Small Things Are Great

The book of Hosea is almost like the book of Romans(jk) in the New Testament, although this romance is a very different kind of romance. I have seen enough stories of how God calls people and then does ministry through their lives. We see prophets being called, we see their assignments, we see the messages they carry, and we see how God uses them to speak to His people. The ministry Hosea is engaged in, however, is one very unique ministry. Yes, it is the ministry of reconciliation. God is trying to tell the northern kingdom, the ten tribes that were called Israel, that what they did was wrong. When the kingdom divided after Solomon, they followed Jeroboam and separated themselves from the southern kingdom of Judah. That separation became much more than a political division. It became a spiritual journey that took them further away from the Father. One wrong turn led to another, and another, until Israel had wandered so far that God now wanted them back. To paint a picture of just how ...

After the Rhema Feast, there has been enough banter online from those who are for it and those who are not. Some have said the whole event is not a good thing. Others have had issues with some of the speakers and speeches, while others were fully in it and were not bothered by the naysayers. On Sunday morning, however, I realized that this is not a new matter. There was a time when the Corinthians were divided between two opinions, and perhaps more. Some were flying the Apollos flag while others were friendly to Paul. Others had chosen Cephas, while some had taken the seemingly safest position and declared, “I follow Christ.” This is what Paul and Sosthenes wrote to them concerning the divisions. They kicked off with an introduction that was surprisingly warm. Before touching the matter that had brought them concern, they reminded the Corinthians of who they were and what God had already done among them. “ Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brothe...

This week in our discussion, we began by pointing out how one of our brothers here in Kenya, Julius Owino, was inspired through the book of Isaiah to even do an album themed Exponential Potential. The first song in that album is called “Isaiah 58.” We also pointed out the fact that the United Nations headquarters in New York has a wall commonly referred to as the Isaiah Wall. On that wall is inscribed part of Isaiah chapter 2, verse 4. It is interesting to note how the first part of that verse was not included in the inscription. Isaiah 2:4 says, “ He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. ” Beautiful words. Humanity wants that outcome. We want a world without war. We want nations to settle their disputes. We want swords turned into farming tools and people to stop preparing for war. There ...

The whole essence of making something is for the purpose of either USING it, SELLING it or GIVING it away. Think of a manufacturer of engines or plastic containers. If you walk around and observe what happens to the things they make, you'll notice those three aspects in play. They are either using the same product themselves, selling it for a profit or giving it away as a charitable donation. This thought came to me while I was chopping some branches from a tree for purposes of getting firewood and preparing for the rainy season. I smiled because I know that was God speaking. One thing I have not loved in my ministry journey is the awkward moments when I hear God asking me to move stations. It seems He always asks me to move at the point of success or fruition. Severally, I have hesitated and even delayed my speed of obedience. Sometimes I have struggled, especially when a season ends and I hear nothing from the Lord about what or where next. Those are the seasons when I find mysel...

Juzi. Ama ni jana? I think ni juzi. Yes, it was juzi. Thursday. 😂 A friend was shocked to discover that “God” is not a name but a title. We were discussing some New Testament texts and happened to land on Jesus referring to Satan as the “ ruler of this world ” in John 12:31. Elsewhere, in 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul actually refers to Satan as “the god of this age.” Some translations use “prince” or “ruler” in passages like these, which can make the conversation less obvious, but it is still worth asking: why can Satan be referred to as a “god”? Yes. God is a title, not a personal name. That is why Scripture often substantiates which God we are talking about—God of heaven, God of Israel, Creator of heaven and earth, and so on. The same applies to “Lord” (Bwana in Swahili). Sarah, for instance, referred to Abraham as her lord (1 Peter 3:6). I know when we say Bwana yangu in Swahili, we rarely stop to realize that we have just called the man a “lord.” Which, apparently, is what men are supp...

Lest we miss it in this journey of realization, I would want to calibrate our minds back to what is going on as we read. Most of the time, if we are not careful, it is easy to fall back into the “just reading” posture, or the “word for the moment” mentality where we open the Bible looking for something to address the season of life we are currently in. There is nothing wrong with receiving a word for our season, but it's wrong to approach scriptures that way for there is something much bigger happening in scripture than that. As earlier noted, we are now studying through the books of Kings and Chronicles with inserts of the prophetic books at the intervals they're believed to fit in. These are, in many ways, the tales of the kings: how they led, how they bled, how they made decisions, how they succeeded and failed, and, through the Chronicles(diaries), a deeper look into their records and the history surrounding their reigns. But there is something we can easily miss if we only...