The mountain is part of you

At sixty-five, when many people were settling into retirement, Colonel Harland Sanders stood at the foot of his own mountain.

In Gethsemane, in the final hours before the cross, Jesus faced His mountain. The weight of the moment pressed so heavily on Him that His sweat was like drops of blood. He agonised in prayer. Christ understood the assignment, but that did not make it any easier. He still had His mountain to face. These were His very words: “My Father, if it is possible, take this cup of suffering from me! Yet not what I want, but what you want”.

Few people want to be associated with a mountain.

But not Caleb. At eighty-five, he literally asked for one. Caleb had a different spirit. He took life head-on, choosing the hard ground others feared to tread. He dared to open doors others wouldn’t. He survived an entire generation, while all those above twenty who doubted perished in the wilderness.

The common thread between Colonel Sanders, Caleb, and Jesus is this: they understood that the mountain was part of their assignment. It was part of their purpose.

The call of purpose was worth it, thanks to the mountain they faced.

Some mountains are not obstacles; they are assignments. Caleb stood at eighty-five years old and asked not for comfort, but for conquest: “Give me this mountain.” He chose the territory others feared, the place where giants lived, and walls stood tall. Faith does not always ask for easier roads. Sometimes it asks for higher ground. And Caleb knew this.

“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible”. Matthew 17:20.

“Some mountains are not obstacles to avoid, but promises to possess.”

Mountain of opportunity

The writer of Hebrews says of Christ: “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross…” Hebrews 12:2.

What did Jesus see?

He saw redemption.

He saw salvation.

He saw generations yet unborn finding their way back to God.

He saw opportunity where others saw unbearable suffering.

There was no other way to accomplish it, and no one else could do it. “Salvation is found in no one else…” Acts 4:12

The cross was a giant mountain. Yet Christ embraced it, because beyond the pain was redemption.

Colonel Sanders also stood before his mountain.

Like Caleb, he refused to let age, rejection, or delay define his future. He had lost his business, had little money, and only a recipe for fried chicken and an unshakable belief that it still had value. He knocked on doors repeatedly, facing rejection after rejection, yet he kept going. Eventually, that massive mountain became what the world now knows as KFC.

He could have chosen the easier route: give up, work for someone else, or quietly disappear into retirement. But he saw the mountain as an opportunity to reach the summit.

There is favour. Yes! There is grace. Yes! But none of these eliminates the effort required to reach the peak.

Do you see a mountain or an opportunity? Some see a new height; others see only a mountain. Some see a new business opportunity, others see a limitation. Caleb saw a new land to conquer. Others saw war and death. Some would have called it a day when the Roman soldier yelled: “…if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!” But Christ hung on the cross, flesh pierced and blood gushing out. He endured the cross and paid the ultimate price for humanity’s redemption.

Your mountain today

The mountain is not the end of the road. It is the way through.

After forty-five years, Caleb approached Joshua for a fresh challenge. Caleb was already a national hero, but he was relentless. He wanted more.

He walked up to Joshua and said, “You know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea. I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. As yet, I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.”

What mountain stands before you today? That may be your next big thing.

The difference between you and the people you admire is often the willingness to climb what others avoid. What looks like your hardest challenge today may be the very doorway to your greatest purpose tomorrow. The mountain is not against you. It may be calling you upward.

Mountains are real, but the greater challenge is often the one within. The inner doubt that locks us out of new realities. The voice of limitation. The pool of despondency. The failures of the past. The fear of failing again.

The mountain within is often a greater threat than the mountain before us. At the end of the day, as Edmund Hillary rightly said, “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” Before Caleb could possess the mountain before him, he had already conquered the doubt within him. Before Colonel Sanders knocked on countless doors, he had first overcome the temptation to give up. Before Christ endured the cross, He had settled His will in Gethsemane. Overcoming fear and doubt does not mean there will be none. It means you step over your fear and doubt and get things done.

This is the mountain every great life must first overcome. If we conquer the mountain within today, a whole new world of experience awaits at the summit.

For every mountain before us and every fear within us, the Word still speaks:

“Who are you, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain.”

What stands before you today will not stand forever.

By faith, by courage, and by the Spirit of God, every mountain can become level ground.

Listen to the audio deep dive.

Shades of a fading word

We can do little with love when its definition is lost.
Love! The mere sound of the word floods the mind with images, in shades of all kinds. As pleasant as it may seem, it has, surprisingly, faded smiling faces into oblivion for some. What was meant to be love left behind a sour experience.

There is another band that jumps at the sound of it. They lick their lips and clench their fingers. This contrast reveals a fundamental shift in its meaning. Exploring it further beyond a few texts, however hard the writer attempts to unite the divide, there are always grievances, even with a perfectly crafted essay.

Love has its origin, not in human language or denotation. It is not the dramatic rush of emotions. “Love is many things to many people”. No, this is misleading. Love is the very nature of God imparted to humanity. When we lose sight of its origin and essence, love eludes us. And this loss lies at the root of many of the troubles that have befallen mankind.

Friends, if we must redeem love, we must first agree that love is pure and originates from the creator of life.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 John 4:8, 16b

When love comes

Like the click of a lock, like the hush of a gentle wave, love has a voice. It’s a universal language, leaving no creature in doubt of its presence. It denies no one its goodness. Yet love is said to have “come” only when we finally see it. Like air, water and sunlight, love is a gift from God. Free and abundant. And comes at no cost. Love was present long before we could lift a finger.

1Daniel Apache (such a dramatic name) once shared how He had wished for love. He prayed for it. Years have gone by, with no sign of it. He yearned for a friendship rooted in genuine mutual love. One day, as he waited outside a meeting hall, a lady approached him. She was a sister of the same fellowship. She greeted him warmly and asked how he was doing. At that time, He was going through some personal challenges, but kept to himself. Without disclosing his problems, she offered him a book, as though she could read the ailment on his face.

He accepted it reluctantly and left without much conversation. On his way home, he wondered why she had offered him a book he had not asked for. Perhaps she had nothing else to do, he thought. Getting home, he left the book in the corner of his room. Weeks later, he noticed the book again. Reluctantly, he picked it up to read. It was the balm he needed, like rain on a parched land. That was not all. Unknown to him, the answer to his many years of prayer had already arrived, standing quietly at the door, like a thief in the night. In time, they shared many years of a godly relationship, built on mutual love and deep friendship.

Jesus lived an everyday life in Nazareth. They saw him daily, but neglected his gift of love. They envisage that the Sun would rise from the palace, but it rose from the manger. Born to parents with little to their names in the small town of Bethlehem, he embraced the world and loved it dearly (John 3:16; 15:13). At the tomb of Larazus, the people observed, “See how much he loved him…” (John 11:36). He ate and drank with sinners without segregation, prompting the religious teachers and overseers of the day to question his person: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” While in our religious affiliation, we often shy away from those whom we feel are beneath our “righteous” standing. In our holy regalia, let us not forget in a hurry that when we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
In Love, Christ tore the veil of the temple so that all might come to him (Mathew 11:28).

