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The Christian Faith 2 Comments

What’s my name?

That’s straightforward guys.

My name is Deborah.

Deborah Ibukunoluwa Adebayo. Read this page detailing more about me.

I have a lesson to share with you as regards my name.

Debby(as I’d rather call it henceforth) was a judge and prophetess in the scriptures. Her story is contained in Judges 4 &5.

She was happily married to Lapidoth (I know of this happiness, guys. She informed me). And she judged under the palm of Deborah.

Mama Debby was a nation lover, a patriotic, loyal and strong woman. She was desperate to solve challenges and lead the people nearer where they ought to be. This desperation, as it always does, led her to her calling where she solved disputes as the chief judge, and also told the people the mind of God as a prophetess.

But mama didn’t loose sight of the truth in the midst of this. There was something holding it all together.

Debby made God’s business her business and God made her business his business. She could’ve gotten carried away with the pressing case of Rachael whose husband wanted to put her away or the case of Nathaniel who flagrantly disobeyed the instructions of God, and in being carried away by that, she could’ve ignored God’s new demand at the battle field.

She started out heeding the call to help at a local level and quashing the comfort of staying back at home doing the chores(I wrote why chores are good in this post) while discussing the men who weren’t at battle. She took up God’s work and God seeing her heart, took up her work – her desire to see a nation whole again.

The lord will take up the national matter on your heart, not to worry. You, my friend, just take up his work.

And when the call comes to go on higher, don’t be carried away emotionally (or logically) with the urgency of the work on ground (cue Nathaniel and Rachael).

Helping Nathaniel and Rachael were very much in line of God’s will for her but her extreme passion to help had a possibility of getting in the way and hindering the real deliverance of Israel.

“Make God’s business your business and God will make your business his business.”

AFAQ (Anticipated Frequently Asked Questions). I know guys, I know.

1. Hey Debby, are you certain national matters were on her heart?

Yes dear, I am certain. God finds it hard to speak to a person on things their heart are not attuned to. That’s because they won’t hear. You hear God clearly on a situation of which you are waiting and hoping and praying.

2. Debby, I have issues detecting whether God is giving me a higher assignment. I don’t seem to hear him.

Okay, pray that your ears will be open. You can make a daily declaration to that effect, it serves to put you in a place where you are conscious of your desire to hear God. Also, reduce the distracting noise around you, okay? Cut down on assignments God didn’t ask you to take up. Apologize if you have to but draw back from busyness that’s not productive. Importantly, Read the scriptures.

3. Deb, this is not a question. You do have a beautiful name.

Well thank you reader, I’m over here smiling.

No matter how pressing your current assignment or heart preoccupation is, God’s business should be number one. God should be number one.

Toodles guys, till next time.

Don’t forget to drop a comment and share.

I remain Debby.

P.S: I’m totally glad to write on here again after three weeks. ? I hope to send out a newsletter soon telling you some things?.

Dear Mentee Educative 7 Comments

Dear Mentee || The HolyGhost and Sleep

So I have this leading to start a segment where I write what’s desperately on my heart. Obviously, that’s what the entire blog is for, but this is different. On the blog, I’m addressing myself, addressing my future children and grandchildren, addressing you and your uncles and neighbours. This segment though is addressing my mentees. The things that I desperately want to pass on to the younger ones (not only age wise) that’s what I will write here. They are the things I’ll tell my younger ones who come to sit beside me at night and say “advise me. Tutor me”.

Today, what’s on my heart is “your sensitivity to the Holyghost”.

I have been in meetings where the Holyspirit woke me from sleep to attend them. I have been in meetings I left for in the rain because my spirit was restless. None of those meetings have been in vain. I have been sleeping in vigils – on two distinct occasions, when the Holyspirit woke me up and said ‘Its time’. It always was time*.

I would’ve missed some blessings, had the Holyspirit not tugged at my heart till I gave.

Friend, you need this thing. Its called divine ordering of steps. The Holyspirit does it!! He did it for Philip and it is forever recorded for Philip that he led that Ethiopian Eunuch to Christ and many others through that means. Its seen in the entirety of Jesus’ life – He lived in sync with what he received from heaven. Don’t be blind to the spirit’s move per time.

