Gloves of Love.....

Hello!

It's the 12th month already, thanks to our ever Gracious God who blesses us with everything that pertains to life and godliness.The excitement is building up, its almost Christmas , it's the season of Love and Giving.

I like to share briefly about the unnamed woman in the bible who poured an expensive, full jar of alabaster oil on Jesus' head. 

Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a dreaded skin disease. While Jesus was eating, a woman came in with an alabaster jar full of a very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on Jesus' head. (Mark 14:3 GNT)

Jesus went visiting Simon, one of His followers who had benefited form His ministry and a woman found her way there; probably uninvited. She wasn't going to come touch the helm of His garment, neither was she coming to make a request;  she just wanted to come pour out her love on the Master. This woman poured oil on Jesus and it must have been dripping down his face from his head. That must have taken a lot of guts but she didn't care ! She was driven by something much more deeper than the superficial. 

Many at times, we all want to get from God, from people; forgetting that it is more blessed to give than to receive just as the bible admonishes. Our world is hurting today because of  lack of genuine love and compassion for one another.  Why would someone rape another person? Why would a man assassinate another man? Why would there be war and contention  amongst members of the same household and why would there be hatred , envy and killings amongst mankind? Love is lacking!

We are approaching Christmas and everyone is getting excited but we must not miss out the essence of it. God loved and He gave; this shows the multi-faceted feature of love. You can give without loving but you can't love without giving. God first loved and gave. Where is the love of God , the love for God and the love for people in our hearts? It's so disheartening what we read in the news day in day out.

Some of the people there became angry and said to one another, “What was the use of wasting the perfume? It could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor!” And they criticized her harshly. (Mark 14:4, 5 GNT)

The guests at this table where Jesus sat, felt the woman might just have given the poor the monetary value of the expensive alabaster oil she poured on Him but Jesus made them realize that her pouring the oil on him was an action birthed out of love and not just giving!

Looking at it from another angle, sometimes people may criticize and castigate you for going "overboard" in the service of God; like they got angry with this woman. The bible said that they criticized her harshly! She had something which they lacked and the Saviour was not embarrassed by the fact that his body was all messed up with oil. It was coming from a heart of love! She broke an expensive oil and poured it on Jesus head- she gave her all.


 People castigated her but Jesus appreciated her gesture. Generations will remember you for your genuine, heartfelt service to God and mankind. Never relent! Put on the Gloves of Love and never put them off!

Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour yet? If you don’t, then say the prayers Here.

The Pen.....

Picture Credit:http://josusblog.wordpress.com/

Cuddly Feet for those Ugly Feet!

Hello Friends,

It’s the end of another beautiful month! For me, October has been a month of good news; good news pertaining to me, pleasant news from friends and from colleagues. Yet, in the news both nationally and internationally; it’s been a period of much chaos and alarming reports all around the world. The media constantly inundates us with depressing stories!We find out that bad news actually trend the more. Have you ever wondered why?  Yes there would be bad news from time to time but in our place as God’s ambassadors, we should bring a message of comfort to a hurting world.

Talking about news, how we relate news and events to people, and the carrier of news; in my usual way of biblical character study, the story of an interesting man came to mind as I prepared for work this morning. (By now you should know I love to write on bible characters!)

Remember Saul in the bible? The very first king of Israel that God chose for His people when they demanded for a king. Well, he had his ups and down and fell out of favor with God and so at some point, God raised a king from the back side of the desert- David; a man after His own heart. David went through much in the hands of Saul but still maintained his loyalty and respect despite the fact that Saul sought to kill him at many times. David had the opportunity of retaliating, but he never lifted his finger against him.

So there was this fierce battle against Israel which led to Saul’s death. During the battle, he was fatally wounded and he asked his armor bearer to kill him but he refused so he fell on the sword himself and died. (The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers.4Then Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me.” But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it. 1^st Samuel 31:3-4)

What a gruesome ending for a man who started well; chosen by God for such a great assignment of leading the Israelites. It was indeed a sad day for the nation of Israel; their No 1 man had just died; with three of his sons, his armor bearer and all his men! The whole nation was mourning, but someone, somewhere thought he could get credit and gain the respect of David whose arch enemy had just died.

