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Ruth meats men with means.

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Reading through the book of Ruth and I couldn't help but think of it as the story of the 3 widows - Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth; When Women Loose MEN But Not MEANS. The Era of Judges was one of the darkest time in Israel history. It seems God had taken a break to let them be. It was a period of disobedience, idolatry, and violence. Even in those days, however, some people did what was right in God's eyes. The book of Ruth records the good story of one such family. Later generations would recall that two widows, a covenant - keeping man, and a welcoming community followed God's will. Ultimately, David, the King Israel needed, came through these honourable people. We live in a time where women have apparently been so "empowered" that we sometimes fail to see the place and role of men in their lives. In this book, we see women who had leadership, presence and the guidance of men. It also appears that this men were not lazy men. They provided, protected and participated in...

Praying Scripture or Praying God’s statements?

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One of the teachings that has become very popular in modern Christianity is the idea of “praying scripture” and to be fair, the idea itself is not wrong. However, there's a thin line many believers miss and walk across to the wrong side of this teaching. Here, a problem emerges. The problem comes when believers assume that every statement found in the Bible is automatically a promise from God that can be claimed, confessed, decreed, or demanded into manifestation. Here many frustrations begin because the Bible does not contain only the words of God. In it we also have: the words of men, the words of kings, the words of prophets, the words of suffering people, the words of foolish people, and even the words of Satan. All of these are faithfully recorded in Scripture, but not all of them are declarations for believers to turn into prayer formulas and if we fail to distinguish between the words of God and the words of men within Scripture, we can end up praying sincerely while complet...

Ruth - Short, strange and significant.

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One of you recently noted that the Book of Ruth is not included in the reading guide we are following. That was intentional. Not because Ruth is unimportant—far from it—but because it is a short book. Most believers, even those who have never sat down to read it carefully, already know the general story. Ruth is one of those books you can comfortably read within a day. So, in trying to make the guide fit within a year without dragging us deep into December and January while still pretending we are “almost done,” I removed a few books from the schedule. Among them were: the Book of Job, the book of Ruth and some sections from books like Psalms and Proverbs. But the fact that Ruth was omitted from the guide should never make us think it is insignificant. In fact, Ruth is strategically placed in the Bible timeline. Very strategically. Both the Book of Judges and the book of Ruth are traditionally connected to Samuel. And one thing we need to understand about prophets is this: Their work w...

As Long As… Ala!

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One thing I have come to appreciate while reading the Bible is that introductions do matter. The first lines and paragraphs in every book matter. Most of the time, we are so focused on chapters and verses that we forget those pointers were added much later. The original writers were not there saying, “Now let me begin chapter two, verse sixteen.” No. These were flowing narratives, carefully structured to guide the reader into understanding what was happening. I'm currently reviewing the book of Judges and the introduction is fascinating. Personally, I consider Judges chapter 1 up to around chapter 3 verse 6 to be the introduction section of the book. It sets the tone, explains the environment, and quietly warns you about the cycle you are about to witness over and over again. But there is one statement that stood out to me more than anything else. A statement so small you can easily skip over it: “ As long as… ” This is in line with the Good News version Bible. The statement appear...

The Three Paths That Point to God (But Are Not God)

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There’s a quiet mistake many people make in the journey of faith. It doesn’t happen loudly and doesn’t come with warning signs. In fact, it often feels like growth—until one day you realize you’ve been holding onto something tightly… but isn’t actually God. At the center of any genuine spiritual journey is this: your focus must remain on the persona of God —not just ideas about Him, not just systems around Him, but God Himself. Who is God? Here it gets a bit uncomfortable, especially for those of us who identify strongly with a particular tradition: God does not belong to any one label. “God” is not a personal name in the way we name people. It’s more like saying king or lord —a title that points to a reality beyond human ownership. So whether someone stands in a church, a mosque, a temple, or under a tree in quiet reflection, the longing underneath is often the same: to find and connect with the One behind it all - God. But along the way, something subtle happens. The things meant to...

The crisis of faith and religion.

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 https://open.substack.com/pub/angiewanjiku/p/i-used-to-believe-a-lot-of-things?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Joshua - From Commands to Choices.

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We’ve been on a journey through the Bible, and by God’s help we’ve walked through the first five books—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. That’s what we call the Pentateuch. Now we are stepping into a new section. If you follow the Hebrew way of arranging Scripture, we are now entering what they call the Prophets . What many of us today call historical books, they saw as prophetic writings, and this section begins with Joshua. These books are divided into two: the former prophets and the latter prophets. Joshua falls under the former prophets. Alongside it you have Judges (with Ruth connected to it), then Samuel and Kings. So Joshua becomes the first book in this new movement and the transition is beautiful. We are coming from laws, commands, regulations—very structured instruction—and suddenly we enter narrative, movement, action and life! The people are no longer just being told what to do; now they are stepping into what God had promised. There is energy here. Th...