An everlasting love affair

An epistle to the Corinthians reveals centuries of the love tradition passed down through generations.

The very reason the centre cannot hold for a man and woman in marriage is the same reason it fails everywhere: unkindness, envy, self and pride. For it says love envies not, is kind, does not parade itself, is not puffed up — 1 Cor 13:4.

1 Cor 13 v 5: Love does not behave rudely (does not boss others around) — Turn the other cheek when you’re hit, don’t hit back. Love is the only way; the “fool’s” path to paradise.

— does not seek its own — Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. The world is what it is because every man seeks his own. There is a constant toil to be ahead of everyone. We constantly compare ourselves.

— is not provoked — We hear phrases like “Don’t step on my nerves!” What will happen when your nerve is stepped on, huh? Love is not provoked. Why is yours different?

thinks no evil — How often do we catch ourselves rehearsing wrongs and entertaining malice? Wrap it up. That’s not love.

1 Cor 13 vs 6: Does not rejoice in iniquity, but in the truth — Simply put, love does not take pleasure in injustice (harm done to others), but the truth. An eye for an eye is still a thing even in Christian circles. “I will show him how painful it is”. Do you secretly have good feelings when your enemy falls? “He can’t mess with me and go free”. We can modernise the world how we want, but not the heart. Only the one who created the heart can ‘modernise’ it. Love excites in the presence of the truth. For you shall know the truth, and it shall set you free.

1 Cor 13 vs 7: Love never gives up — We have witnessed parents give up on their children. Couples give up on each other. Good news! Love does not. Even in our worst state, it crawls back looking for us. (NLT)

— never loses faith — Where there is love, there is always faith, without which it’s impossible to please God (NLT).

is always hopeful — Hope is a stubborn thing because love is. Love writes no one off. Always gives a second chance.

— endures all things — Patience and long-suffering are rare virtues nowadays, but not where there is love. Love is the reason you’ll commit even when the chips are down.

1 Cor 13 vs 8: Love will last forever — Two proclaim their love for each other and become one. After several years, the centre can no longer hold. One becomes two; they go their separate ways. God’s love is different. It unites forever.

Love that lifts

The love that can lift us must come from outside us. It can’t be a product of our fallen nature and at the same time lift us. It must come from above. “If I be lifted from the earth…I will draw all men unto me”. What kind of love do we claim to have? Love rooted in human wisdom and self-interest? No! That will fail. The love we must seek is the love of Christ. A love beyond human possession. Beyond human knowledge. Else life remains an endless cycle of chaos. The love of Christ will chastise us, but build us. It is a redeeming love. Only when we become beneficiaries of this love can we become donors of it. We may pray fervently, give generously, preach eloquently, and receive public admiration, but the litmus test is love. It is the true identity for those who believe. When the mirror of love, as described in the Bible, is held before you, who do you see?

If we cling to our own ideology above Christ, we will miss the love of God.

Ephesians 3:19 sums it up nicely, “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God”.

The love of God has come to lift us, but we must let go of everything else. Everything.

Listen to the audio deep dive.

The world lies in a charade. The actions of men do not match the heart. The heart of man is filled with many desires and distractions. For the Christian, what are the weightier matters? Is it possible to deceive God?

See Matthew 23:23

" Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone"

The Law of God must rule our daily actions and inaction. The Bible is the whole law standing on two major laws: to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbour as ourselves. The Judgement of God is unavoidable; this will prevent us from disobeying God. Every action and word of men will be accounted for. Every good and also bad one. If only we remembered this often, we would not live in the world we have today. Statistics have it that a greater percentage of the populace has the Christian religion as their professed faith. Mercy is an attribute of God that we show to our offenders, even those who are not sorry. It may not be easy, but it is commanded by the Lord and must be obeyed. Truth: We would need the truth in a world that pleases its ears. Do we, genuine Christians, want the truth or anything that goes well with a corrupt heart? If we have the truth, bitter as it may be, we would always dwell in the light.

The weightier matters are trivialised today by a majority, while prosperity and civilisation play an awful replacement.

What are the weightier matters in your heart?

Examine your heart, o’ Pilgrim.

Grace and Peace.

Your support fueled this journey. Thank you for being part of what God is doing.

His birth — a proper child

After the seven years of Jacob’s service in Haran in the house of Laban, his mother’s brother, Leah was given to him instead of Rachel; but for the love he had for Rachel, he decided to serve another seven years to be given Rachel as his wife. Through these seven years, Leah was barren.

31 And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.

Leah gave birth to four children, the name of the last being Judah, after which she was satisfied. Genesis 29:35

“35 And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the Lord: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.”

The birth of Judah was that which gave glory to God. His life is meant for God’s praise. Men will see his living and give glory to God. Men will literally praise the man through whom they can glorify God. Genesis 49:8

“8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise.”

In Jacob’s prophecy, ‘thou art he’ shows a rejection of those who came before. Little wonder why the woman should leave bearing at the birth of Judah. It was as though the man she was looking for had arrived; the man capable of qualifying the other three. She saw the destiny of the child and said ‘Now I can praise God. Judah - Him shall his brethren praise. Also, ‘Thy father’s children shall bow down before you’ Gen 49:8. They shall praise him, and shall bow down before him. Indicating honour and power not of subjugation but of submission due to excellence and exceptionality.

Though his position in the family of twelve was not of much significance. But it was a child on whom much was depending. A child who will take the lead. A child of potential. How many young people will see today with great destinies; how we see children and can easily notice divine purpose strategically employed for them to walk in. We see their common expression as a sign of a heavenly knowing, a sanctity, and a pre-ordination that took place even before they were formed. ‘Children are a heritage of the Lord. A divine package to be unravelled for an assignment. Judah was a child upon whom you can see the rising star. There was a well in him through which many will drink. We shall see later why we speak so highly of him.

After twenty years of service in the house of Laban, he served fourteen years for his wives and six years for his cattle. It was during these six years that Jacob had all his children. Joseph was the last of the children he had in Haran. Thus, we can say Judah was not more than three years older than Joseph, as he was the fourth child of Leah, which leaves a space of one year between each child. Judah should have been born in the fourth year, which is only about two years older than Joseph ( born maybe in the sixth year).

Gen 31:4 41 Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle…

The yoke

The purpose of a man is for a people.

We live among families, friends, and acquaintances and think it to be by chance. As we live, we also meet with people that we seem to be better than, people that are our equals and those that are better than us; our reaction to each set matters a lot. We awake daily to a routine which, in an instant in time, seems cyclic. We think we are heading nowhere until we measure ourselves in the band of years or look at our past from the end. Judah and his brethren lived like every man has ever lived in a family; doing chores, causing trouble, showing love and compassion, and in extreme negative envy and killing. These brethren threw darts of envy against their younger brother Joseph, whom God has also placed in a great destiny. This nasty cloud that brought spears of dew fell upon the innocent child. His father’s children hated him and on that ill-fated day, as opportunity (time and chance) permitted, they un-leached their plan to eliminate the child. How like the men of Babel, they consented together. How many think the way to become the head is to stop those they think can beat them; to become a mighty man, I have to kill all the mighty men. To become a king, then there should be no king. Oh, how the brethren thought the only way to avoid being a servant was to kill he that will become the master. It was in this yoke that Judah joined himself. Joining his brethren to perform their enterprise. Judah has forgotten that a man should do to others what he wants others to do to him. Thus, by joining to end Joseph’s destiny, he was saying, ‘I permit men to likewise plan to cut off that future God has for me’. To win the race of life is not to kick out from the lane those we compete with, but to outrun them.