Let’s look at the scripture. Quite a long one but we can pick a few things from it.

2nd Samuel 1: 1Now it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had stayed two days in Ziklag, 2on the third day, behold, it happened that a man came from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head. So it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the ground and prostrated himself. 3And David said to him, “Where have you come from?” So he said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.”

4Then David said to him, “How did the matter go? Please tell me.”

And he answered, “The people have fled from the battle, many of the people are fallen and dead, and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.”

5. So David said to the young man who told him, “How do you know that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?”

6Then the young man who told him said, “As I happened by chance to be on Mount Gilboa, there was Saul, leaning on his spear; and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. 7Now when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’ 8And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ So I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’ 9He said to me again, ‘Please stand over me and kill me, for anguish has come upon me, but my life still remains in me.’ 10So I stood over him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my lord.”

  Of course the young man heaped up lies upon lies. He probably saw Saul dead at the battlefield, saw his crown and all and quickly thought of how he could become a national hero and get recognition from David who was the King elect! He was a bearer of bad news; and a master fabricator for that matter. What could he have gotten from it anyway; to have put up such a fake and wicked story?  Of course David ordered that he be killed and that was the end of his life.

·         Bad news bearer, oftentimes add to stories to make it interesting.

·         They distort the real thing to make it sound “sweeter” to the ears

·         Most times, they look out for what to gain from it

·         Their feet are always ugly.

The bible tells us in Isaiah 52: 7:

How beautiful upon the mountains

Are the feet of him who brings good news,

Who proclaims peace,

Who brings glad tidings of good things,

Who proclaims salvation,

Who says to Zion,

“Your God reigns!”

Before you begin to spread that news, make sure it brings solace and comfort as well. Make sure in the midst of the chaos and devastation, there is still hope to those you are relaying your message to!

 Even Jesus declared His main mandate on earth as that of preaching of GOOD news.

Friend, what message are you preaching to your world?

Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour yet? If you don’t, then say the prayers Here.

The Pen....

The Lepers' Famous Leap..

Hi Friends,

It’s exactly three (3) months to the end of the year 2014...Wow! Where have 3 quarters, 9 months , 39 weeks , 274 days, 6576 hours, 394,560 minutes and 23,673,600 seconds of year 2014 all gone?  In spite of all the terror, pestilence, bombings; we should be grateful to God for the gift of Life; we are still here!

Quickly, I want to share with us the story of 4 interesting young men in the bible. Their names weren't mentioned, but they were addressed by the pertinent situation of their lives- they were lepers.

It was a trying time for the city of Samaria; a difficult season of famine. It was so bad that the women were starting to boil their children for food as there was no food and the very few things available for sale were super expensive. God through His servant Elisha;  spoke a word  that by the next day, there was going to be a turn around and that was how the story  and plight of the lepers came into light. 

2^nd Kings 7: 3

Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other. 4“We will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we will starve if we go back there. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway.”

You see, we are all here at some point in time of our lives; in the valley of decision. Things look so funny that it seems going backwards is dangerous and moving forward could be catastrophic! But I tell you from my experience and walk with God; there always, always will be a way out!These four guys had serious issues in their lives. First and foremost they had a debilitating medical condition which made them outcasts and unwanted in the society; they were some form of menace, an embarrassment to their families and community at large.

Secondly they were dying; of hunger. Hunger by any definition is not a friend of any human being or community. Hunger kills, it wipes out communities and in their case, it made their lives worse off physically and psychologically.

Thirdly, there was no motivation for the present and no hope for the future. It was either they died of hunger or they moved ahead and are killed by the enemies. What a dire situation they found themselves in.

Anyway, they did something; they moved they took a risk, they ventured into a future unknown and a terrain unfamiliar……

5 So at twilight they set out for the camp of the Arameans. But when they came to the edge of the camp, no one was there! 6For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the clatter of speeding chariots and the galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching. “The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us!” they cried to one another. 7So they panicked and ran into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else, as they fled for their lives.