If in your spirit, you never have the prompts, develop your sensitivity to the holyghost. Start first by having a relationship with him. These steps may help:

  • Tell him you want to be best friends
  • Study your bible and pray in the spirit
  • Read books (like those on Kathryn Kuhlman) and listen to ministers like Benny Hinn. These people because they have had wonderful relationships with him and teach us how to.

He is a person and he wants to be more real to you, than your friend is. More real to you than I am too.

That’s it for today. Do not miss out when others are getting help through this very means – let the spirit order your steps.

Till next time, mentee.

I remain Debby.

  • Because you’re my mentee, I’ll tell you bluntly : If you so like, go around sleeping at vigils, waiting for the Holyspirit to tell you its time, you go sabi.
The Christian Faith 29 Comments

Debby on the Game Of Thrones (GOT) matter

Before you read

So there’s this stuff that raved about twitter for a while and still goes round occasionally: Unpopular opinion. You state something most people do not believe in but that you strongly do.

When I decided (quite impulsively) to write on Game of thrones, I thought to myself, well here’s an unpopular opinion.

Should it be though? My opinion shouldn’t be unpopular among Christians if it is based on God’s word. Don’t buy into the lie that each Christian should live differently – rather we have a common faith, there is no favourite with God, his standard is sure for all generations 2 Timothy 2:19.

As you read, know that there is no tension in God’s word, if there’s any tension, its with us.

So let’s get right into it!

Ah, Still hold up! This post is for Christians, beautiful people. If you’re not a Christian, I can very well understand your annoyance.

I was hall representative in my fellowship close to two years back now (This means hall pastor). At that time, Game of Thrones was trending. It later died down so I forgot about it but its noise increased in the past few months as the anticipation for season 8 came up.

At the time I was hall rep, I put together a short advice to the members of my hall church on our Whatsapp page and it is below:

Good afternoon everyone.
Something has been on my mind for a while and who else to share it with than you all?

We need to be mindful of the things we feed our bodies, souls and spirits with. Very mindful. We are Jesus people and we can’t afford to get contaminated. We stand out with purpose.

This is about that popular TV series “Game of thrones”. This series has taken the world by a storm. Please I plead with you to desist from seeing it. It troubles my spirit. I’ve never seen it before but I know it’s not the best.
There are much better entertainments for you, without you welcoming evil spirits. I confess to you that I’ve seen the movie ‘twilight’ before and I know its not good for Christians. This Game of thrones seems to be the same and extremely prolonged for a purpose.

You can exercise discipline to stop seeing it if you’ve started. You can pray it out of your desires.
Just imagine how it has taken most people worldwide and held them captive. Scriptures says “don’t become so well adjusted to your society that you fit in without thinking”. Please think. Don’t let this sap out God’s current dealings with you. There is more to it than meets the eye, contend for the faith.
A word is enough for the wise.
God bless us all.

Romans 8:1-2 “So here’s what I want you to do, God help­ing you: Take your ev­eryday, or­dinary life—your sleeping, eating, go­ing-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embrac­ing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your cul­ture that you fit into it with­out even think­ing. In­stead, fix your at­tention on God. You’ll be changed from the in­side out. Readily rec­ognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the cul­ture around you, always dragging you down to its lev­el of im­ma­tu­rity, God brings the best out of you, dev­el­ops well-formed ma­tu­rity in you.”

With love,
From your sister

Today, I find that I still don’t have much to write other than the bible passage above, and if you’re in need of more passages, here are two others:

1.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Whatever sets your mind outside the course of intimacy with God, that thing is your enemy, don’t cuddle it. Your heart and mind is the primary way God speaks to you as a believer, don’t let it become misty. Of course, this goes beyond game of thrones to other things (including other movies).

2.

“But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Romans 14:32)

Rather than saying to yourself, “its not that bad, I can handle it”. Rather than quietening your discomfort by focusing on the thrill of the movie, be honest with yourself that seeing this movie is not coming from a place of faith. The swearing, the sex scenes, the worldview it projects…(at this stage, we’re broadly discussing movies). Your desire to be in tune with the Holyspirit should supersede your curiosity for an interesting movie, if you’re properly developing.

