WordToday

" I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin." (Psa.38:18) Simple but powerful. There is no shame in coming to the Lord daily to say;   "I am sorry for...," “I said...which is not appropriate," “I let my mind wonder about...," “I failed to do that which your Holy Spirit urged me to do when I...." Many times this kind of confession is preceded by 'trouble ' in our hearts. Let’s not make the mistake of shifting that trouble to something else or to someone else. Let’s not call or watsapp or text or FB every time we feel a gentle, nagging pressure on the inside. Often it is God's Spirit calling us to account. It is not wrong; it is God's way to trouble those He loves and more so those who love Him in turn. Strange? Yes. It is like permanently falling in love. It causes us trouble and pleasure in equal measure. Not a condemning kind of trouble but a trouble that desires a quick re-balancing of the relation...

Some of my most memorable moments are when I am away from home and we are having some catching up time with the children over Skype. One recent conversation started off with my son’s exuberant proclamations; Son with eyes suddenly opened to their maximum size: Today I was spanked!! Me: why were you spanked? Son: Are you coming home today? Me: No, I will be there on Saturday. Son (counting fingers): Saturday? Son with eyes about to pop out: I was beaten three times (holding up three stout fingers) Me: why were you spanked? Son: (counting first finger and shouting) I was spanked for screaming at Yuni!! Me: Ehe Son: Two (holding out two fingers, eyes almost out of sockets now). I was spanked because I refused to sleep Me: (Wondering whether his eyes will make it) Son: Three I was beaten because I pushed my sister Me: That’s not right Son: Then I was given two time-outs!!! (son jabbing animatedly at the computer screen) Me: Sigh! (Wondering whether he is triumphant or...

Soon  the tectonic changes bearing down on  us in the moral and technological arena will bring forth a brave new world. At least this is how it appears to those who readily embrace change. I am not one of them. In a world which is in constant flux, I prefer to interrogate first, the standing and philosophy of those behind the change. From there I determine whether the change is acceptable or if I will be among those who resist it. All the time I determine to interpret every new thing through the lens of unchanging scripture. How about you? As you think about this, allow me to share with you a quote by one John Masilela. "Sometimes change will not be given to you. You must ask for it." This is, by all appearances a profound statement until you ask who John Masilela is. Who is he? Well, he is a bus conductor . You see my good friend, appearances can be deceiving especially where things around ...

There is a high-sounding saying among today’s do-gooders that change is the only thing that is constant . Everything moves and transforms. Foundations shift. Everything is relative. No one accepts absolutes anymore. There is no such thing as an immortal, personal or unchanging deity. There are no moral absolutes. There is no everlasting truth. Everything changes with time.   Ever since the great philosopher René Descartes cast man as ‘a person who makes his own law and takes his own stand, ’ there has been an ongoing ‘ deliverance ’ of humanity from Christian revelational truth. The educated in modern society are taught that God is no longer the guarantor of truth. Each person must shape and guarantee his own reality. The outflow of this flawed reasoning is that few learned people ever want to see themselves as a child obedient to God. Now that we mention it I do recall that there is one who came long before Descartes. In the harrowing account leading to the crucifixion, ...

Most of the early Bible stories offer insightful clues on the nature of man and interesting perspectives on God's earliest interventions into the affairs of man. You are likely familiar with the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, Noah and his ark floating in the worst flood ever as others perished all about and thereafter the biblical account of the calling of Abraham. But perhaps the most dramatic of them all and one which could comfortably fit into a prime-time T.V. series today is that of Jacob and his rather large family. It culminated in Joseph, his second last-born, rising at a dizzying rate to great political power in a foreign land. However after the story of Joseph things tend to get a little murky for most people. Enter Moses and the miraculous calamities he invokes over the land of Egypt. Many are stamped by the unabashed references to cataclysmic events t...

Return to Egypt, Joseph reveals himself-Genesis 43-45 Recently I over-heard my wife almost shouting at someone we've both known for some time now. She was saying,   "..nimeona hauna bidii ya maisha wala ya Mungu!" (I have observed that you do not try to better yourself in life; neither do you put much effort in seeking God!).   I cringed but then she expertly turned the conversation into a discussion about the 'Four Spiritual Laws' and I relaxed. Later I learnt that the person had cynically questioned how a close relative we stay with could spend all her Easter holidays in a remote prayer-retreat center. Sometimes, God allows circumstances to come down on us really hard in a bid to catch our attention. His concern for our spiritual welfare drives him to allow things in our lives he'd rather not permit if he had other options. It is almost as if he gets exasperated like my wife and has to shout back at our faithless musings...

….is incarcerated and blessed at every turn—Genesis 39 & 42  In an unfortunate turn of events Joseph is sold off as a slave by his siblings to some merchants headed to Egypt. In captivity, he thrives against all odds and is soon made the chief-manager over his master’s house. However as fate would have it he is soon caught up in what would have been a torrid love affair had he not turned down Potiphar’s wife. He is then thrown into prison but even there the bible records that God so blessed the work of his hands that he was given oversight over the other prisoners. Joseph’s mix of troubles and successes in Egypt contain some pointers for us. Like Joseph’s brothers, one is often unaware that the religious words he  strenuously rejected are actually God’s initial move.  Often times such a person will feel strangely violated in his innermost person and will attempt to thrust any thoughts of God as far away as he possibly can. This is because...