To whom much is given

You are unique!

All women and men aren't born equal. We each have different qualities, temperance, interests, talents, physical capabilities, etc. We are bestowed by our creator with different gifts,  experiences and passions. And in return we have different levels of expectation to satisfy. Therefore it is pointless to utilize the tool of comparison to assess ourselves.

Our trajectories through life follow wildly different paths and the lessons we learn too are different. Our purposes in life cannot therefore be the same given the various sets of circumstances we all pass through in our earthly sojourn.

What is your intrinsic value? What sets you apart from the crowd? Why are you in this specific place at this specific time? What unique gift do you bring to the world that no one else possesses?  Start to look inwards, ask your creator for help in finding it, and stop comparing yourself to others.

You are unique. There is none like you in all the earth! Start realizing your value and discovering your purpose today.

The prayer life of Gideon

Gideon was one of the special people mentioned in the "pantheon" of faith (Hebrews 11:32). He was described in Judges 6:12 as a "mighty man of valour" by an angel while he was timidly threshing wheat in a disused winepress. His people were being oppressed and their farm produce had been continually destroyed by the amalekites before it could be harvested. The people were reduced to residing in caves and dens and we're dying of hunger. Gideon probably gathered dry wheat stalks together from the fields at night to see what he could salvage from their malnourished heads. He then took them to his father's empty winepress (where the enemy wouldn't think was being used to process food) and threshed them there.
Gideon didn't scoff at the angel but rather asked how God could be behind such a defeated people. The angel pointed at him as the one who would rescue Israel from its oppression. Gideon in verifying the authority of his interlocutor asks for and is shown evidence of God's authority on the angel.
Below then follows the direct communication (prayer progression) of Gideon in his deliverance of Israel;

Gideon : Alas! I am doomed having seen God's angel.
God: Peace be unto you

Gideon builds altar and names it Jehovah shalom (God of Peace)

God: take your father's 2nd young  bullock, destroy baal's altar and Grove and offer sacrifice to Me

Gideon obeys at  night

The Spirit of God moves Gideon and he rouses Israel's warriors

Gideon: if you will truly give us victory, wet this fleece and leave surrounding ground dry

God complies

Gideon: just to be sure pls do opposite and wet surrounding ground while leaving fleece dry.

God complies

Gideon gathers troops together.

God: these troops are too many. Send back those that are scared.

Gideon obeys and 22,000 depart leaving only 10,000 against "uncountable" soldiers from the enemy.

God: the troops are still too many. Order them to drink from the nearby stream and watch them. Those who lap with faces to the water should be separated from those who drink with their hands. Send the former home

Gideon obeys. 9,700 warriors are sent home leaving 300 warriors to fight against an uncountable army.

God: I have given the enemy into your hand. You've already won. But if you're scared,  it's OK. Take phurah your servant and go down into the enemy camp and confirm what I've told you.

Gideon obeys and hears a dream interpreted of his victory against the enemy.

Emboldened, Gideon leads his 300men against the enemy and puts them to flight.

What we learn is that prayer is a conversation between us and God. It is 2 way. And it often involves displays of faith, even when obeying "worsens" our situation. Obeying God is faith. When we learn to trust God, our relationship with Him grows and he bolsters our faith in him through supernatural demonstrations.

Who lied?

Ever since I began reading the Bible, one of the earliest stories I was read to in various narratives as a child was the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of eden. Even as a grownup and reading the passage several times, the essential facts of the story haven't changed as I knew them.

After creating every living thing,  God created Adam and watched him name all the animals one by one. He then created Eve having confirming that Adam alone had no partner of all animals created. Adam was overjoyed and named his partner woman.

Before doing this though God, while placing Adam in eden, had permitted him to eat from all the trees in the garden. All the trees, that is, except one. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil (carnal knowledge). Adam was warned that eating from the tree of carnal knowledge would cause him to "surely die".

