Dinah the Diner...

Every day is a new beginning. Treat it that way. Stay away from what might have been, and look at what can be. Marsha Petrie Sue

Anyone ever read the story of Dinah in the bible? She was the seventh (7th) child and the only daughter Leah bore to Jacob. A lot have been said about her twelve brothers;being the ones who became the twelve tribes of Israel. For obvious cultural reasons in those days, we may not have thought that Dinah would have been included as the “thirteenth” tribe of Israel being a woman, but being a daughter of such a great patriarch; one would expect that her name would have resonated at different parts of the bible and her legacy mentioned from generation to generation just like her brothers.

Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. (Genesis 34:1 NKJV).

We are in the world but not of the world. We may be in the land but we are not of the land. Dining with people of the land sometimes puts us in jeopardy. In her innocence and in a bid to familiarize herself with the environment, Dinah went to visit the daughters of the land. Needless to say that God had always warned the Israelites not to associate with people who served other gods, perhaps she didn't think her visit was going to bring any harm but as we would see in the rest of the story, as a result of her visit, not only was Dinah affected, her visit also fuelled a lot of catastrophic occurrences. - Rape, bloodshed and a relocation of the entire family. Let’s cut her some slack, being the only daughter, she definitely needed companionship but fate played a fast one on her.

And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her. 3His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. Gen 34: 2

A casual visit to the girls became a life-changing one for Dinah and her family. No one ever prays to be raped but we see the wickedness of men abounding in the numerous cases of rape reported on a daily basis. We hear of fathers violating their children, uncles; their nieces, cousins their cousins and all sorts. It’s a menace that people indulge in and it’s evil, devilish and wicked. Life could have very funny twists as we all know but only the courageous would take whatever life hurls at them and make something good out of it.We remember the five daughters of Zelophehad  in the book of Numbers (chapter 27), who rose to claim their rights in the absence of a male heir in their family. Because they demanded for it, they got it !

If God is involved in your life, only good will emanate from it at the end of the day. Dinah was blossoming in her youth; she was a proud daughter of her dad, probably his favourite after Joseph. She grew up as the only daughter amongst men and so she must have been pampered. We see her brothers rising to her defence after the incident and they took justice into their hands and following that was a lot of  bloodshed and chaos.

 She was a beautiful young lady with great aspirations for the future. She was bold enough to have gone out to see the daughters of the land but because of what happened, she never bounced back. Subsequently, all the sons of the patriarch-Jacob are mentioned in the bible but we hear nothing again of Dinah. The budding and blossoming lady faded into obscurity. Life at times isn't fair but we must not allow external conditions to condition our minds, lives and future. Yes we are being admonished to be careful of what we do but in cases where we are victims of circumstances or factors beyond our control, we must know that in Christ, there is salvation, deliverance and healing:  healing for everyone who has been raped or abused either physically or emotionally.

Dinah wasn't the only who had a disadvantage in the bible. Do you remember Tamar, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Rahab who was a harlot? Tamar was Judah’s daughter in law who lost her husband and at some point, she disguised herself as a harlot and got herself impregnated by her father in law, bearing him a set of twin boys; Perez and Zerah, and yet, Tamar’s name is mentioned Christ’s genealogy in Matthew chapter 1. Bathsheba had an unholy relationship with David yet, her offspring became the preferred for the throne.  Who would believe that Rahab the harlot would become David's great grandmother? Whilst I do not encourage sinning wilfully, I just deem it necessary to mention that your past mistakes or whatever debilitating situation you might have gone through in life should not hinder you from attaining greatness in life. God qualifies those whom the world calls unclean.  These four women had questionable pasts but somehow, life worked out something good for them and they made it into Jesus’ genealogy.  

A Good Name is An Ever Blazing Flame

George Washington (1732-1799)

Wolfgang A. Mozart (1756-1791)

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947)

Henry Ford (1863-1947)

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Mother Teresa (1910-1997)

Martin Luther King (1929-1968)

Kenneth Hagin (1917-2003)

A sterling reputation is better than striking it rich; a gracious spirit is better than money in the bank. (A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,

Loving favor rather than silver and gold) Proverbs 22:1- MSG /NKJV

I have selected just a few names of some of the most famous people who have lived on the face of the earth and my list above contains the names of men and a woman; people of calibre who were America’s Past Presidents, Industrialists, Philanthropists, Inventors Composer, Preachers and Businessmen. You will find something common amongst the names mentioned however; all are dead, and they were people who influenced and impacted their world immensely. The inventions, songs, books cars, bulbs, they have left behind are still a source of pride to humanity and generations yet unborn. Unarguably, their names are and will be ever relevant for decades and millenniums.

