Thoughts and Other Things

Towards the end of 2018, while in service, God impressed in my heart that the following year would be my season of harvest. It would be a season where seeds sown over the years would manifest. I immediately thought this was his way of telling me I’d passed my final year and would graduate as I was anxiously awaiting my results. But that was just one seed. Of course I was elated to finally graduate with my honors in May this year as that was a seed that had been underground for seven whole years. After my bachelors, I took a year off to save some money so I could apply for my honors the following year. I did that, but all that money went to waste because I quit mid-year. I wasted another year gathering the pieces of my academic self-confidence then applied again. It was three long years with a major operation in the second and complete abandonment by my research supervisor and the library in the third. I completed my qualification with distinction, which is something I tried so...

While reading about the well-to-do Shunammite woman, I was struck by something quite uncommon in this story. A miracle happens against her will. She blatantly refused to participate but it happened anyway. Why? Because God doesn’t need your (or anyone else’s) permission to reward you. Hebrews 11:6 teaches us that God is a rewarder. God recognizes efforts made in faith and He recompensates them. He does not ignore when one has done something deserving of a reward, nor does he forget. We see this in the story of the rich young man in Mark 10. After he leaves with his face downcast as he cannot accept the cost of following Jesus, Peter exclaims that they have left everything to follow him. Because this is an action of great faith, Jesus tells him about the reward that awaits them. “I tell you the truth,’ Jesus replied, ‘no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much i...

When you’ve risked all to keep your treasured gift, Because you dared to believe your godly intuition over the deadly royal threat, Because you heard the voice of a prince in the cries of a babe, over and above the loud voice of fear; Only to have to give it up for it could no longer be hidden. Only to lay it down and walk away, But not before you wrapped it up and sealed it in, Not before you secured it and armed it against the crocs and serpents of the Nile. Jacobeth, when you thought you’ve lost, you gained it back again. You lost a baby boy and gained a prince, Lost a son to gain a deliverer. When you’ve endured the insults and provocation, Fought back but lost to tears each time because they had many and you had none. When you lost your will to fight with man you took up your battle with God, And won through a vow. Your sword a voiceless prayer, Your shield a broken spirit, Your crown, a son. But your victory was short lived for by your vow you had to live, ...

One of the most popular battle verses has got to be 2 Chronicles 20:15. Or it’s cousin Exodus 14:14. Both these stories speak of God being the one who would fight the battle on behalf of his children. The two scenarios are often so referred to you might think we don’t really get to fight any battles. “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” 2 Chronicles 20:15 But some battles are ours and we have to do the fighting ourselves. Just three chapters afters watching God fight the Egyptians for them, the Israelites had to do their own fighting. God was still part of the battle, he made them win so long as they sought and praised him through the lifting of Moses’ hands. “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.” Exodus 17:11 Sometimes, our fighting only comes in after God has fought first. Like with Gideon and his men who ...

Jesse Duplantis once explained the ‘double edged sword’ nature of the Word this way: it strikes the receiver in equal proportion to it piercing the messenger. A double-edged sword has both of its edges cut and can therefore be used with thrusts and swipes in any direction with equal effectiveness (e.g. Ehud’s sword in Judges 3). Now God’s word is sharper than such a double edged sword and in the hand of the Holy Spirit it swipes in the direction of the crowd and the speaker with equal effect. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12   You have no idea how many times I catch God speaking directly to me through my own voice. Those times when he leads me beyond my sermon notes which are a transcription of what I heard him say a few hours earlier. When he uses the words flowing out of my mouth to convic...

Y esterday God pointed out my hypocrisy. Now I imagine no Christian leader would like to identify as a hypocrite, but I was humbled as I came to the realization and was left in awe of God and his high ways. If I were to pinpoint my greatest moment in the first half of this year, it wouldn’t be the night I graduated for the second time (which was nothing short of amazing), but it would be the exact moment I stood in the kitchen, on one end of the table, my father on the other end, praying for me. My dad prays often so it wasn’t him praying that distinguished this moment, but the significance of it was linked to my past. It was a full circle moment, because more than ten years ago, we stood around the very same table arguing over my desire and decision to follow God’s call. It was one of the most difficult conversations of my life because I had no answers to the many questions I was asked, no logical explanations, only a certainty that I couldn’t even put into words. This...

I was recently reminded that this year will be my tenth year out of school. I was reminded by an invite to our 10-year high school reunion. My initial thought was how I was no where near where I wanted to be a decade post schooling. As if that was not enough, now here was a temptation to compare myself to others of my age. A trap. While sifting through the many emotions triggered by this soon to be event, I realized one prominent feeling – fear with a hint of disappointment. I was afraid I wasn’t as successful as I should be at this point in my life. Luckily, God lovingly challenged my definition and understanding of success. I consulted my Oxford dictionary. The main keys of what defined success was achieving something you wanted to do/be and acquiring wealth and fame. My attention was particularly drawn to a secondary definition of ‘succeed’ which is ‘to have the result or effect that was intended.’ I pondered on this last definition because it sounded more substantial than th...