Do not kill the master so as not to become a slave

The inheritance

It is not only through DNA that people differ, but also in potential. Like two plants of different species, though they should grow up on the same soil, exposed to the same environment, sunshine, and rain, they cannot be the same. So no two men can be the same. Two men cannot be the same thing at all times. Differences in potential or inherency account for the differences in people. They are twin, but you can guess which one exhibited a particular attitude. You can tell the person that such words are coming. You can be surprised when a man misbehaves because you understand their constituent.

God have given each person such peculiarities; each man his gift which serves as a guide to fulfilling their destiny. Each has his likes and dislikes, each his own choice. They have their life stocked up in them.

When the brethren of Joseph made the utterance to end their brother’s life, though Judah was yet ignorant of any sense of much responsibility, his little expression was a means of delivering the life of Joseph from their hands. A suggestion that he gave made the minds of his brethren content.

Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. (Genesis 37:20)

Genesis 37:26-27, And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? 27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelite, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content (Genesis 37:26-27).

We know how Reuben attempted to save Joseph’s life. He did this because, as the eldest son, a responsibility had been placed in his hands — a responsibility due to his position and age. He knew if anything should happen to the child, it would be on his hands. Thus, he was labouring to save his own head. But here was a man who though having no necessity laid upon him but reason of inherency, a predestination, a work, an implicit expression of the kind of destiny he called unto; as a life deliverer, ‘him shall his brethren praise’ — even Joseph, rescued the life of the child even without any demand but reason of a spirit — a spirit of right. We see his reason, ‘for he is our brother and our flesh’. A reason that any good man should consider, not because he wanted to please men or because he should give an account. This was the reason for the law: if a man should not kill. The reason why a man should not steal is for the sorrow, loss, and pain it causes his neighbour. ‘Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God.’ The purpose and reason behind the law is hidden in the lawgiver. Ps 60:77 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver;

Judah is Israel’s lawgiver. Written in him is the law and its purpose. The expression of Judah’s living is the work God has given him. Until you come to the very consciousness of that work, you cannot manage it.

The despondence

Genesis 37:33-35

33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.

34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

Genesis 38:1. And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.

How can we tell the work of a man by studying the simple expressions of his life!

When Jacob heard of what had happened to his son Joseph, according to the lies of his brethren, he was sore grieved. The old man cried like a baby. The child he loves so dearly has been taken away from him. Not just an ordinary death, but one that will result in much lamentation, a child was torn apart by a beast, with concrete evidence of his blood-soaked cloth. We know how, as a man grows, the string of life becomes much slimmer and how aged men are quite delicate. No one in the family could comfort the weeping old man. And he made a swearing saying, ‘I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning’.

This must have brought upon the house of Israel a season of gloom. Those strong-hearted children were determined to endure all the sorrow of their father. It meant nothing to them, maybe. They were able to sit with their father, trying to comfort him for a wrong they were responsible for. No remorse, no tears, no guilt, because no actual responsibility for the pain of their father and the death of their brother.

You never care for people because you think they were never your responsibility.

Most of the time, we will live like men without conscience because we do not think that it was our fault to let a thing die. How many times have we passed by the poor, injured man, people needing assistance, dying people, and care not for them because we think it is not our responsibility to revive them, or to help? Thank God for that Samaritan who could not pass by that dying man who was on his way to Jericho. See how the priest and Levite passed by, thinking it was not their responsibility to help the man. You can make every man your neighbour by taking responsibility for them.

Ezekiel 3:18. 18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

It was at that time that Judah left home, departing from his brethren to leave with an Adullamite whose name was Hirah. What might have been the reason for the migration? What must have driven Judah to leave Israel?

Judah could no longer bear the grief of the father. His conscience must have accused him, “This is your fault”. “You are responsible for your father’s pain”. Judah could no longer endure. Unlike his brethren, who were indifferent and sat together with their weeping father. The condition of the father drove him out of the home. Many have run away from their pain and their actions because of guilt. They see running away as the only option for dealing with their faults. They would rather run than own up. They deal with their cross by avoiding it.

Avoiding guilt by running away is not always the correct panacea.

A period of gloom for the young man arose. He must be about twenty now, since Joseph was about seventeen. He left home with that dark heart. An outright demeaning of his person.

The backslide

You always need an environment to be preserved. It is a presence that preserves. The fish are kept alive only in the river. The birds need their environment to express their nature and be preserved. Bacteria and microorganisms are cultured to keep them over time for study. The manna was kept in the ark before God so that it could be preserved for many generations without any decay. A man likewise needs an environment, a presence designed to sustain his destiny and life. In chapter 38 of Genesis, after Judah left his brethren and had gone to live with Hirah the Adullamite, he saw a girl, Shuah and took her and went in unto her. Such were the footsteps of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He never informed his father before taking a wife. He started living according to his own will. He took a wife for his son, but never sought the consent of his own family when choosing his wife, if he actually married her. The bible just said he saw her, took her, and went in unto her. The word ‘took her’ might have meant to marry her. I wonder if he might have married his wife without the father’s notice. The bible never made mention of his father and his brethren throughout that chapter. He actually went away from home.

Note that Judah is a seed that can only grow in Israel. Israel was the river of water by which he was planted. Being disheartened, he left his niche just like Ahimelech, the husband of Naomi, left Bethlehem and suffered in Moab. Judah left Israel and almost lost everything he had gained there. He lost his wife and two sons until he came to his senses and refrained from giving the last son in marriage to Tamar, who had been a wife to two of his sons already. It was as if God was saying any relation done in that strange land shall be vanity. Judah went against God’s purpose and could not even train his sons. A man who was made to guide the whole Israel could not preserve his own family. He almost lost his entire family if not for the mercy of God. He must have been in much pain, and it seemed as though everything was against him, losing his wife and two sons.

He learnt his first lesson: to be responsible for preserving the life of his son.

Genesis 38:11

11 Then said Judah to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.

Though he never knew the reason, but was not ready to lose the life of that young child. Maybe he was thinking, ‘let them get mature first’. Getting married when you are not ready to handle a family will ruin many things.

Apart from him growing up, I think the purpose of not giving Tamar to Shelah was solely to not risk the life of the child. For even when he was grown, he refused to give her to him. Maybe he wanted to preserve the last that was remaining. How can he be so careless as not to avoid any risk of losing his only son? And the Lord keenly warns the believer, ‘strengthen that which remaineth and is about to die’.

As he lived these unaccountable years after he had mourned his wife, he went to shear his sheep with his friend Hirah.