8When the lepers arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after another, eating and drinking wine; and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and hid it. (2^nd Kings 7)

Alas it worked for them! Setting out worked for them, making a change worked! Taking a leap of faith worked out and their lives have just taken a turn for the best. The outcasts have suddenly become the main-cast in the story of victory and restoration for Israel. They had suddenly become heroes and yes, through them, the word of God as spoken by the Prophet Elisha came to pass! The siege was over and the Israelites entered into their possessions. From a position of abject lack, there was suddenly an abundance of all just overnight!  The heavens were opened unto them.

9Finally, they said to each other, “This is not right. This is a day of good news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone! If we wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.”

10So they went back to the city and told the gatekeepers what had happened. “We went out to the Aramean camp,” they said, “and no one was there! The horses and donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in order, but there wasn’t a single person around!”11Then the gatekeepers shouted the news to the people in the palace.

Friend, that step you are refusing or hesitating to take might be all you need to enter into the next phase of your life. It might be all you need to bring the heavens rains upon you; it might just be all that is needed to make the words of prophecy come to pass. Don't place God in a box by expecting Him to do things in familiar ways.  That little nudge in your heart….Hmmn, what do you stand to gain if you don’t take that step anyway?

I leave you to ponder on this story again but remember......

Wishing us a most glorious 4^th quarter of year 2014.Peace!

Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour yet? If you don’t, then say the prayers Here.

The Pen…..

Pictures credit: Culled from Google.

A Jeer at Fear!

Hi Friends!

It's been an interesting month of August in my church; Daystar Christian Center; Lagos Nigeria where August was declared our month of Extravagant Praise and all services have been particularly electrifying with wonderful praise sessions. Co-incidentally a couple of renowned  churches also declared August as the month of Praise. When I get back from doing two services in church, I would usually log on to the Winners Chapel Online service and truly, I can say, Praise is a common language n the Kingdom of God. 

Praise sessions in church, coupled with my personal and family praise sessions have been the most interesting times of my life and it must be an attitude I should never let go of. Ironically at the beginning of the month, the fright of the Ebola disease had not spread so much and few days into the month, I concluded it wasn't a mistake or coincidence that we were admonished to praise God throughout August. 

Needless to say in West Africa and in Nigeria where I currently reside, the fear of the deadly disease has taken a grip on the nation. You hardly come across people discussing anything without the mention of Ebola. Newspapers headlines are always scary, the news time on the Television has garnered a wider audience, because everybody wants to have an update. Resumption time for schools has been postponed, sanitizers have become a must have in everybody' bag; hence the producers of sanitizers must be making a lot of money especially here in Nigeria (An Opportunity in a difficulty you would say) . Lives have been lost, some have recovered and some are still ill etc. Earlier in the month, I decided I was going to go off the news for a week because I realized if I was not careful, I would be subjected to the palpable fear in the environment as  fear was being sold a penny everywhere!

For me, in all of these, it is a call, an  admonishment to really come to know Him in whom we have believed. Fear is crippling, fear torments, fear attracts the negative, fear hinders the move of the Holy Spirit, the power of God. In times like this, we who are called Christians are the ones to offer courage and comfort to a terrified world and not be crippled by fear itself. We are admonished in different parts of the bible not to fear; fear is not of God!The Bible says do not fear  more than 365 times- that is enough for one day of the year.

Before now, it was the terror of Boko Haram that gripped our nation; I am optimistic that someday soon, it will become a thing of the past entirely. For all you care, the scourge of Ebola will come to an end and some other things will crop up from time to time around the world. Would we continue to live our lives in fear? Fear of the known, of the unknown, of what we see of what we don't see, fear of the present, of the future and even of the past?

God's admonishment for us is clear and direct in Isaiah 41: 10

"Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness"

It's as simple as that, if only we would take it not just at the face value, but accept the words just as our Father has said it!

Enjoy God's grace as we enter the "..Ember Months.

Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour yet? If you don’t, then say the prayers Here.

The Pen

Mrs Zebedee! A Peep into a Mother's Plea..

Hello everyone!