Finally, on the issue of nudity.

Desiringgod.org has an article on GOT(12 questions to ask before watching GOT). When I read it, I remembered someone mentioned once that GOT is very graphic, sexually. John Piper of Desiringgod.org invites us to join him in the pursuit of purity of heart and mind. Don’t let us become so well adjusted to our daily culture that we fit in without thinking, thereby ruining our witness.

Christians do not conform – this is not a mouth confession, its a lifestyle profession.

Whatever tension you may feel now, whatever discomfort, its coming from one of two places:

– My reference to evil spirits in my address to those hall members two years ago, lol.

-Your inner discomfort because you know this is right and you have a candid choice to make. You probably preferred not having a choice to make by not considering the matter seriously but then, I just ruined that.

We’re the ones who need to change, not God. Certainly not God.

If this opinion is still unpopular with you as a Christian, lets discuss below.

Love and light,

Debby

Book Reviews 4 Comments

BOOK REVIEW || Under The Udala Tree

I read this book about 11 months ago and I didn’t, couldn’t write a review or bookmark any pages. I thought since I didn’t support the message the book was advocating I didn’t even have to review it. However, it unsettles me to skip out on this one, so of the many I ignore for review, this one forges ahead.

(P.s: I finally wrote this review like 5 months ago and still didn’t publish it because I was busy)

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Ijeoma was just eleven years when the war began. The life she’d known had been one of middle class comfort as an only-child in her family, where she was fed abundantly and told it would help stimulate her brain.
Prior to the war:

“as for us, we moved about in that unhurried way of the butterflies as if the breeze was sweet, as if the sun on our skin was a caress. As if slow paces allowed for the savouring of both. This was the way thing were before the war: our lives, tamely moving forward”

The book is a coming of age story which dwells on the Biafran war, and on the war against homosexuals.

“There is no way to tell the story of what happened with Amina without first telling the story of mama’s sending me off. Likewise, there is no way to tell the story of mama sending me off without also telling of papa’s refusal to go to the bunker. Without his refusal, the sending away might never have occurred, and if the sending away had not occurred, then I might never have met Amina
If I had not met Amina, who knows, there might be no story at all to tell”

The book consists of three parts. The story goes back and forth in the first part and reveals how Ijeoma’s father refuses to run into the bunker during one of the air raids; he embraces despair about the losing war, and is bombed in his own house by the fighter planes.
The book explores grief and loss consequent to this. Mama who fails miserably in coming out of her grief sends her daughter to live with a school teacher.

It is in being sent away to live with the grammar school teacher and his wife, that Ijeoma faces the question of her sexual identity.
After being caught, Ijeoma would go through tumultuous times in her mind seeking for the truth, and for peace.
She would have compulsory lessons with mama at the kitchen table every evening, in order to cleanse her mind with the word of God.

This book tries to raise questions and doubts in a readers mind. It wants you to question the religious beliefs you may have already held. The book does this by employing a strategy of shifting grounds on morality – what exactly is an abomination? Was Adam’s meeting with Eve only symbolic of relationship between different people, thereby having no relevance to their sexes?

It brings up forbidden love, and as with love which is restricted, the author tries to win the reader’s sympathy. Its moving when the lesbians hide themselves in a bunker from a violent mob – a bunker similar, and even worse than those used during the Biafran war. Again – a literary tactic to depict a greater war being waged on homosexuals.

The book leads you to watch Ijeoma try to repent before God but being unable to, “not being heard by God”.

Ijeoma’s thoughts often center on the context of Bible passages – discrediting the inference Christians hold from those same passages.

Chinelo Okparanta deliberately explores the religious background of Nigerians by making her central characters well abreast of scriptures. There’s nothing less than twenty passages on homosexuality in this book, some analyzed in depth (though erroneously). It’s a strategy that’s supposed to take the fight out of the opponent by seizing their very war instrument.

This book goes far to come close. Here’s why: It presents gay-torching Christians (arsonists), hateful Christians who will tear off the clothes on the neck of lesbians who are found out and kill them.