How will you drive a Ford car without remembering Henry Ford? or Thomas Edison- a man who invented devices that greatly influenced existence all around the world. He used to be ranked as the most prolific inventor in the world and has only dropped to number four on the list because of some other up-coming ones who are still alive. Time will not permit me to enumerate the exploits of all of them but also worth mentioning is the life of Mozart, a prolific and influential composer of the classical era. I will not fail to mention the exploits of Kenneth Hagin, often referred to as the Father of faith. Indisputably, his influence in the circles of the charismatic movement will continue to wax stronger from generation to the ones unborn as He authored many life- changing books and preached many sermons ; many of which we are benefiting from till date. A lot of people never met him physically but his messages will continue to reverberate till eternity!

What's in this to glean from ? A lot of people live for the moments; hustle for a living and amass wealth for their lifetime by all means whether morally acceptable or not. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good thing to live well, fulfill purpose and become wealthy. After all, God gives us power to make wealth and He teaches us to profit (Isaiah 48: 17), but we must always remember that no one can cross to the other side of eternity with the smallest coin or the tiniest one dollar bill. No currency of the word is spendable in yonder!  That we are meant to live impact-full lives and live a legacy for posterity is an understatement. Don’t you find it amazing all the time that when someone is being buried, he takes nothing with him; absolutely nothing?  In some part of the world, you see robbers stripping buried corpses of the expensive items they are buried with.  It only shows that the things we hustle for in life are ephemeral, and there is nothing important as leaving the legacy of a good name for posterity.

Let’s not forget that when all is said and done for you and I, the only thing we’ll be remembered for would be what we have done whilst here. Our names would be written in full, followed by those two important dates, separated by a hyphen as seen in the list above. The hyphen may be a small punctuation mark, but it represents a sum total of what everyone represented in life. Your purpose, actions, reactions, relationships, associations, decisions are all what make up that hyphen. Many times, nobody wants to talk about death, but unfortunately, it’s a reality EVERYONE must face. We all pray to live long and enjoy good health but many have been taken away when they least expected.

A good life gets passed on to the grandchildren; Ill-gotten wealth ends up with good people (22.Good people leave an inheritance to their grandchildren, but the sinner’s wealth passes to the godly). Proverbs 13: 22. MSG/NKJV

Everyone loves to associate with successful people because of their reputation. When I say successful, I mean success in the real sense of it.Success that doesn't suppress or repress the rights of others.  A person is not successful  just because they string together musical notes and they are widely acclaimed singers. I am referring to people whose lives are worthy of emulation amongst humanity. People who do not only have their interest at heart but who believe that with their gifts and talents, they are here to affects lives positively. If a letter is written to Nelson Mandela, without an address and erroneously it gets lost in Australia or some remote part of Russia, I can bet that somehow, the letter will find its way to South Africa! That’s what a good reputation does. Generations unborn will reap the dividend of the good seeds a great grandfather has sown. Not everyone would be popular and known all around the world, but in your own little corner, you can be committed to helping lives.

Whilst at this, it’s a good time to celebrate my Pastors; Sam and Nike Adeyemi- Senior Pastors of  Daystar Christian Centre, Lagos Nigeria as the church marks its 18th anniversary today: November 18th, 2013. They are worthy of appreciation for living selfless lives and for being an immense source of blessings as they continue to raise role models for this generation. A special shout also, to every single person living selflessly and making efforts at positively affecting people around them. You may not be known, but be assured that God; your creator and the judge of all knows you and what you are doing.

Pastors Sam and Nike Adeyemi

Now unto God who is able to give unto us enduring legacies on earth, just as He gave Jesus Christ our Lord a name above all names, because He humbled Himself and submitted himself to be offered for the sins of the world; by His grace, may we also be known as people who affected their generation; long after we are gone.  

The Pen….

Photo credit: Google images
Daystar Christian Centre is at www.daystarng.org

Your Dream will Stream Live

Have you ever had a dream that came to pass just as you had it? Has something ever happened to you and you realize how things played out just as you had seen it in a dream? Countless number of times, I've had such experiences and I am usually baffled at the connection between the “dream world” and reality. The essence of this post is not to dive into minutiae of dreams and where they originate from, but let me quickly mention that dreams sometimes foretell what will happen in the physical, they being an insight into what is happening or has happened in the spirit realm.

Then he (Jacob) dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.13.And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. (Genesis 28:12)

Looking at the bible, there are many instances of dreams serving as pointers to what was going to happen. My very last post at http://tinyurl.com/ooezblk talks about the dreams the butler and the baker had with the interpretation happening in reality just as they had saw in their dreams. Remember Joseph who was tagged by his brothers as “the dreamer”? It didn't matter what they labelled him anyway because his dream came to pass thirteen years after in the manner he had seen things. Ordinary men, pagans and prophets in the bible all dreamt; and even kings were not exempted from having such encounters. We remember Abimelech, Pharaoh, and Nebuchadnezzar all had dreams.We can’t but also remember Solomon whom God appeared to in a dream , giving  him an open cheque( check) to ask for whatever he desired. (At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?” (1 Kings 3:5)).

Having said all of that, let’s dive into the essence of this post. Whilst we have established the fact that God speaks to us in dreams (not all dreams are from God however), I would like to talk about the dreams we can have whilst we are wide awake.