This was a friend who could not rebuke his vain heart. A friend that have no counsel that could direct his heart back to Israel. A friend who supported him in evil. And was also helping him to play some games. O Judah could have ruined his life by joining himself with a wrong companion. When Judah saw Tamar on the way, she disguised herself as a harlot, although his friend Hirah was with him, he never rebuked him. ‘Keep back your eyes from beholding vanity’. Such friends who cannot turn your face from the way of doom, keep yourself from them. It is dangerous not to have anyone who can say to you, ‘Behold the speck in your eyes’. Judah and Hirah must have been partakers of such vanities, supporting each other.

When men are bent towards evil, they always seek companions moving on the same side of the road.

The barter

Genesis 38:13-18

13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.

14 And she put her widow's garments off from her, and covered her with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife.

15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot, because she had covered her face.

16 And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray you, let me come in unto you (i.e. to have sexual relation); (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, what wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?

17 And he said, I will send thee a kid (lamb) from the flock. And she said, Will you give me a pledge, till you send it?

18 And he said, what pledge shall I give you? And she said, your signet (ring), and your bracelets, and your staff that is in your hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.

After Judah was comforted by the death of his wife Shuah, he went to Timnath to shear his sheep. On the way, he saw a harlot and decided to sin with her. Judah could no longer restrain his appetite. His urges were now his master. Maybe he had been living like this most of the time, just like Samson. Maybe he had an addiction. His friend Hirah, whom we suppose should be accounted with such an act, was able to withhold himself. Judah had learnt the wrong life, he was now living like the heathen, no sense of consequence for sin. He was now blind to what might be the future result of such an act. He was even begging, saying, ‘I pray you’. It was his lifestyle. Oh, Judah, who had a bright destiny, has gone astray! Many in our time are just living like Judah. They sin without any knowledge of its consequences. Though they know what danger it might cause, they are bent on satisfying their lust. Some don’t really care. They take sin as a habit. They see no evil in what they do. They have formed a conscience that excuses them for the evil they do. They are the wagon that believes that someone cannot live without a particular sin. Judah saw the harlot and, like a culture, went in to her to commit immorality. No struggle at all in his conscience. A believer, no struggle, no rebuke, no conscience in him when he wants to sin, that believer must have lost the Spirit of grace.

Though he had nothing to give to the woman, he decided to give a pledge. Sin must take a treasure from you. When immorality becomes the need of the hour and you do anything to fulfil it, then you have actually been enslaved. Sin has a request. You must pay for sin. A man without a destiny has nothing to trade for sin. It is only the dead, sin has no demand for because they have no destiny. They have nothing to trade with it.

Judah had nothing to offer at the moment. Thus, she demanded a pledge from him. The first thing she demanded of Judah was a signet. A signet is a seal noblemen use to institute authority.

Jeremiah 22:24-25

24 "As surely as I live," declares the Lord, "even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off.

Daniel 6:17

17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel's situation might not be changed.

The signet is something that is of great value. In the book of Jeremiah, God was saying a signet is not supposed to be taken away from your hand. A man is not supposed to trade a signet for anything. To the believer, the signet is like the seal of the Holy Spirit. A man is to ensure that he does not lose the Spirit’s presence and power. Judah was as profane as Esau and traded the Holy Spirit for sex. He has no regard for divine things. Sin will strip you of the Spirit’s presence. It demands what is eternal for temporal. The devil has made his subtle request to as many as will fall prey, not knowing the value of the eternal gift. If only we see what we exchange for the pleasure of sin, we will by all means obey the command to flee from all appearance of evil. The devil in his deceit has succeeded in exchanging what is worthless for what is priceless. He gave Eve the apple and collected life and dominion. He traded similarly with Samson, Reuben, Cain, David, and so on.

The next thing she required was his bracelet. The bracelet is an ornament of beauty. All that God had done for the man, all his adornment, all the furnishing that makes you attractive, all his excellence, his glory, the devil was also demanding that it should be traded. Don’t just sit down and watch the devil tear down your good records; don’t let him burn down your Christian curriculum vitae. See the weight of what the devil wants to empty the man of. The devil has actually set his eye upon God’s labour for our life. Those Godly characters you have developed, he desires that you lose them. Judah mindlessly gave his bracelet to a harlot. How badly he needed to satisfy his lust! Are you in the category that will do anything, can pay any money, with the thought that it is just the money that is being wasted? The enemy is after a greater than we might have imagined.

She also placed a demand upon his staff. Men of old rarely travel without a staff. When Jacob entered the house of Laban, he was only carrying his staff. The man must need a staff for his journey. You don’t send a man on a journey without a staff. On what shall the weary lean? In hard times and distress, what shall be our support? The wind in the wilderness of this world will sweep off our feet if we tread this land in which we are pilgrims without a staff. What shall the shepherd correct the sheep that are gone astray without the staff? What shall bring us back again unto that ancient if we have not our staff? If the Lord should ask us what is in our hand, what shall we show him if not the staff? Why trade that without which you cannot continue your journey? Don’t you see you will easily fall without a staff? Oh, why should the devil desire to seize these things from me? Have you really seen that he desires to stop you?

Genesis 32:10. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan

Mark 6:8

8 These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff

These were the Lord’s instructions. He knew if a man must make a successful Journey, he needs his staff. The staff is the word of God. The devil in trading sin to us is intending to steal the word of God from our hearts. If he succeeds, the believer can no longer obey God. Then we will be alienated from God’s perfect will. A man can’t do without the word of God. The devil wants to take from you so that you will become a failure. You will agree with me that as Judah was leaving that harlot, he was leaving empty. Everything that is worth it has been taken away. He was leaving without any glory; all that would make men praise God for him has been lost to lust.

The guilty judge

Several years later, after Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah, who had feigned herself a harlot, became pregnant, Judah, knowing about it, was disappointed, and passed judgment over her that she be brought to be stoned. But they brought it to him that he was responsible for the sin she had committed. Judah knew that anyone who had sinned should die. He passed the judgment strictly. But when Judah later knew the veiled truth, he could not execute judgment again.

Judah, who is supposed to be a ruler, one who will give the law and no man will dare to disobey, has now no power. Sin has stripped Judah of the power of his destiny. Every destiny needs power for it to perform. Anyone who has lost the power of their destiny cannot make any impact. How the life of Judah as a lawgiver did not affect that young woman. A ruler surely perverts judgment when he has sinned. The legal authority will be taken away from a guilty judge. Your sin will give the enemy boldness to challenge you. You gave the enemy the right when you sin. He can now stand before God, who loved you, to make an accusation that will be acceptable according to God’s sure foundation.

The destiny of Judah as a ruler can no longer stand before God because of God’s declaration, as given by the Holy Spirit in:

2 Samuel 23:3

3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.

The believer must not judge; thus, he is not a judge when there is a plank in his eye. He should, as the Lord has said, remove first the thing in his own eyes before becoming so caring as to notice the speck in his neighbour’s eye. You should understand that what is wrong with you should be a greater matter to you than what you think is wrong with your neighbour. Will you just consider that in your eye is the plank (the bigger) and in your neighbour’s eye is the speck (the smaller). With that, you will judge yourself strictly until you are well. But when does a man think he is well and qualified to judge others?