It presents a frenzied mother who casts demons out of her daughter for being a lesbian. Fast forward fourteen years and a failed heterosexual marriage, it presents the same spiritual mother saying:

“God who created you, must have known what he did. Enough is enough”

Overall this book works to evoke empathy especially as its written in 1st person P.O.V. It also drops proverbs like this one:

“if you set off on a witch hunt, you will find a witch. When you find her, she will be dressed like any other person. But to you, her skin will glow in stripes of white and black. You will see her broom and you will hear her witch cry and you will feel the effects of her spells on you.
No matter how unlike a witch she is, there she will be, a witch before your eyes”

An unobservant Christian will probably begin to give room to thoughts like: “But its their human right to decide their own sexuality after all, why bother them?”
The book is a patient and descriptive read for the first two parts, the rest hurries through a bit. In the Epilogue, Ndidi, Ijeoma’s lover says her prophecy concerning Nigeria being a place where love is allowed between all sexes and tribes.
This book is written as a response to the laws passed by President Jonathan in 2014 which criminalized same-sex relationship.

In conclusion, for literature? it does well. For my sentiments and beliefs? I fault it every line of the way. I say it does well for literature because if it were to be another cause for which I stand, I’d have thought she made her case sufficiently well for a novel. But this – the issue of homosexuality, I do not stand for it both logically and spiritually. It is fundamentally wrong.

Books and Truth,

Debby

Book Reviews 4 Comments

BOOK REVIEW || Crazy Rich Asians

Heyyy guys. Hello. Today I’m reviewing a book long over due. I have so many books left unreviewed, please help me. Enjoy.

This is how it went: I loved the book. Then I didn’t love it anymore. I even started to hate it. And now, reading it again after many months, I love the book again.

I love the book outside of the general buzz of it and outside of my dislike for its irrelevant series continuation (my opinion). The book did just well with only the first book but then Kevin Kwan went ahead to stretch it into a trilogy (China Rich Girlfriend & Rich People’s Problems). The second was averagely okay for me because I was already enjoying the Asian escapism I got from the first book. The third would’ve just bored me so I skipped it altogether.

Not withstanding, I would always recommend it for a pleasurable holiday read.
My review in a sentence: CRAZY RCH ASIANS DEALS WITH ASIANS WHO ARE RICH AND CRAZY.
My review in full:
Rachel Chu(A Prof of economic development) meets Nicholas Young(Prof of history and law) and they fall in love in New York. But Nicholas’ family aren’t in New York, they’re in Asia(Singapore) where it gets crazy.

Its two years into their relationship and Nick coaxes Rachel to travel home with him for his best friend’s wedding and there she meets the craze. The book takes us on a ride along with Rachel through Nick’s stupendously rich and quiet elitist family. The wealth and snobbery of the Singaporeans gets Rachel Chu’s head spinning. Would she stand the anger and jealousy thrown at her from all around or will she balk?

The Singapore where they live, is akin to a big village where everyone is in everyone’s business. Take Eleanor for instance:

“To Eleanor, every single person occupied a specific space in the elaborately constructed social universe in her mind. Like most of the women in her world, Eleanor could meet another Asian anywhere in the world- say, over dim sum at royal chia in London, or shopping over in the lingerie department of David Jones in Sydney – and within thirty seconds of learning their name and where they lived, she would implement her social algorithm and calculate precisely where they stood in constellation based on who their family was, who else they were related to, what their approximate net worth might be, how the fortune was derived, and what family scandals might have occurred within the past fifty years.”

The gossip in this book is lit – everyone has (interesting, scandalous) background story you’ll have to know of.
The book presents Singaporeans who can figuratively die over food; eating five times a day and arguing about the best food spots. We’re introduced to other characters like Astrid,Charlie Wu, Peik Lin etc.

At a point you just might get tired of the wealth description. There are articles in a house (ceramics) worth thirty million dollars, every jewelry is scrutinized to the last detail, the clothes they put on are from the next season.

“Forbes only reports on the assets they can verify, and these rich Asians are so secretive about their holdings. The richest families are always richer by billions than what Forbes estimates”

I think for those who are unaware, you also get to learn secrets like this:

“let me share a secret with you, Nick. As much as a girl might protest, you can never go wrong buying her a designer dress or a killer pair of shoes”

And simple songs like this:

“it only takes a spark,
To get the fire going.
And soon all those around,
Can warm up in its glowing.
That’s how it is with God’s love,
Once you’ve experienced it.
You want to sing,
Its like fresh spring,
You want to pass it on”

Likes
I must tell you the truth – dialogue in this book is fun!