I recently remembered an encounter I had with a dear cousin of mine, one beautiful Saturday morning, about twenty one (21) years ago whilst I was in my second year in High School .We were outside of the house, doing our chores and all of a sudden, we started to fantasize about travelling overseas and what we were going to buy for every member of our families. We were actually drawing lists! I remember saying I was going to buy dresses for my mum, a belt for an older cousin and all sorts; I can’t forget that scene easily. Needless to say as at that time, we didn't even have international passports and it was not in our parents agenda to take us overseas by any means and so our thoughts appeared to be vague imagination and what you would call an illusion. We were young, inspired and just full of hopes for the future. As young teenagers standing in the front of one of the teachers’ quarters at Igbobi College at Fadeyi, some remote area in Lagos, Nigeria, we saw ourselves combing through the streets of London and New York shopping with loads of money. I can’t remember whatever it was that inspired us to have that conversation!  

Fast forward till date, it occurred to me only two days ago, as my cousin mentioned she was jetting out of the country again for a couple of weeks, that that scene we were rehearsing back then has played out in reality time and again. For real! Both of us have travelled countless number of times to many countries of the world; not alone, but with our family members as well and we have bought much more than we imagined back then. That is a first-hand testimony of what you visualize in your mind, streaming live in reality!

The Butler, The Baker and their Bounty; (One's Boom, the Other's Doom)

Two men, two dreams, two interpretations and two destinies….

I have been studying the life of Joseph for a while and the story of two men he had an encounter with in his sojourn in prison has been on my study radar. Both of them were key employees of King Pharaoh of Egypt and for whatever reasons, they both committed an offence that landed them in prison. The King was upset with them and in spite of the position they occupied; being the very ones who fed him with drinks and food, they were remanded in jail.

It came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. 2And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker. 3 So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. 4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them; so they were in custody for a while. (Genesis 40:1-3)

Evil communication as we know, corrupts good manners. I wonder how severe the offence was, that got the king so infuriated. Something tells me that someone must have influenced the other out of the two. Sometimes we get into the position of authority and we allow unnecessary influence of friends to affect our work and relationships. In life, we may have a lot of similarities with someone, but we must never forget we are different. More often than not, because we find ourselves in the same circumstances with some people, we assume that what works for them, will work with us and vice versa. What works for a member of a family may not work for other siblings- God designed it so- our peculiarity. It's time to drop your crowd consciousness and find a path to your destiny for yourself!

5Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream, both of them, each man’s dream in one night and each man’s dream with its own interpretation. 6And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were sad. 7So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in the custody of his lord’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today?”8And they said to him, “We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.” (Genesis 40:5-8)

So they both occupied enviable positions in Pharaoh’s house, they both offended Pharaoh the same day ,it happened that the two of them were cast into the same prison and they both had a mind boggling dream the same day! I think sometimes we are drawn to some people because we have seen similar characteristics that we possess in them. Opposite they say attracts but sometimes, similarities make us gravitate to some people too. We must however make it a point of duty to influence positively and not be influenced negatively.

9Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, 10and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes.11Then Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”

12And Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days. 13Now within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand according to the former manner, when you were his butler. 

16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and there were three white baskets on my head. (Genesis 40:9-16)

Praise: The Breaker for a Raise

Hello beautiful people!

It’s a time when many people start to review their achievements so far for the year. More often than not, a lot of us feel that we have not fared so well ,but the lyrics of a popular hymnal admonishes us to– “count your blessings, name them one by one  and it will surprise you what the Lord has done”. There are many blessings we overlook, because to us they appear insignificant, but God is found in the midst of “little” and big blessings. Remember that a man can receive nothing except it be given him from above! Someone said- “When the acts of God are too small for you, you stop seeing them altogether”.

I have realized once again that the power of praise cannot be overemphasized. Anyone remembers my write up about Judah and how He was chosen as the lineage through which Jesus would come? You can read it at http://to.ly/pVCB. In an interesting story I read again in the bible, the enemies came harassing the Israelites at a point in time and Jehoshaphat, who was leading them at that time called on God for help .God’s words came to him as quoted below:

And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” (II Chronicles 20:15-17 NKJV)


Now, if God has promised him that he wouldn't have to fight a battle, should he not just have gone home to relax, with an assurance that God has taken care of his issues? Any human being in such a circumstance may not even go to sleep but will probably go back home apprehensive, watching the enemies through the windows or gates intermittently to see what they were up to.

There are  4 distinct lines in the prophecy that came to Jehoshaphat:

·         Do not be afraid

·         Tomorrow go against them

·         God will fight this battle for you

·         Position yourselves.

If God was going fight for him, then there was no need going for battle at all. God might as well send an angel to kill the enemies like an angel killed 185,000 people without any human assistance in 2nd Kings 19:35. So in the same light, He was going to fight for them, but in this case, there was a twist; they had a part to play and they needed to be well positioned.  Jehoshaphat didn't receive any further instruction, but He was wise enough to know what to do.