Sunday Mornings

Dearest mine, Just the thought of calling you mine roars my entire being to life! God's perfect gift to me. Yes, I'm smiling right into my notepad, the kind of smile that is so fulfilling. I am truly happy that in the end, I didn't miss you who is my right because indeed there were so many wrongs. You are proof of God's faithfulness, and if I certainly ever get to call you mine, then my joy will be complete indeed. I write to you with joy but then with deep sorrow, sorrow enough to cause trembling and I wonder if could truly follow through to the end with this letter. One would wonder how joy and sorrow could share the same space; well with time as we journey through this letter, all will unfold. As I said earlier, before you, came many wrongs, men so wrong they left me scarred. I write this letter not as the wholesome woman you might have dreamt of, not as a lady who guarded her purity with her life, not as one who never awoke love from its slumber. I have been d...

  Set on the donkey,  Fears hunting the indepts of my heart,  The cold winter breeze chewing my skin,  The struggle to hold on to hope.  The first census in what seemed like forever  My unfortunate predicament of journeying with a swollen stomach,  Swollen with another life,  The world's greatest miracle,  I smiled to myself,  Willing the beauty to remain.  Oh, he would be born in his home town,  The land of my very beloved...  The pains of the journey weakened my bones,  Every muscle screaming for help,  The constant battle to stay calm and strong.  For my beloved and unborn child.  The night stole the sun  And the moon, its glory.  I lay facing the stars,  The journey of the first day had come to an end.  With fears still breathing inside my heart  Unsure of what is to come,  I drifted into a beauty sleep.  But It lasted only for a moment.  And in what seemed to...

  Ima limped painfully out of the wadi into which she fell earlier. It was not her fault. She fell in trying to protect me from a thornbush. Now there was a pebble stuck in her foot. But the Boy took it out. Ima must rest now. I am allowed to remain with her though I am old enough to be separated from the other young Rams. They are rough and tease me saying I will turn into a Ewe just like Ima, but Ima said it is not possible. I believe her. She is soft and smells of sweet grass. I lie next to her in the pen. Her breathing is slow and steady. I start to fall asleep. “You were always a queer little one, weren't you?” There was a smile in her voice as she said it. I turned my ears to Ima's voice as she spoke. “When I held you in my womb, my dear, the shepherd thought I was carrying twins! I was so heavy with you. I could not move like the other sheep. So, the farmer delayed our herd's migration until I had given you birth. I am eternally grateful. Yours was a difficult one. B...

  And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Gen 25:28 By the grace of God, today we will be looking at the Esau syndrome that plagues many of us who desire earnestly to do God's will, but oftentimes, our passion comes in the way. To set the context of today's key verse, if we go a few verses behind, we see that Rebekah was barren vs21 . Isaac prayed for Rebekah vs21 . God answered his prayers and Rebekah is pregnant with twins vs21 . Before they are even born to have done anything right or wrong to win God's favour ( Rom 9:10-13 ), God tells Rebekah that the older would serve the younger vs23 ( Malachi 1:2&3 ). It is plausible that Rebekah must have told her husband what God had revealed to her. It is also plausible that Isaac must have probably got a revelation from God too on this matter. (These are not explicitly said in the bible and so we must be careful how we use these plausible scenarios). But our anchor text says that Isaac love...

  My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime; but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent. Psalm 22:1&2 Today we continue looking at the book of Ruth, but we focus on Naomi. The book of Ruth opens by telling us that this was in the days of the Judges.  We understand that those were hard times in the history of Israel. And in this particular era, there was a famine that was so severe that it seemed wiser to sojourn to the land of the Midianites - a sworn enemy of Israel to find food than remain in the promised land (meant to be flowing in milk and honey). Just like Naomi and her family, very often we pass through hard times; in such times it is important to ask: is God on holiday? As I meditate on the verses in Psalm 22 , I think of the agony of Jesus on the cross when he yelled on the cross. And just like Jesus and the psalmist, Naomi voiced out her pai...

  On this blog, we believe that the bible is a unified text that leads to Jesus. If the bible is the Word of God, and if God were to speak, what would He say? A systematic study of scriptures shows that from the beginning of time, God was always proclaiming the gospel. It was relevant to the ancients (pointing forward to Jesus) and as relevant to us today (pointing backwards to Jesus). Over the course of two webisodes, beginning today, we will be looking together at the story of Ruth as recorded in scripture through the lens of the gospel and see how this familiar narrative points us to our LORD and His saving grace. Today we will focus on the relationship between Ruth and Boaz. A Redeemer: It is so fascinating that scriptures described Boaz as Ruth's redeemer ( Ruth 3:9 ). And she answered, “I am Ruth your slave. Now spread your garment over your slave, for you are a redeemer.” We need to be in the condition that Ruth was in, in order to desire a redeemer. When we have come to the...