After that encounter with Tamar, Judah learnt a lesson that I think brought him back again. There was no mention of Judah again until Genesis 43:3. And by then, he was already with Israel, his father. And throughout the scripture, we have read of no other sons born unto Judah except Shelah, who was born by his wife, the daughter of Shua and Pharez and Zarah, the two sons of Tamar. Judah from that day took a decision never to have any sexual affair with her again. It was a decision he made and abided by for the rest of his life.

Destiny Recovered

After the incident with Tamar, Judah decided not to go into her again. Numbers 26:19, 20. Maybe it was expected that Judah should take Tamar as a legitimate wife, and after that, be permitted to have relations with her as a husband will do to his wife, but Judah decided not to have an affair with her again. It was never recorded again that Judah had any other wife or concubine; if he had, maybe he would have gotten more children, save the two children of Tamar. Judah learnt an invaluable lesson from his recklessness and sin. Then Judah was not up to 40 years, but decided to stay without a wife or have any sexual relations. It was a deep lesson that brought about repentance with a decision requiring utmost discipline. Discipline for a man who was like an addict. A man who gave out precious things just to have sex. He was now deciding to stand and live without sex, withstanding the appetite of the flesh till his death. He decided to live as a eunuch from that day onward. To have a great destiny, he had to oppose his own very weakness. ‘Surely, it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more: that which I see not teach through me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more’. (Job 34:13, 14). To recover your destiny, decisions like this are inevitable. A complete forsaking of the way that has dragged you down to the grave must take place. Like the prodigal son, Judah left the occupation of feeding pigs to return to his glory. He knew he had done evil, but he must not continue. A prudent man must avoid taking the same instruction and lesson twice. A man that do not want to gamble with his destiny must understand that not at every instance a fallen man will rise. Some have fallen into death, and they have committed the sin that is unto death. To recover, elasticity as a character is required; your ability to spring back must not be lost. Woe to the man that have exceeded his elastic limit. The life of Judah teaches that no matter what you have lost, you can stand again, and with the rest of your life, erase your mess. You can actually let the past be at the past, and run towards that goal you have been hibernating towards.

Judah never reappeared again until Genesis 43:3. Then he returned to his brethren, to his father Jacob. He left his former environment, his friends, maybe his house, and the land where he was living away from Israel. It is not enough for man to decide to cease from his sin, but he must also cease from anything that has been encouraging sin. Those tempting sounds, videos, pictures, appearance of evil, and evil communication must be adequately done away with. God demands that a person who has decided to forsake his evil way, change his destiny, and take a new path must not stay in a sin-cultured environment. God must do in him this two-dimensional work of grace, a deliverance from the power of darkness, and a translation into the kingdom of his dear Son. In fact, it is impossible for a prodigal son in a far country not to die feeding pigs without returning to his father. He will surely starve to death. Because of his genuine, whole-hearted desire to change, he (Judah) has to take the required and correct step towards recovering his destiny. Every prodigal son must know that his glory and destiny are with the Father – He that begat all things.

Judah started functioning fully in his destiny after he returned to his brethren and father. You must know the environment where your destiny can thrive. You must know the environment that can reveal your glory. The fish, birds, lions, dogs, and plants need a suitable environment to be glorified. The lion might be the king of the forest, but not the king of the sea.

In this episode, we consider another guest post from 2016.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

They say Katwe is a place of fighters, a place where survival is a game of wit, grit, and heart. I did not grow up in Katwe, but I learned to fight my own battles not with fists or chess moves, but with three commandments that took up residence in my heart. I call them the Three Queens of Katwe. They were not women, but three profound commandments of love.

Like chess queens, they are powerful, unpredictable, and impossible to ignore. It’s an absolute requirement for the Christian journey. As a child, I believed I could master them easily. Here I tell the story of my chessmanship with these queens of hearts.

The Three Profound Commandments of Love

Growing up, there were three commandments of the Bible I was made to memorise. I wasn’t bothered by the third. If I should be concerned, it was with the first two. The first is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. The second is like unto the first, love your neighbour as you love yourself (Mathew 22:37-39), and the third is husband love your wife as Christ loves the church and gave himself for it (Ephesians 5:25). Later in life, I gave them my tag, the three profound commandments of love, aka my Three Queens of Katwe. There is something that amazes me and, at the same time, bothers me about these queens. They demand something beyond the ordinary from anyone who is concerned with them. As a child, I was not particularly concerned with any of them. I was only excited memorising them. This does not mean that I didn’t fight or quarrel with other kids — I did. But I wasn’t told I needed the “love your neighbour as yourself” command. As Children, we lived a free life. We fought almost daily and reconciled quickly as well. Years crept by, I wasn’t fighting and quarrelling every day, only occasionally and yet I couldn’t reconcile whenever I had a clash with someone. Then the second commandment became a concern. I discovered that it was almost like the most difficult thing anyone could do. Questions sprang from their hideouts that I couldn’t address. I supposed my church leaders were keeping this commandment, so I admired them. I wish I could also. I recall a preacher saying, You have to take care of the second and third, then the first won’t be a struggle. Honestly, I struggled, failing at my best efforts. I just tried loving, putting on a good smile with the guys on the street, showing some courtesy, throwing greetings to passersby and helping with some chores at home. It was hard. I knew my heart wasn’t in it. I wish it were. There was nothing I could do about it. How do I force my heart to love others? I wanted to be me. Why should I give people the impression that I love them when I didn’t care a bit? I was sick with the ‘love your neighbour’ thing and even worse ‘…as yourself’. How on earth will it be possible? One moment I was smiling and helping some kid, the other I was cursing and beating up the child. Not to mention the resentment, anger, malice, strife, and all that. How would God want us to be Christians, go to heaven, and give us such a commandment? I was frustrated.

Midgame Struggle — The Flesh, the Spirit, and the Turning Point

After a Sunday service, I went to my pastor. He preached on love. He said the command to love is not for non-Christians. Unbelievers (sinners) can’t love. They don’t have the power to love. ‘You mean I’m a sinner? I’m not, of course. ’ This love thing is the only challenge… I keep the rest of the commandments.

Me: Good morning, pastor. I came to see you about something.

Pastor: Bro. Bob, what brings you?

Me: I don’t seem to understand the passage that says love your neighbour as yourself (I said bluntly).

Pastor: How do you mean, you don’t need any interpretation for that? You should know it.

Me: I know it, sir, but I don’t understand it. I mean, I struggle to keep that commandment, and there are lots of things I do that defile it.

