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.

Could it be a Divine Disruption?

She was a young lady, full of expectations and lofty dreams about how her future as the wife of handsome and enterprising Joseph was going to be. He was a dude almost every lady in town would like to have, oh yeah, it was going to be heaven on earth. She was going to have 4 kids; 2 boys and girls and establish a big  business. The future was well planned out. This was all she kept pondering  on in her mind until that blessed day the angel appeared unto her and said “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women”!(Luke 1:28).

He was an aspiring, handsome and upwardly mobile young man who was dreaming of having a huge flock in the future. His early occupation was that of tending his father’s sheep on the uplands of Judah. Being a good looking guy, he was going to marry a very beautiful lady and become the toast of the town, have some beautiful children and become one of the richest in town. Then that fateful day came. “.. And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!”13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers.( Ist Samuel 16)

Life was good, being the favourite son of his father; he had learnt to take care of sheep alongside his brothers. The future was going to be bright as all indicators pointed towards having the best from his dad- He already got a coat of many colours anyway and many more were going to come until that night that he slept and dreamt….…”So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”(Genesis 37:6)

Life couldn't have been better; raised us in a royal manner as a son of the princess; daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, what more could one want in life- a handsome dude himself, he would get a beautiful wife, by virtue of his position as a royal prince, have children born and bred in the palace, be the envy of the nation and all……then …….11Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren ( Exo 2:11)

Every single person in life;  more often than, not has a well thought out plan of what and what to achieve. It is a beautiful thing to daydream, have fantasies and when in reality these things start to play out just as we have planned, our joy knows no bounds. However, sometimes, some things happen and it looks as though something comes along the way to interrupt the good plans you had. Everything seems then starts to go “awry” and suddenly out of control. Things are happening so fast and you are clouded, wondering if it is a mirage, as it definitely is not looking like what you had thought about. In your path in life, have you woken up to a rude shock?

Psalm 95:4

4In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also.5The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land.

God is not a movie producer who just sits behind the screens of a movie set. He is very much involved in every bit of your life. He directs, orchestrates and calls the shots- if you allow him.  How can you explain the fact that He has the deep places of the earth in His hands? That means everything; every single thing is open before him. Nothing happens to you that He is not aware of. Don’t get it twisted, no evil comes from God- He might have allowed it, and no matter how hard, difficult or ugly the situation is; He’s going to use it all for your good. He already made a way of escape long before the challenge came your way. When the devil hurls at you and it looks like the spotlight of hell has just been zoomed on you, do not despair, your Maker will make it work out for your good and you will have the last laugh!

The people listed above had their plans “disrupted’ so to say, but if things had not happened, we probably wouldn't have heard about them today. It happened for their good, they became prominent by Divine orchestration and it all ended in greatness. Some of the things they went through were very embarrassing, some debilitating, and some inconvenient but alas; God wove a beautiful tapestry out of the many events; the good, bad and ugly of their lives. Many times, we look at things in pieces, but God looks at things holistically. Your life may look dull and boring; with its many ups and downs, God has a detailed plan that He is working out.

Trust me; it is a sweet thing when you get to understand in retrospect, what God has been up to…..

The Pen.....

Something So Special about that Name!

Last weekend, I went to the Post Office to pick our mails. Let me quickly point out that in this part of the world, a lot of people find it more convenient and safer to use courier services in receiving or sending out their parcels, howbeit-it many companies still make use of the general post office’s services to send out notice of meetings, dividend warrants and what not. My mum owns and usually operates the box but once in a while, I get the mails for her and also because I used the address for some of my academics-related correspondence. I hadn't been there in a long while and so I stopped by since I was driving around the area.

I had some difficulties opening our box and because it was a weekend,operations were skeletal. Moving over to the back of the building where I had seen someone walk into,I told the attendant I wanted to make inquires about what the problem could be and he went in to check the records. As soon he pronounced the name on the box, his colleague suddenly exclaimed “I know this name” and pronto, they attended to me, so courteously; in a way and manner that made me so satisfied with their services for the first time. I felt so honoured! Apparently, I went with the wrong key but since I was able to identify myself, they got the issues sorted out without any hassle. As I drove away, it dawned on me that the mention of a name, had given me favour and access. 

Oh yes, I understand better what the Bible says about the name of Jesus!

That name is the only authentic key that can open any kind of door in heaven, on earth and under the earth. At the mention of that name: demons scamper, the sick are healed, the oppressed are delivered, and the downcast are lifted. What a mighty name!

John 16: 23 says “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Jesus wants us to brandish that name with so much authority and make the best use of it. It’s a pre-signed blank cheque, a visa to any country, a key that can open any kind of door! It’s the name highly exalted above ALL OTHER NAMES. Presidents of countries rule for a season and whilst they are incumbent, to a large extent, their names can open some doors but when they are out of the office, they become part of memory. Jesus’s name has been potent from ages past and to eternity, it would forever be relevant.