I saw a disturbing picture a couple of days ago of a young girl of about seven (7) years of age wearing a bum short and her mother proudly used the picture as her display picture on Blackberry. Seriously, to me, it looked inappropriate.  From time to time too, I see pictures indicative of unnecessary exposure of these children to things that are not exactly expedient. We have a role to help these young ones identify the right path for their lives.  A lot of the things we see around today are attributable to homes, to families, upbringing and all ; it is easy to know those who came out of good homes and those who didn't. I am not going to go into all of that today but will like to just give a plea to mothers from a story in the bible. May God help us all!

So today, I thought of sharing about a woman in the bible whose action sort of, was and is castigated by many and seen as an unhealthy ambition, but from whom I think we could take a cue with regards to nurturing our children in the path they should follow. She is relatively unknown in the scriptures, her name wasn't expressly mentioned( even though some associate her as the Salome mentioned in the bible) but her story was worth mentioning in the Bible.  I am talking about no one than the Mother of the Zebedee brothers; James and John, also known as the Zebedee brothers; two out of the twelve disciples of Jesus. This is actually an excerpt of a project I am working on and in due time, the entire material will be released.

Here is another example of a godly woman who had a heart for God. Asides the fact that her children were part of the twelve (12) revered Disciples of Christ; she was an ardent follower of the Lord too. She supported her children in the work of the ministry and probably went everywhere they went with the Saviour.

Mark 3:17

14Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, 15and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: 16Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; 17James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder”;

Jesus had only twelve disciples/apostles and there were two brothers amongst them. What a singular honour to a mother to have two of her sons as a part of the closest twelve Jesus worked with? That is an eternal honour! Revelation chapter twenty one and verse fourteen (21:14) says “Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. “ Two brothers from the same mum were not only known men of their generation but eternally, their names would be known. What great work their mother must have done! They ranked highly amongst the apostles and Jesus was with them (and Peter) at specific times and events more than He was with the other apostles.

James became the first Apostle to die a martyr's death;  the two,were part of the  three that  witnessed the  transfiguration( Matthew 17:1) and these same three also witnessed the Agony of Jesus in Gethesemane (Matthew 26:37). They apparently were closer to Jesus more than the other apostles were. To cap it all, John was the closest disciple to Jesus and he was seen as leaning on the breast of Jesus and referred to as the disciple whom The Lord loved. We can see this in John chapter thirteen (13)

23Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke.25Then, leaning back on Jesus’ breast, he said to Him, “Lord, who is it?”

This disciple that Jesus loved dearly was at the cross and Jesus handed over his mother to him (John 19:26-27). After Jesus died, together with Peter he took a prominent part in the founding and guidance of the church. We can go on and on about these great sons of Zebedee!

 Let's  take a look at a defining moment in their walk with God.

Matthew 20:20

20Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.21And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”

22But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized withthe baptism that I am baptized with?”

They said to Him, “We are able.”23So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”

So the mother comes around, asking that her sons be seated at the highest place of honour in heaven....Hmmmn, what an ambition! In all fairness, she  wanted the best for them, she wanted them never to leave the side of the Saviour whether in this life or in the one to come. However, this was a desire probably not borne out of good intentions; it may have been borne out of selfishness,  but we see it was wrong and Jesus corrected her on the spot. . Let us however not forget that she gave them support in the work of the ministry. She had a good heart and continued to serve God. She didn't discourage them from following Christ. At least she spoke to Jesus about her children! How many people talk to God about their children, about their destinies nowadays? Yes we all want our children to look good, to be the best, to go to the best schools but spiritually, we must also be on the lookout for them as well!

 What we can learn from this is to always pray that the Holy Spirit would help us align our thoughts and plans for our children with his and that we may be flexible enough to identify what God wants for them and nothing out of our selfish desires. The Mark 10 version states that the brothers came to meet Jesus to make that request by themselves. Whichever way, godly mothers should seek to train their children in aligning their desires with the will of God.

Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour yet? If you don’t, then say the prayers Here.

The Pen!

Things to Pen down from Peninnah

The story of Hannah in the bible is one we are all familiar with. Hannah was married to a very devoted husband,a polygamist and who in spite of having children from one wife and no child at all from the other, did not mistreat the barren wife for that reason.