Pastor: I presume you’re born again. Every one of us still faces the difficulty you’re facing. I understand the angle you are coming from perfectly. Don’t let it put doubt about your assurance of salvation. The power to love is in every one of us who is born again. We have to exercise that power. Let me tell you, the flesh fights against the spirit, and there are lots of struggles: the struggle against the flesh, against sin, against the media, against self and environment. All of these things war against the soul, and that’s where the struggle is. Apostle Paul said, ‘I beat my body and put it under subjection…’ that means he forces his body against its will. The sinner does not struggle to keep the commandment of God; he does not simply keep it, and can’t. For a sinner, there is no struggle; he swims in sin, he enjoys sinning. He is like a fish in the river. It is only Christians who struggle because this flesh we put on is a weight. So you must understand, your struggle is not peculiar to you.

Me: I don’t think it’s the same thing, pastor. I can say I don't have the power to love. I only want to love because I’m aware and familiar with the passage.

Pastor: I clearly understand you, now. It’s a case of inability, not willingness. Let’s look at it like this. When a sinner hears God’s word, when the word penetrates his heart, he is pricked and wants to react to that word. At that point, the struggle is so great, and because there is no life in him yet, he hasn’t gotten the power to do the will of God. It is like that point when Christ shouted with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus…’ Lazarus heard his name being called under the authority of Jesus, but not until the next phrase followed ‘…come forth,’ he was able to leave the tomb. It is also like Nicodemus, who heard Christ speak and saw the signs and wonders, was pricked, but he was not yet born again. So he went privately to see Jesus, where he was told, ‘You must be born again’.

The Power to Love and the Journey Beyond

So bro. Bob, what I’m saying is that you must be born again. There is an experience you can’t have until you cross that thin line, and that difference is huge, the pastor said. That was the checkmate statement. At this point, without many words, I realise I have been wrong. I was in the Christian community for so long, doing ‘so much’. I weren’t sure I was born again, in fact, I was not because my life, as I know best to myself, I couldn’t tell. Who would have thought I wasn’t born again with my pius regalia and zeal. I didn’t want the pastor to notice my countenance, so I hung my head down to control my facial expression and let the tears dry. After the pastor had finished speaking, I felt a scale peel off my eyes, and suddenly I could see. I couldn’t argue that I was a sinner. My amazement was that all these years I have been among Christians in school, church and at home and yet…

Me: Thank you, pastor, for this timely exposition. (I left without another word).

As soon as I stepped out of the pastor’s presence, I hurried home. The tears won’t let me get home. I felt a hole bored through my heart. My heart was bleeding like the nails pierced into Christ's palms; I felt the same in my heart. My bed was soaked with tears — “could my tears forever flow?”. I knew it was not a flash of lightning experience. I knew it had come to stay. Something had happened to me, I was sure. All these years I was alive in morality, now I was crucified.

Many years have passed, and the love of Christ and the power to love still reside in me. It is the winning piece. There is a huge difference in crossing the thin line from religion to Christ. Love is not a rule to be kept; it is a life to be lived.
Without the life of Christ, the first commandment feels impossible, the second unbearable, and the third unreachable. But once you cross that line, love stops being a duty and becomes a nature. And when love is your nature, obedience is no longer a burden—it is a joy.

Hold on, we are not done yet. There is yet another commandment of love to consider – the third one: husbands love your wives as Christ loves the church and gave himself for it. But before that, there is more discussion on how love lifted me. See you in the coming posts.

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Christian Living

The Three Queens of Katwe

The Three Queens of Katwe explores the author's journey to understand and embody three core Christian commandments of love. Initially struggling with the concept of loving one's neighbour as oneself, the author recounts a pivotal conversation with a pastor who clarifies that the ability to truly love stems from being "born again…

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9 months ago · Gospel Lekia

A Timely Reminder of Our Hope

You’ve surely heard the phrase guest speaker. Yes? yes! Good! In this issue, we’ve a guest post: a post I published sometime in 2015. It bears my heart on the coming of the Lord. I’m bound by love and necessity to put you in remembrance of the hope of our faith. A hope that is rooted in the passage: And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. 1 Corinthians 15:19 NLT.

To my dearly beloved brothers around the world. The coming of the Lord seems to tarry. He, before the very eyes of those who saw him ascend, spoke of coming soon. These words comforted their hearts, knowing they would be with him in no time. Today, these words of our Lord are gradually fading, not holding much than mere words to some.

An Admonition to Stand Firm

I write to you, beloved, noting how much you must have suffered in the flesh, even as our very own brother who labours for the Lord had suffered, preferring death. I thought I could be of some comfort to you writing unto you, but not as much as the very departing words of the Lord when he said I am with you always, even to the end of the age. I commend the grace of God in you and how much help you have been to the believers, seeing that though you have little, yet have use of that given to you, diligent in the vineyard, labouring among the believers in reaching out to the heathen.

I urge you to be blameless and perfect before all men, even the believers, putting away every imperfection, for He commanded be ye perfect, for I am perfect. These are not the words of an idle man or an extremist or a joker or one drunk with wine, but they are those of your brother. For you know how much of the grace of God had been given to me and how He, the Lord, had called me to labour among the believers. Brother, I admonish you to likewise labour fervently among the believers and to keep the trust that the Lord did give to his church, for in this there is profit. Weary not with the age for we have seen how the world runs on competition, how the love of many is waxing cold and men becoming lovers of themselves, how believers are becoming entangle and the man of lawlessness is taking his place at the heart of the society, how that the woman Jezebel has enter the church to pollute it, how the sons of God are drinking of the cup of her fornication and falling prey to her seductions, how many are gaining the world and losing their souls, how the wolves have crept in silently among the flock, how the voice of men amplifies to drown the voice of the Lord. Indeed, you need not be told these are the last days; knowing that the evil one labours even harder, but we know how the Lord has made a public show of him. We are victorious.

Further Exhortation for Blameless Living and Fervent Labour

I admonish that all be constant in prayers, rejoice in persecution and trials, and do the work of the evangelist, for those are our inheritance from our father. Have nothing to do with the wisdom of this world, to seek its riches and fame. It is true, as it is said among the believers, how some of you bear your cross and burden under its weight. I have also heard of your zeal and genuine love, and compassion for the brethren and the lost. In this I rejoice greatly, thanking the Father of our lord Jesus Christ on your behalf. Continue in the grace, contend for the faith, strive for the mastery that Christ should gain more of you. We are the servants of Christ, redeemed from our sins and purged by the blood of the saviour, glory in His redemption; partake in His suffering; identify with His cross and live in His victory, and are sure to sit with Him at the table at the final feast. Let us not forget that whether it be riches or lack, famine or surplus, employment or unemployment, economic meltdown or surplus, rejection or acceptance, glory or failure, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ Jesus. For the patriarch before us were men of like passion as we, but after serving their generation by the will of God, fell asleep. I send my greetings to all believers, those who labour openly and quietly, the recognised or not recognised, the family of Christ and everyone who is still waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The day of His coming draws nearer than when we first believed. With many words I exhort you, brothers, but with this I exhort the more:

12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

13 But EXHORT one another DAILY, while it is called today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Emphasis mine, Hebrews 3:12-13)
Until He comes, may we be found faithful. Grace and peace be with you all: your beloved brother, Lekia.

