Manna for the Soul

In the course of our lives, we all will encounter people who exhibit some level of animosity towards us for no tangible reason. As a normal human being, there are  tendencies within us to respond to the exhibited animosities either with the same level of animosity or to respond with love. I see myself sometimes leaning towards responding with similar animosity. Regardless of how we react to such situations, I consider these tendencies to be natural reactions. But as Christians, we have been called to peace, and that is the focus of my post today. When we turn our lives over to the Lord Jesus Christ, we are also committing to a life led in pursuit of Christian maturity on all fronts. Let's read the following scriptures: As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:  (1Peter 2:2 KJV) Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.  (1Corinthians 14:20 KJV) (9)...

The battles raging in my life over the last few weeks seemed unending. It felt like the world around me was caving in. I remember driving home from work one night during that period and with tears dropping down from my eyes, I asked God, "Lord, where are you in all of this?" The battles were indeed having a toll on me as I felt emotionally drained and was barely keeping my head above the waters. To say the least, this was one of the lowest points I had ever encountered in my life. I don't know what you may be going through in your life, and rightly so, I don't need to know. However, there's something about the God we serve that has kept me over the years I have walked with Christ. And that is, God is never late . He's always right on time. In the Bible we read the account of Peter when he saw Jesus walking on the sea in the middle of the night and Peter asked Jesus that if it was him indeed, then he should bid him to come to him. We read below: ...

The Power in the Lord's Prayer A couple of years ago, I was watching a televised Christian program related to deliverance and one of the team members of the Deliverance ministry whose program was being aired was asked, "so after a typical day casting out demons etc, how do you pray before retiring to bed?" The woman answered, "before I sleep I say the Lord's Prayer." The woman's response left me questioning her seriousness as a Christian. Personally, my understanding of prayer at that time had been shaped by the belief that prayer must be uttered in a 'certain way' for it to be powerful and heard by God, forgetting that Jesus taught his disciples how to pray in very simple words. I believe, my judgement about this woman is typical of most of us who experienced or witnessed the revival of the Pentecostal movement, and then later the Charismatic movement from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s. An offshoot of the Charismatic movement is where oft...

No. 3: The Power of the Rod of God In this No. 3 of the series, Activating the Power of God , I will focus on the biblical exposition on the rod of God, in particular, its role as a symbol of God's authority in the battles faced by the people of God in the Old Testament, and how these same principles are applicable to our lives as Christ followers. To begin, let's read the following scriptures: Exodus 4:1-5, 17, 20, KJV (1) And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. (2) And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. (3) And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. (4) And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: (5) That they may believe t...