1^st Samuel 1:1

Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of themountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph,an Ephraimite. 2And he had two wives: the name of one wasHannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

Nowadays, a lot of men are not so supportive of their wives especially when she is delayed in having the fruit of the woman. It’s sad to see men joining forces with their family members to mount pressure on such a woman and in some cases; another woman is brought to the house as a wife. I used to think it happened only in home videos, but there are a lot of true life stories that portray this anomaly.

Peninnah was already blessed with children, but instead of empathizing with Hannah, she chose to make her life miserable.  She had a proud look and proud words came out of her mouth as well.The bible in 1^st Samuel 1: 6 says that Hannah’s rival (Peninnah) “provoked her severely, to make her miserable”. There are loads of instances of people provoking others to make them miserable.  It’s an act of wickedness out there nowadays which is not limited to only family settings. We see colleagues envying and back stabbing colleagues in order to get the person’s position or in order to rise through the ladder. We see a friend painting another friend bad so as to be in the good books of another friend. We see even siblings warring against each other for no just cause. The devil is at the root of all of these no doubt! 

Peninnah can be likened to a modern day man or woman who’s got so much of possessions and cruelly treats those who don’t have as much as he or she does. A Peninnah will look down on you at the slightest opportunity, just because you have a need or you don’t seem to measure as much as they do in the society. They just delight in provoking people sorely, for no good reason. Even if there’s a good reason to get back at your neighbor for a wrongdoing, it's best left in God’s hands to handle.

A Peninnah is a proud person who has no authority or regard for those who are ahead of her and could talk to anyone rudely .The bible listed Hannah as first and  Peninnah as the second wife and most likely Hannah was the older wife; in terms of age and even in marriage. It was apparent Elkanah loved Hannah and if Peninnah regarded him, should she not have shown some amount of respect for Hannah as well? Maybe Elkannah bowed to pressure at some point to marry another wife since his first wife was not bearing children; might have been a difficult one for him but he was devoted and committed to her; never maltreating Hannah for a single day.

1^st Samuel 1:19-Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her.20So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel,saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord.”

God is never far away from the weak, the vulnerable and helpless. It won’t be long before he justifies the needy, the poor and sets them on high to ride with princes. He is the One who shuts the mouths of the Peninnahs and puts a song in the mouths of the Hannahs of life.  Peninnah’s name was mentioned expressly three times and referred to twice, all in five (5) verses in 1st Samuel and thereafter, we never heard about her again. It looked like she was having the upper hand, the final say with her many sons and daughters but not even a single name was mentioned amongst her children as becoming anything great, neither was anything heard about them again.

Hannah waited for years before she bore the  promise child; Samuel , the great prophet of all times who brought about a revolution to Israel and her wait would be eternally celebrated. It seemed God was coming late, but He came big. The truth is God never makes mistakes. There was a need for him to send a prophet into the world, and there was a woman who was willing to give up a child God gave her unto Him for His use; talk of an equilibrium point between Demand and Supply!

God heard her heartfelt prayer, granted her desires and gave her 5 more children after Samuel. I stand to be corrected, but I think one of the reasons why we never heard about Peninnah was because she must have  packed away from her husband’s house in shame.

1^st Samuel 2:18

But Samuel ministered before the Lord, even as a child,wearing a linen ephod. 19Moreover his mother used to make him a little robe, and bring it to him year by year when shecame up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “The Lord give you descendants from this woman for the loan that was given to the Lord.” Then they would go to their own home.

In chapter one, Elkanah was always going to Shiloh with his "family"  but as time went on, year after year, we see only Hannah coming up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. Where was Peninah! As long as she was on the face of the earth and lived in Israel in those days, she must have gotten to know how influential Samuel was, how powerfully God was using him and how proud Hannah must have been. She must have been ashamed of those years in which she humiliated Hannah and she probably might have  wallowed in shame and died in obscurity.

You may be in a position of influence right now, all may be going well, and you may have a lot of people under you. Keep it real, remain sane, remain under the shadow of the Almighty, and give all the glory to Him. God changes times and seasons, He resists the proud but always, He will grace to the humble!

With God in the picture of our lives,our stories will end well; only in favour of those who seek and hold on to Him!

Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour yet? If you don’t, then say the prayers Here.

The Pen.....

Picture Credit:maralynnash.com.au

Esther: A Star not without a Scar

E.S.T.H.E.R!

The story of Esther is a bestseller and one of the most interesting stories in the bible that would generate so much at the box office within the first few days of release if made into a movie. Behind every glory is a story birthed in lowly and sometimes gory circumstances. She had been through so much trouble in life already; from being an orphan to growing up under the tutelage of her cousin Mordecai (she was Mordecai’s uncle’s daughter) who had also been carried into slavery. She was beautiful physically but nothing was beautiful about her circumstances. Sometimes, being raised up by parents who are struggling financially could be difficult, not to talk of being raised by an uncle who himself was in captivity.

By and large, with her years shrouded in obscurity, pain, conflict and in spite of the difficult upbringing, God granted her favour and through a rigorous but divinely orchestrated process, she became the Queen. Wow! A nobody had suddenly become the toast of the nation and the most powerful woman of the kingdom. Considering what she had gone through, there should never have come any challenges her way again. But just as she was settling in into the unquantifiable bliss of becoming a queen after the world's most glamorous wedding party, the honeymoon in the most exotic parts of the world, servants and eunuchs being appointed for her; from being a servant to having many servants, trouble started again………..

Let’s dive into the scriptures quickly.

Esther 3: 13 “And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions”.

Esther 4: 3 “And in every province where the king’s command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes”.4 So Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was deeply distressed. Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them”.

What if after becoming queen, Esther had become like the women of the kingdom? What if she had forgotten God? What if she didn't know how to pray and fast again? What if she had cut off the ties with Mordecai her mentor and "father"? The challenge she was facing now, appeared to be more intense than what she had gone through growing up. This was a matter of life and death. If something was not done, she was going to be killed herself. Nothing is as terrifying as having a death threat over one’s life. Common, for someone who had gone through so much in life, hers should have been a story of “and she lived happily ever after”

Have you ever asked yourself just as I have done and still do, why sometimes some circumstances you face as a Christian look way bigger and way more tumultuous than what you have gone through even as an unbeliever? I have discovered in life that everyone determines to a large extent what they become. Life may offer you LIME in the occurrence of a sour situation, but that situation can bring you into LIMELIGHT and make you drive in a LIMOUSINE to the admiration of everyone and to the shame of the limitations men have placed on you! Life doesn't want to know how much you have been through in the past and because of that exonerate you from some of the tantrums it throws. The devil doesn't care if he has thrown darts your way before; after all the bible says he goes around, looking for whom to devour; so he is always on the prowl. But glory to Jesus! In spite of the many troubles of the world, He says to us- “Cheer up, I have overcome the world”.

This victory is not enforced by sitting and whining over things that are not working. It comes by praying, declaring, confessing tenaciously all God has ordained for us until we see them manifest! Yes these things work! And sometimes too, whilst you are celebrating and jubilating over an achievement or success, it is not the time to go into a state of comatose in your quiet time, in your walk with God and in your service to him. “Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” is what the bible admonishes. This is not to say as Christian women we should live in fear. No it’s a call to be on top of our game in enforcing the kingdom of God over our homes, our children, our careers and in everything we do at all times.

Eve was so relaxed when the devil came with the onslaught against humanity and she fell for it. Micah had a nonchalant attitude towards life, towards the Lord’s anointed and she didn't see anything bad in castigating her husband- David (a man God loved unrepentantly) because He was dancing for His Maker. Should she not have been at the forefront of the dancing troupe, singing and dancing to the God who gives her husband victory all the time?

It is time to do away with the “God why me” disposition, the talks of “Life is so unfair to me”, the sympathies of people (who would even make jest of you behind your back). These are the days in which by His Grace, we would rise up, facing those challenges that come our way by the might of the Most High God like Deborah who took the bulls by the horn even when the highways were deserted and AROSE as a mother in Israel!

Esther won her battles; you and I will win ours too!

The joy of the Lord is our strength and He makes us more than overcomers in all of these things……….Selah

Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour yet? If you don’t, then say the prayers Here.

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