I like the fact that the book also picks up quickly.

Dislike
The characters come off as so many at the beginning, and they’re unfamiliar Chinese names so it gets difficult to hold on sometimes. You’ll however get the hang of it later.

This book is in essence – Rich entitled delusional Chinese families 101; which in spite of its light humour strokes subjects such as family bond, identity, self-worth and belonging. It is cool for what its worth and helps transport you to Asia. I generously rate it a 4 stars in its own right.

P.S: I’ve seen the movie adaptation and I think its wack.

Have you read this book? Have you seen the movie? Are you interested in reading it? If you’ve read it, are you like everyone else who likes Astrid?

Love and books,
Debby.

Life Diary 21 Comments

Life Update 2019 (1)

Today

Hello gorgeous people. This is the third attempt to write this post – thank God this one is a success. I’ve decided to include my earlier attempts as they bear on all I’m discussing today.

Hey guysss. A life update post is due, yes?

Where do I start from? I’ve had an absolute back-breaking week. But its been a delightful week, all the same. I’m almost through with undergraduate studies. Exams are done and dusted, my project submitted today. All that’s left is to have the finalist send-forth program in my faculty, the send-forth in my fellowship too. Every other thing is by the way. Are you aware that I’ll be proceeding to law school this April? No, of course you aren’t. Well, I’m going. That one is a whole long story on its own!

Argh, I’m failing at this life update thing. Where do I even start to write from?

Now I know what to type unlike what I wrote yesterday. I’m not very fine. I’m not. I’m mentally spaced out. I had a scare this exam period with one of my courses – jurisprudence and legal theory. A real scare that kept me thinking I may have a carryover course for the first time ever, which means an extra year. An extra year when I ought to be at law school. An extra year which will depress me and shatter my esteem. So I prayed and confessed God’s word and was assured of his plan for me, especially seeing as I read for the exam, other things simply went wrong.

I’ve had to read so much for my exams, work on my project and plan the externalities involved with it, work on an assignment, justle re-establishing this blog along side, and carried on my head a responsibility at fellowship which felt like it was otherwise crashing at that time.

I’m not so fine mentally. Some days, I feel like my literal heart is heavy. At the risk of appalling everyone, I wonder if I have a rising blood pressure.

Yet in the midst of all this (in a week and a half), I’ve worshipped God and enjoyed beautiful times with him. But at other times, my heart is heavy. It is. I’ve panicked. Panicked about law school and if I was getting anything right, wondered if I was going to be late for my application.

I don’t know, but I don’t like having an heavy heart. I don’t like not being a free-spirited adult. I don’t want to be light and free simply because I’m not thinking of some stuff. I want to be able to think of all I need to and still be light. I don’t want to jettison anything to the corner of my mind like it isn’t real so I’ll have peace. I just don’t want to. I believe in having peace in spite.

Today

This past week I did all the running around under the sun that comes with completing my final year project. I completed my final year exams. I had major stress over completing my law school application in two days to meet the deadline. There was also the general trepidation of law school and the rush attached to the April batch.

In retrospect, I’m just a stickler for perfection; which is good once I can cast aside the worries that come with it. Till today while I type, a number of my classmates are still not through with the law school application or their projects. For everything we’ve had to do, out of 150+ students, I was always in the first seven to submit on the first day required and to do it thoroughly(by myself). So why fret, young lady? Oh young lady.

This leads me to remember an interesting passage in an even more interesting translation:

Phillipians 4:4-7

Always be filled with joy in the lord. I will say it again. Be filled with joy. Let everyone see that you are gentle and kind. The Lord is coming soon.

Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have.

And because you belong to Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over all your thoughts and feelings.

His peace can do far better than our human minds.

The last two paragraphs always do the wonder. Peace can stand like a guard over my heart. Peace isn’t passive and negligible, its a warrior (just like TY Bello and Sinach sang here). I get to have this peace simply because I belong to Christ. Thoughts and feelings have no chance before my skillful guard.

