Small Things Are Great

If you dial *773# on your phone, you will receive a message from your service provider that the code is invalid. At least so far. But before you check that theory out, what's this book called Samuel doing in the Bible? Interestingly, what we call 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel today were originally one continuous book. However, as history moved from scrolls to easier methods of copying and carrying texts around, the scroll became too large and was later divided into two sections. Personally, I call Samuel the USSD code because it gives us the Unadulterated Story of Samuel, Saul, and David.  It's a story of prophets and politics, worship and warfare,  obedience and insecurity, heroism, hooliganism, heartbreak, and holiness. Three men stand at the center of this transition and through them, Israel moves from the era of Judges into the era of ushering the King. Samuel — The Voice Before the Throne Samuel steps into the story as the last major Judge of Israel and the prophetic voice of Go...

After spending part of my day engaging believers on the subject of Bible reading, I ended up with something far more interesting than statistics. What began as a simple question slowly turned into a living conversation full of honesty, laughter, confession, theology, frustration, discipline, failed New Year resolutions, Bible apps, church traditions, and even a brief appearance of the television series Lucifer. The question was simple: “ Have you ever read the Bible cover to cover? If yes, what made you continue? If no, what made you stop?” The answers came in waves. Some sounded like seasoned saints, others sounded like survivors of Leviticus while some confessed with confidence. There are those that sounded like students explaining missing homework to a teacher who already knows the truth. I see you friends. But beneath all the different answers, one thing became very clear: Most Christians are not avoiding the Bible because they hate it, many are simply trying to figure out how to a...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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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...

A friend texted in and said...  I have questions about God based on my readings of the Old Testament so far: 1. Why did God okay having multiple wives and concubines? Nowhere in the many laws talks about adultery 2. Why was it okay for the Israelites to put their enemies under forced labour? Why was slavery a thing? 3. It was said that if someone killed someone by mistake, they would seek refuge in the city of refuge until the offended party died, lest he avenged his murdered relative. Why was avenging even a thing? Why was it allowed? 4. I have forgotten the 4th one. In response I wrote; 1. Did God approve of multiple wives and concubines? Short answer: No—God did not design or command it. From the beginning, God’s design for marriage was clear: “ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ” — Genesis 2:24 One man. One woman. One union. So where did polygamy come from? - Human beings. As societies developed, people...

Thoughts by Kare Sue. Divorce is one of those topics that shows up uninvited. Not every day. Not even regularly. But every now and then, it presses on the mind—quietly, persistently and this week, the question wasn’t just what happens in divorce, but why . Why do people leave each other? Beyond the obvious reasons—infidelity, growing apart, financial strain, even the strange and unexpected like one spouse joining a cult—there remains a deeper question. After everything has happened… why end it? The answer, she concludes, is simple, though not easy: choice . “Someone chose to call it quits. They chose either to not forgive and move on, or to forgive and move on.” That realization shifts the conversation. Divorce is not just something that happens to people—it is something people decide, often in the middle of pain, disappointment, or exhaustion. What does God say about divorce? Her reflections turn to Scripture, beginning with Deuteronomy 24:1–4, where divorce is acknowledged as a huma...

Reflections from our OT journey — with insights from Chosen Kabiru. Reading from Genesis through to Deuteronomy is not just a reading plan—it is an unfolding. Patterns begin to emerge. Decisions begin to carry weight. And quietly, God starts highlighting things you might have easily passed over before. For Chosen Kabiru, one of the most defining moments in this journey did not come from the Torah itself, but from a New Testament reflection in Hebrews 12:16: “Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.” That verse became a lens—a way of re-reading an old story with fresh clarity and from that place came a striking realization: “This story would have been different… because Esau was the one who was meant to be the father of the chosen nation. It should have been the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Esau—not Jacob.” That thought reframes everything. It shifts the focus from Jacob’s strategy to Esau’s posture. The turning point of the...

Reflections from our OT journey — with insights from Kare Sue. A prophetess, a friend and minister of the gospel through her life and career. There is something deeply satisfying about finishing a long book—especially one like Deuteronomy. For one reader, it did not just feel like the end of a book, but “like the end of a series… a long-awaited one.” Her journey through Deuteronomy was not quiet or passive. It was full of questions, laughter, pauses, and moments of real reflection. And by the end of it, she found herself not only learning about God, but also seeing Christ more clearly. “I have really enjoyed this book,” she wrote. “I have learnt a lot about God in this book. And I have also learnt a lot about Christ.” What stood out most to her was the centrality of salvation. The idea that everything ultimately points to the finished work of Jesus. She noted: “It is very important that we understand the finished work of Jesus on the cross. It is only when we do that we will be able to...