Thoughts and Other Things

I love crime-everything. Crime movies, crime series, crime fiction, you name it. I guess it’s the police blood in me. My all time favourites include The Italian Job, Takers, Rookie Blue, The Mentalist, NCIS-anything, Flashpoint, and any work by Michael Connelly. One thing you’ll find in almost all of these is one rule: the law always wins, no matter how good the criminal is, no matter how far or how long they run; the law will eventually catch up with them. I found it to be the same with God. It is plain silly to run away from an omnipresent and omniscient God like ours, but that doesn’t stop us from attempting it. Ask Jonah. The Bible puts it plainly that the guy was running away from God and I believe that some of us are Jonahs' on the run in some or other area of our lives. Jonah ran away in the area of an assignment, you and I might be running in another area; consciously disobeying God wanting to see how far we’ll get before He catches up with us. Well, another thing the Bib...

People generally have a problem with God’s choice. Be it God’s choice of timing, God’s choice of calling, or God’s choice of people. When I was a teenager, I was convinced I was swapped at birth at the hospital cause my parents were worlds apart from how I saw things. They didn’t understand me, so I said. I grew up to realise that parents are generally the problem when you’re a teenager, no matter which pair you have. I still complain to my friend Sam that I should have been white, well cause I feel I should be married by now (she says at least I came close – Cf my complexion, lol.) And for some time, I struggled with God’s choice over what I should do with my life. Accepting God’s choice is generally a struggle because God doesn’t reason the way we do, He doesn’t see things the way we do, His thoughts and ways are higher. We sometimes see this weakness in the Church pertaining the people God chooses to use. You know I think people would be more comfortable if preachers and teache...

This other time my pastor asked the congregation who had prayed for him that day. Less than five hands went up out of a crowd of above fifty. It made me feel sad. I was reminded of this as we read Ephesians 6 in our Bible Study tonight. “ Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” (verse 19-20) The general perception is that if you’re called to do something then you’re good to go. You don’t really need assistance cause that’s what you’ve been created to do. But this is not the idea that Paul gives us here. This guy was highly anointed, gifted in many ways, and powerfully used by God to pen down the greater half of the New Testament. This great guy needed the prayers of those he ministered to in order to be successful in what he was called to do, great as he was. This is part of the mystery of how God ...

One of my greatest Achilles' heel in reading my Bible is stopping every time I come across a passage which explores or reveals love. What intrigues me is that it’s such an endless subject, it is God Himself after all. Every time I read about it I’m guaranteed to learn something new. This time, Elkanah’s love got to me. “ Elkanah her husband would say to her, ‘Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons ?” 1 Samuel 1:8 You see the thing that makes loving people the job it is, is the fact that people are imperfect. I read through 1 John 4:20 the other day, and I realized why God pushed us so much to love our brother whom we see because we’d be liars to love Him who is unseen yet hate our brother. And the issue here is that we see our brother, we seem him with all his faults, weaknesses and imperfections. Admit it, walking in love is not a walk in the park, be it with a fellow Christian at church or your family at ...

Speaking about the past is usually spoken against in order for more focus to be put on the present and the future. But I think we all know that the past is quite important, it has a direct impact on the present which has a direct influence on the future. I was sharing with the church the other day how God made it a point to remind the Israelites of their past. He set up feasts and occasions to be held and celebrated among them in order to commemorate specific events, such as their Exodus from Egypt. He did this knowing the mind’s weakness; its ability to forget the good of yesterday yet quite good at holding on to the bad. He knew He was going to bless them so much that they would forget the bitterness of their past and that could put them at risk of abusing the sweetness of their today. On that note, I want to tell you about the wonderful day I had yesterday. Two events which significantly moved my heart, and I’ll forever treasure them. Yesterday I had the opportunity of fellowshipp...

Last night I was suffering from the most insane case of insomnia. After tossing and turning for two hours, I gave up on sleep and grabbed my Bible which I always sleep with (which explains the condition of its pages). I had been intrigued by a rather not-so-popular Bible character while going over my school work so I decided I would do a quick study of her. Michal. Saul’s younger daughter and David’s first wife. You see like most church folk, I only knew one thing about Michal, she scorned David when he was dancing before the Lord and therefore had no children. But there’s more to this Bible character, more before that incident. Their little love story had me amazed; not at all like any of the other ones in the Bible because Michal was the one who first showed interest in David. “Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased.” 1 Samuel 18:20 This phrase “was in love” is the same one used to describe how Jacob felt about Rachel in...

God’s ability to forgive is unfathomable. Last night’s Bible study session was so eye-opening to me. If God only had grace, I wouldn’t make it into heaven. But because He has mercy, I have hope. Grace is what saved me (Eph. 2:5), that voluntary intervention that God made prompted by this uncontrollable love He had for me, even when I didn’t love Him yet (cf.* Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:10). Titus 2:11 says “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” One of my Bibles beautifully defines grace as ‘the undeserved love God gives through Christ for salvation.’ The purpose of grace is to save. Of course this is not the sole purpose of grace and the term ‘grace’ is used in different ways throughout the Bible (cf. 1 Cor. 3:10; 2 Cor. 2:9; Col. 4:6; Heb. 4:16; 2 Pet. 3:18). But I want us to focus on this purpose of grace to save. So here I am, saved by grace, in a living relationship with God, freed from the power of sin, but then I fall into sin. What now? Grace has alread...