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ isLord, to the glory of God the Father.(Philippians 2:9)

So I opened a letter addressed to me and in it, I found the details of something I had been expecting for a couple of months. Alas, it had been waiting for me in the box, but I had been worrying and trying to find out why I wasn't getting a response in that regards. Sometimes, we worry so much about what God has made done for us already, forgetting that once we pray according to His will He hears us already.

We’ll talk about that some other time.

You and Jesus are an unbeatable team!  I see greatness in you.

The Pen

A Thicket or A Ticket for Destiny?

 The story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac his beloved son of promise will always be an astonishing best-seller. We all know that for that remarkable act of obedience by Abraham, God made an everlasting covenant with him and swore to bless him irreversibly. Many times, we have celebrated Abraham’s bold act, his faith in God and his readiness to let go; we have celebrated Isaac’s boldness and willingness to be sacrificed as well but there is someone that we hardly celebrate- The RAM caught in the Thicket.

Genesis 22: 13.

“Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son”

 God had given Abraham and Sarah the promised child after 25 years of waiting. He did it as He promised, at the fullness of time... Halleluyah! Everyone had come to rejoice with them, the child had grown in strength and beauty and He had become the delight of everyone and the apple of his parents’ eye. All of a sudden, the same God says “Abraham, sacrifice your son to ME”. In case the meaning of sacrifice doesn’t strike any serious meaning, to sacrifice actually means-“lay him on the altar, slash his throat and offer him to Me”. Abraham willingly proceeded to carry out this instruction. Alas, God had a plan, He wanted to test him and he passed but that wasn’t the end of the story. Jehovah-Jireh had prepared a worthy vessel for this moment, for such a significant occasion that will serve as a turning point in the destiny of many generations to come.

More often than not, the sheep should usually move in a flock and there would always be a shepherd who would lead them by the way, hence it is thought provoking to find a Ram (a male sheep) stuck somewhere in the bush, all by itself with no trace of the shepherd or other sheep. How lonely it must have felt; how dejected. He was not only lost, he was caught in a thicket. (A thicket is a thick or dense growth of shrubs, bushes or small trees; a thick coppice).

In retrospect, we understand that the Ram had a divine purpose, a place in destiny; worthy to be mentioned in the bible. Fulfilling a typology of what Jesus Christ was going to do; to be offered as a sacrifice for the world. That Ram was so blessed to have been handpicked by God Himself for such an Eternal purpose and we can’t but acknowledge that what he had gone through, was only a divine set up for his destiny. He was divinely stuck in the thicket for a noble cause. If Rams were to have names, his name would have been mentioned in the bible. He was a substitute for Isaac who was to be offered;  he was hindered, left alone, subjected to stagnancy, hunger by being stuck in the thicket but God was only setting him up for greatness.

Have you noticed what part of his body was caught in the thicket? Not his waist or his legs but he was caught by his HORNS. A horn represents the very core of a Ram’s life as it is almost impossible to see a ram without the horns.  A horn could be used as a musical instrument; it was also a tool used for anointing God’s chosen in the Bible days. (Remember Samuel’s horn used in anointing David and in many other instances in the bible, kings were anointed with oil in horns). So we see that what was meant to be an object of praise, admiration, adoration for the Ram was the very thing by which he was trapped, stuck and despised. That job, that marriage, that child, that relocation which was and is supposed to bring glory to God in your life, may have become the very source of ridicule. ….Hmmmn.  I have some good news for you!

The Ram was “incapacitated” and whilst he was moaning his loss,purpose was revealed. God’s everlasting blessings were to be released on Abraham and his seed (which include you and I) and that divine encounter necessitated the sacrifice of the Ram. Don’t despair, hold on, and turn it to God. Change your mind-set irreversibly from defeat and stick to God by faith, unrepentantly. Just like that Ram, your life and circumstances will undoubtedly end up for a noble purpose. Jesus was made a sacrifice for the world and now, He is seated in a place of glory on the right hand side of the Father; with a name above every other name. Halleluyah!

2^nd Timothy  2: 20 says:

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honour and some for dishonour. 21Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honour, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

From today, deliberately offer yourself to God and sanctify yourself for His use. Make Him the essence of your existence. Who are we without Him anyway? We didn't choose when we would come into this world, whom are parents and siblings would be, our race, colour and what-not but we can choose to Hand over our lives to Him. He has everything about our existence figured out even before we were conceived.  You have the power to decide whether your life and circumstances will be for honour or dishonour. If you choose well, at the end of it all, God will be honoured; He will swear over your life as He did on Abraham. You will be honoured and your story would become a masterpiece that will encourage generations after you.

You may have been caught in a THICKET, don’t despair, It’s a TICKET for your destiny!....Selah

The Pen.....

Picture Credit: Google Credit