dreams, pursue happiness and the proverbial shilling, dollar, euro, and so on, without realizing the generational cycle we are setting. This unhealthy cycle will stop when one wakes up and realizes that this is not how we are to live: God created us for more than we are experiencing and need to align with His original plan.

There are many contributing factors to experiencing less in life. The rich, middle class, poor, and marginalized are all different sides of the realness quotient. What does realness mean in your world vs God’s world? What lens are you using to look at the world? I seek to unpack that for you as you turn the pages, so that you can get a real grip and correct alignment on who you are and how you are to live your life.

Because of all that life has thrown at us, we walk around feeling like imposters and failures. We feel like we don’t measure up to life’s expectations; or know how we ought to live. To further complicate the situation, the world has set a benchmark of what is acceptable or not, which is a tall order. No one can achieve this standard, no matter how much they try. We have made the standards of the world our goal. But who set these standards, and what is their source? This question has left an emptiness in many of us, and it causes us to reach out for different things. We want the next high, experience, job, gadget, promotion, financial breakthrough and people to fill the emptiness in our hearts. We think they will solve our problems and fill every space in us and our ecosystems. We also engage in varying levels of intoxication, sexual activities, partying, shopping sprees, pornography, social media, and so on. Our goal is to escape into a fantasy world, even if it is only for a moment. It is an impossible situation because no matter how far we go, we always have to come back to where we started. This kind of life can take us round in circles where we fail to fulfil God’s purpose for us.

Like a hamster on a wheel, we expend a lot of energy daily at a fast pace but making no movement. We remain at a standstill despite all the effort we are putting in. Stuck in this rat race, we turn the wheel of life without any purpose. Thankfully, you have picked up this book, and as you engage with it, your story, just like mine, can be different. Take a moment to reflect and engage with the manufacturer’s instruction manual on who you are, hit reset, and start again. This life is meant to be great; let us take steps to live it as God intended from the start.

Why Am I Here and for What Purpose?

They say that we should always start with the WHY? So why do we need to know who we are? It is in divine