The serpent then deceived Eve and she ate the fruit and also gave Adam some to eat. The serpent had told Eve that they would become like God after eating the fruit, assuring them that they wouldn't die.

After eating the fruit though some points became obvious to me as a child.
The first was that they didn't drop down dead. So it seemed to me (though I never told anyone) that God had lied to Adam. Or perhaps he had been merciful by not allowing them both to die. So the serpent had been partly truthful it meant.
The second point was that they obviously didn't become like God. So the serpent had lied in his second assertion.

Therefore in my understanding at the time, both of the parties (God and the serpent) hadn't been 100% truthful. Recently though the Holy Spirit began to open a new chapter of understanding to me about the implications of Adam's (and subsequently mankind's) fall.

In Genesis 2:7a the Bible said God formed Adam from dust. At this time he was lifeless until the second part of that verse said God breathed life into him, and he became a living person. The life that was breathed into the man was his spirit. Job 33:4 alludes to the "breath of the almighty" being a man's spirit. Immediately God breathed into Adam, he came alive. At that time in the garden, the Bible let's us know they were both naked and they weren't even aware of it! In other words when they were alive (spiritually alive that is), their physical conditions had no effect on their wellbeing.

But something curious happens once they ate the fruit. For one they realize they are naked. And uncomfortable with this situation, they quickly rectify the 'problem' with leaves. Since they were alive and had neither knowledge they were naked nor it's implications before eating the fruit,  it must follow that their (spiritual) death is somehow signified by their awakening to their physical plight.

Small wonder the Bible says in Romans 8:6 (KJV) that "to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" . In switching from spiritual life to carnal awareness, Adam and Eve chose death over life. Thus God evicted them from eden and barred their access to the tree of life.

Galatians 5:16 " So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of your sinful nature". How do we then walk by the spirit?

He reserves the right to test us!

I had had a late night, sleeping at past 2am. So waking up was a bit difficult. At some point while tossing and turning, my mind went to what I'd read this morning in the book of judges chapter 2. I didn't get it initially but when I eventually did I suddenly became fully awake.

The background to the passage was the Lord's fulfilment of his centuries old promise to the patriarchs of Israel, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He had promised to give their descendants the entire land of Canaan as their possession. However He hadn't given them a time limit for doing so. Fast forward several centuries and they had crossed miraculously over river Jordan to claim the possession God had given them under the leadership of Joshua.

However they discovered after several years of warfare that they couldn't dislodge all the inhabitants of the massive lands of their inheritance. At the point of his death even Joshua told the people of Israel (Joshua 23:5) "the Lord shall expel and drive them out. . . And ye shall possess their land". Joshua was letting the Israelites know that it is God himself that overcomes our challenges for us.

Even when He has shown us what to do and we feel execution is straight forward, it is still God that executes! It is the realization that we can never accomplish anything at all without God's active help that we can call faith.

In judges 1, in spite of the comprehensive knowledge the Israelites had of the land and that it was theirs by inheritance, it was documented that Benjamin, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan were not able to fully dislodge all the inhabitants of their lands. Eventually the best they could achieve was subjecting the peoples to slavery.

In judges 2 we are told that the people forsook the Lord after Joshua died. He became angry and in V21 the Lord says, "I will no longer drive out the nations Joshua left behind when he died". V22 "I will TEST the Israelites with these nations to see whether or not they will carefully follow the Lord's ways as their ancestors did".

The Lord tests. He doesn't tempt. The former builds strength and resolve, the latter raises doubt.

After over a century on the land of their inheritance, the Israelites discovered that though the Lord had given them the land, they were still not able to possess it without His help. And even though the Lord never withholds help from us, He seeks to build a strong relationship with his people while delivering them into their inheritance. When that relationship is absent it is then easy to fall prey to worshipping other gods.

Brethren what matters most is our relationship with God and absolute faith and reliance on Him for everything. He says in John 15:5-6 that "without me ye can do nothing"!