The call to rescue souls

The book is No Man Cared for My Soul1. I could spot it from across the room, standing boldly on the shelf amid hundreds of titles. No matter how much I tried to ignore it, my eyes kept finding it. A hardback, big print, voluminous—like the years of a man’s life—I saw it almost daily because I had to use the study.

Every day, it stared at me with millions of invisible faces printed all over it and with voices calling out for help. It was eerie yet concerning. More concerning was that I could see the title on hundreds of faces on the street, schools, business places and cathedrals. It was an unavoidable burden. I read everything from fiction and non-fiction to motivational and spiritual books, but not this one. Now I realise, somehow, I must have immersed myself in it, walking through life and learning what the bible taught about the soul of man.

There is a cry in the city, and you’ve been called up. The mission is straightforward (not simple). It says go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature... for “a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children”2. “For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed”3.

It’s your call. Now make it your mission.

The challenge of taking up the call

“Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, 'Here I am; you called me.'”

The text above will make you shake your head at Samuel, but we’re like him in many ways.

In the heart of every believer is a voice. Some call it the voice of destiny, while others call it the voice of God. What is this voice? Is it our inner awareness? Is it the voice of destiny or God’s voice? There is always that initial confusion about what life is meant to be. We want to make the most of it, so a voice is not enough. There has to be a conviction — the power of a prevailing voice aligning with our being. It seems we’re close, but we know we’re not quite there yet. This is peculiar to all believers. We care about the work, yet we’re not immersed in it. We loiter around our purpose4, nap here and there and make some big splashes once in a while, but the work is not done. Bitter cry and turmoil prevail in the land, but we don’t know how to act. There is confusion, there is deep sleep.

When we’re awake, we run in the wrong direction. We go in the direction of our ‘glorified leaders’. We take up an assignment that is not given to us. Passionate, we bear the cross for which we are not called to bear. Not until it feels like someone’s call are we satisfied with it. No! God has a call for everyone. It’s unique. It could be the same assignment, but it’s still unique.

Our assignment on earth is to answer this call and focus on it. This is the challenge, and more. Mr Angel Mark(no offence to the Angel Marks) does this and that; that’s his call. Find yours and focus on it.

We should live our lives such that we can boldly say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing”.

Rescue the Perishing

You’ll be surprised how much work remains undone. We often think a lot has been done, while in reality, the need grows greater with each passing day. We crowd into already cultivated areas and turn our faces away from the 'dirty work'. Millions are perishing—and we have been called not to compete, but to search and rescue.

We must focus on our calling, not on what we fancy, desire, or find easy.

The calling of a man is to a people. We’re not called to do all the work, but rather to do the work (assigned to us). ‘Go,’ the Lord said to me, ‘for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” Acts 22:21.

We must magnify our ministry, understanding that it is God’s direct demand on our lives. Whether prison outreach, church planting, evangelism, or discipleship, all are meant to bring men to Christ.

“The labourers are few” — lots of people but few labourers. In Christ's days, the Pharisees could be termed ‘believers’, but many of them were not labouring right. There are lots of ‘believers’ today under the roof of the church, but again, very few labourers. How can the work be done if we do not labour? How will people feel the urgency in our hearts for their spiritual condition if we do not plead with them?

We can not merely share the gospel, we have to feel the doom of humanity without Christ. We talk, but sinners don’t feel our hearts. The gospel that has not moved us can not move sinners—no matter how hard we labour. We can not separate our life from our ministry and expect it to bear fruit. There is no shortcut to reaching the lost but through intense labour.

We must labour in the field of our calling. Let the preacher preach, the writer write, the encourager encourage, and the singer sing. Everyone must play their part in love.

Now is the time. The Lord waits—not for another voice, but for yours. Will you answer the call?

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Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest —Mathew 11:28

The Illusion of Prosperity and the Fall

Carts behind weary horses, he journeyed the dusty road towards Tyre. Leaving behind the city of light, desperate to begin a new life and live independently, he poured his life’s inheritance into Tyre’s booming economy. Like many of his peers, he sought a “better life” beyond the shores of home.

Economic experts had long predicted Tyre’s trade boom. It became Phoenicia’s financial headquarters, accounting for two-thirds of its wealth.

On the eve of his departure, his father pleaded with him to reconsider. “What do you want that I haven’t provided, son? Tell me. What? Why not join effort with your brother to continue my legacy… ”. “That is the problem father. I want my legacy too. Have you forgotten father, you always wanted us to go out and multiply 1. What happened?” “Everything I have done is for you, my son. I know you’re thick-skinned but leaving home is the last thing I imagined you would do”. His father said, placing his trembling hands on the table. “Your brother is here—why not stay and build the family together 2?”. “Father!” Harim replied in an appealing tone. I don’t think you understand me enough. Try to understand me, Father. Home isn’t going anywhere; I can always return. Let me go out and see what the world offers…”. And so, he left home with his share of his father’s wealth, his heart set on Tyre’s promise.

After a period, Tyre began to experience unrest. Wars and rumours of war3 affected global trade. Investors were pulling out, searching for a better haven. Harim was heavily invested in Tyre and would not be deterred.
In a turn of events, economic hardship hit the region. After a decade, a huge part of his investment had crumbled. Tyre had faced an unprecedented financial meltdown, its crumbling walls mirroring his despair. Crushed by debt, he fought to salvage what remained, but creditors circled like vultures, demanding repayment. After several failed attempts to resurrect his dying business and reclaim his dignity, he sold off everything and fled, pitching his tent in Sidon4.

The Dissonance of Family and Fate

Sidon was the destination for the broken and lost. It offered a temporary relief from the wrecks of Tyre.

On his way from a brothel, Harim met Abdul, a visitor in Sidon.
The two made many contacts. Addul soon noticed Harim’s distress. ”Have you considered going back home?” Abdul enquired. I can’t go back to my father.” Harim replied, raising his head. “I can’t face him. My brother, too. He’ll be happy to see what I have become and gloat at my failure. He sees me as a competitor. I can’t! It’s a shame I went away full but ’ll return empty5, Harim said, turning his eyes away from Abdul, trying not to blink.

“I once ran away too”, Abdul said gently. “Home has a way of waiting. You should go. You can’t continue this way — it’s beneath a prince”. “I have heard good things about your father: how compassionate he is,” Abdul continued. “You know my father?” Harim interrupted, rubbing his hard palm on his face. “Yes!” Abdul responded. “I didn’t mention it, but I was also in Tyre.” Harim was curious. “Yes, I invested in Tyre too, but everything went down with the sinking country,” Abdul continued speaking with Harim on the merits of taking a bold step to return home, but it’s Harim’s call.

Years passed, Harim’s life a wheel of futility, stuck in vain pursuit of restoration. The harder he struggled, the deeper he sank — years spent in vanity and pride. After many painful and failed attempts, he realised that the first rung to redemption was to give up trying. Still hoping for a change in fate, he reconsidered Abdul’s advice, but his old self wrestled on6.