  I was 12 years old when I joined the royal army. Israel was going to war against Canaan and needed all the men they could get. While some who had passed the training marched on to the battlefield with Deborah to face Jabin and Sisera after being oppressed for 20 years, I, together with the other new recruits remained in the camp to complete our military training. It was at the camp that news reached us that God had given us the victory through a certain Jael. After this, Israel enjoyed peace for 40 years. The elders thought it cruel to continue with the military training amidst the rest God gave us from our enemies. It had been a long time coming. So we left the camp and went each man to his home. Things continued this way till we sinned against God; we broke the LORD's altar, we ceased the evening and morning sacrifices and the LORD's hand was heavy upon us. We had a new oppressor - the Midianites. Things grew from bad to worse. It became more difficult to remember the years...

And Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the Lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together. Genesis 22:8   Today as we celebrate the Resurrection of our LORD, we would love to journey back in time to savor God's providence in our salvation once more in a story so familiar to us. Many years ago, a father showed his love to God by sacrificing his son on a mount; fast track many year later, a Father would sacrifice His Son on a hill to show His love for mankind. Just how similar were the two sacrifices and what can we learn from them? May God grant us wisdom as we study. Amen. Our Journey begins in Genesis 22 when God demanded the sacrifice of Isaac from Abraham. If we do not consider Abraham to be a man, as we are, we may fail to see the gravity of the steps that he took as he journeyed to mountains of Moriah. Here are a few key lessons to learn from this as we reflect over the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus: 1.  "Your son, your o...

  Many times when we read about the heroes of faith, we fail to realise that they were men like us. Trusting God was not any less difficult than it is for us today. If we were to read their diaries, what would we learn from their journey to the hall of faith? Let's have a peek at David's diary today as God grants us insight. Amen. Months had passed since the Prophet Samuel visited my father’s house to anoint me as King over Israel. As I sat meditating over the events of that fateful day, a lot of questions were looming round my head: why me? (I was an insignificant member of the family. A family sacrifice could have successfully happened without me; a king could have been anointed in the family while I was away in the fields because my presence was insignificant) A King? Even if it were to be so, how could a king be anointed when there was already a king? And why was I not on the throne yet? Few weeks after Samuel’s visit, King Saul sent for me to join his royal service. Was ...

Martha said, "Master, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died." John 11:21 How many times have we ever felt synced with Martha in this moment? When we acknowledge God's power and sovereignty to make things right, yet in despair, in agony, we wonder why God is not doing anything; why He has still done nothing about our situations. The same words of lamentations were uttered by Mary when she met Jesus in verse 32. LORD, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died! In these words, you feel deep anger at God. They knew what God could do in the person of Jesus. But it felt as though, for some reasons unknown, God decided to be silent, and their brother died (something bad) as a result of God's silence. It seemed too late. We find ourselves often at this point. Let us look at God's Word together to dig out hope, wisdom and strength for moments as these. God's plan for the world stands up, all His designs are made to last. Psalms 33:11...

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. John 11:5-6 (ERV). Dear LORD thank you for Your Word for today. Cause that at we look steadfastly at the perfect law of liberty briefly today that you shall transform us, taking us from one level of glory to another, even in the knowledge of Yourself and Your dealings with us. Amen. The paradox portrayed in our anchor text today is a very practical scenario that every believer comes across once in a while; probably often. The result is that we begin to ask questions in our heart, while trying to solve the paradox between what is presently happening to us and what we feel that God has been saying. Just as in our  previous post , we ask in our heart "LORD do You not care...?" while God on the other hand is asking, "Where is your faith?" The news of Lazarus' illness should have been a news to stir up urgency in Jesus...

But the people were displeased. "He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner," they grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the LORD and said, "I will give half of my wealth to the poor, LORD, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!" Jesus responded, Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost. Luke 19:7-10 By God's grace today we will be concluding our study on the Jericho encounter. I trust that it has been an awesome time at the feet of Jesus. Glory to God for the success of the previous studies and for bringing us to today's study. One thing of significance about people who ever encountered God is that they left something behind after the encounter, or they had to forgo something. The woman at the well left her jar pot and rushed to the city to tell others about Jesus. Pet...