The Vision and the Journey Home

“Abba warned me about the dangers of making reckless decisions 7. He will be very mad at me”. “Abba! Abba is a powerful man. I would rather profit as his servant than waste my life chasing vain dreams. I made a mess of my life, but who else can take me in if not Abba? I would rather go to Abba than die in a fool’s paradise. 8” His mind drifted as he reminisced about his father and home.

He sat outside his tent, watching the sun sink behind the glowing evening clouds. A cool breeze makes its gentle fingers on his face, sending him into a state of serenity. The figure in the distance resembled Abba. “It was unusual for him to be out there at this hour”, he thought. He walked hurriedly towards the figure, almost running to seize the hope in his heart. It was an unexplainable joy to fall at Abba’s feet. He had finally escaped the flames of Tyre and Sidon. For a moment, his inner turmoil dissolved. He was in Abba's bosom now. He observed his face still glowed as before, his grey hair flowing generously across his features, unchanged over the years9. He could not contain his joy like one who had discovered a treasure10. He wept bitterly, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants… 11” Abba's gentle hands squeezed his shoulders, throwing his arms around him, he kissed him — ‘Rise, my son’12. He opened his eyes. He had dozed off from the exhaustion of working all day on the farm. Looking up, he noticed Abdul standing over him, tapping his shoulder. “Abdul.” Abdul stared at him, wondering why his eyes were teary. Rising from his seat, he declared, “I’m going home, Abdul!”. “Abdul, I’m going home. Abba is waiting for me… 13”

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Christian Living

Men Of the Bible - Harim

Harim leaves his father's home seeking independent prosperity in the booming city of Tyre. Driven by a desire for his legacy despite his father's pleas, Harim invests his inheritance in Tyre's economy. However, unforeseen economic decline leads to his financial ruin…

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a year ago · Gospel Lekia

She read through the letter to check for errors. When she was confident that all looked good, she slipped it into a white envelope. She grinned and pictured the warm feeling that would fill Bale when he received her letter.

23rd April, 1997

sir,  

I am glad to hear from you. I have been expecting and was sure you would write to us soon. I thank God who has helped you to keep up with the many schedules at hand. I and the children are doing well. God has been good to us. We have been getting along. Even though things have not been easy, we’re keeping faith. The atmosphere around me is thick. And I now live a careful life. The constant fear of being discovered and the lack of freedom to express my new faith is disturbing. I pray and live in secrecy. I am uncomfortable living this way but I don’t have a choice. I believe things may be different later, but I have to protect myself as much as I can for now. How is life over there, and your family as well? I hope all is well with you. Please continually pray for us that God should help us enjoy the freedom we seek to express our faith.  I have been reading the Bible you gave me. Last night I studied John 4. There is joy in me even in the present condition I find myself. I’m grateful to God for the blessing of his son Jesus Christ. Muhammad and Fatimah are doing well. We do not know when you will be coming around again. Thank you, Sir, for everything. May God keep you always. Amen. 

Aisha.

Read Bale’s first Letter

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Highlights

On Your Mark … Go!

Eyob Faniel has decided to go for it. Millions of spectators watched the Italian champion push forward 11km in the 42.195km Olympic marathon. He dominated a quarter of the course. While everyone cheered him on, one fact was certain: the course was far from complete. In what was a short reign, Eyob Faniel was back in the pack — of the ordinary. Another rising king, Tamirat Tola, stoked his fire and smoked Faniel.

The Paris 2024 Olympics was a delight, but certainly not for the athletes. The uncertainty was consuming. The stage was set for all to compete, but first, they like the Apostle must bear in mind …that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. The Apostle further admonished: So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I might be disqualified — 1 Corinthians 9:224 - 27 (paraphrased).

… Run to win!

In the last minute of Faniel’s reign, the commentator noted “What happens at the end of the race is more important than the present”. True, in the sense that winning (in the end) is what matters. So run to win!

Everyone is given a talent. The great judge will enquire about what each of us did with ours. We must account for our talent, not that of others. Each to their race. So again, run to win!

He gave gifts to men. And he gave some apostles and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11). Our current spiritual decline, hiding within the walls of the church, doing the work for which we’re not called, amounts to religious boondoggling 1.

When the cold comes

One must say the cold is sudden. But no. Like a hydra, it pierces through all vital organs with its tentacles, creeping, growing and consuming everything on its path. It infects a great percentage—many, like a pandemic. Keeping warm will be one of the hardest things to do in the ‘last days’. “This know also, that in the last days, perilous times shall come … the love of many shall wax cold” (2 Timothy 3:1, Mathew 24:12).

Broken ribs and frozen corpses of pilgrims whose voices we once heard crying in the wilderness will litter the cold winter street. It will send many pilgrims hiding and leaving their duty posts unattended.

Howling cold wind blows its venoms into the church. Gigantic cathedrals are filled with worshipers consumed in orthodox rituals unaware of the terrors of winter. It’s a crisis the church keeps ascending — the love of many grows (wax) cold.

Our lack of unity and oneness makes the cold worse. Everyone seems engrossed in some spiritual pursuit, posing as the enlightened one and yet devoid of the very simplistic tenets of our faith; trained to possess everything but genuine love.

The embers of revival are far smothered. Awake! Awake! A cry not yet heard as it appears the church is heavily invested in liturgy and its treasury is still fat. We’re not worried yet. Why should we? There are still whispers of the name of God here and there in our homes. We could still gather in the early hours of the day for prayers, sing the good old hymns with hearts infested with worms and be strangers to genuine love for the Lord — the love for our brethren. When the cold comes, it will touch everything with its cold hands of death.

Sadly, the church has found itself in the last rung of the statement from G. Michael Hopf's post-apocalyptic novel, Those Who Remain. “Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times”. “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping”.

In hallowed halls, a lament resounds,
A downward spiral, a faith profound.
From strength to weakness, a tragic fall,
A cautionary tale, for one and all.
Strong pillars once held high the creed,
Good times blossomed, and hearts were freed.
But comfort's curse, a subtle snare,
Lulled the faithful, and weakened their care.
Now, in hard times, the church does stray,
A shadow of its former, radiant day.
Weak men, forged in ease, now falter and fail,
And the foundations of faith begin to frail.
A sobering reminder, in Hopf's solemn phrase,
A cycle of strength, and weakness, in an endless daze.
May the church awaken, and once more stand tall,
For in strength and vigilance, faith's flame burns bright, after all.

Stoke your inner fire

How long until the end of winter? Well, till we realize we’re bedridden from the cold. How much of a mess we’re and do not realise it. How much we hear and do not understand. How much we say and do not do. We’re perhaps dead to our spiritual state and consciousness — a numbness from exposure to prolonged and intense cold. We don’t only sin, we take joy in sinning (quietly). Our necks are used to bearing the heavy yoke of the law. We’re not burdened nor seek to be freed.

We have maintained a form of godliness and give no break to superficial pious pursuits. This has only left us with a sense of false fulfilment. We have forgotten that our reward lies in doing the work we were called to do.

To resist the cold we must stoke our inner fire. We must take a break from our ‘episcopal burden’ to wait upon the Lord. All hope may seem lost ‘But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint’ Isaiah 40:31.

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