This applies to you too, my friend.

Onto other things, do you remember last year I mentioned that I wasn’t sure how blogging would go this year. Everyone says law school is a jealous lover, it wants all your attention. But I’ll be sure to come around as often as I can, even if its just to give you life update posts. I miss writing other posts. Please pray for me. Also subscribe to my newsletter because that is the only sure way of keeping in touch with me. Social media will fail.

Its good to write on here again, are you happy to hear from me too? It’ll be good to read something about your own life update too in the comment box.

Tell me, what do you also think of the new blog layout? If you need someone to fix you up with something similar, I have just the right contact.

Till next week Saturday (or so soon before),

Love and grace,

Debby.

The Christian Faith 15 Comments

SINGING IN THE SPIRIT

Heyy guys. How are you doing this Saturday morning? I’m very well. Very alive, thank God. I hope to do a life recap someday soon. In the meanwhile, do read this post and be blessed:
There are specific attributes common to all true Christians in the world today, irrespective of location or exposure.
Some of these Christians haven’t had the luxury of a bible translation in their dialect, yet their faith is as true as the example Jesus set forth.
You may ask ‘what then leads Christians all over the world, to do the same things and respond to situations in the same manner’? The simple answer is: The spirit of God. The same Holy Spirit he sends into our hearts which acknowledges that we are the children of God Romans 8:16.
The Spirit helps us act in the way of God, joining us all as one in Christ – John 17:21.

Christians all over the world don’t just sing because it is a tradition we met in the faith, but we sing out of the Spirit’s leading.

Take a look at the book of Luke 1:67; Zechariah, having been stricken dumb by angel Gabriel at the point of his wonder and doubt, immediately praised the Lord once his mouth was opened. A song had been building in his heart at the wonder of our God from the time of his acute surprise in the temple right till the delivery of his son, John.
Spirit-filled, he opened his mouth and uttered this prophetic song:

“And his father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David…”

Some months earlier in the same household, Mary and Elizabeth had engaged in prophetic singing of their own. Elizabeth got filled with the Holy Spirit when the baby in her womb (who was already filled with the Holy Spirit) leaped for joy – Luke 1:15.
Imagine, then, how much more we believers who today carry the Holy Spirit on the inside of us and not just in a baby inside of us, imagine how much we ought to be filled with the spirit of GOD.
Can you imagine the prophetic worship that should emerge from our beings when we meet with another ‘Mary’ in the presence of God; when iron sharpens iron – The beautiful unplanned prophetic worship.
To further establish in the scriptures that the spirit of God spontaneously leads believers to worship are the following instances:
1.Deborah and the host of Israel: Judges 5: 1 – 31. Vs 3: “hear, o ye kings; give ear, o ye princes; I even I, will sing unto the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel”.
2. Hannah: 1 Samuel 2:1 -10. Vs 2: “there is none holy as the lord; for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God”
3. Daniel: Daniel 2: 17 – 23. Vs 20: “Daniel answered and said, blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his”
4. David the psalmist: Psalm 103
5. Moses and the children of Israel: Exodus 14:31 “and Israel saw that great work which the lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the lord and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses”, and for this they sang- Exodus 15:1 – 21. Vs 1: “then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the lord, and spake saying, I will sing unto the lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea”
Vs 11: “who is like unto thee o lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?”
6. The twenty four elders and four living beings: Revelations 4:9 – 11. Vs 11: “thou art worthy o lord to receive glory honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created”
7. Angels and the saints in heaven and on earth: Revelation 5: 13, 14 ; Revelations 19: 6,7
Are you familiar, dear reader, with the joy that moves you to sing God’s praise? Are you reflective enough to let God’s spirit awe you with his marvelous deeds like it did Zechariah? Remember: A song had been building in his heart at the wonder of our God right from the time of his acute surprise in the temple till the delivery of his son, John. Spirit-filled, he opened his mouth and uttered a prophetic song.
Can it be that when our hearts don’t fill with the beautiful praises of this majestic and incomparable God, that we are busy with the ‘toys’ of this world, and have lost sight of him? Can it be that the spirit of the living God which is responsible for drawing us to worship isn’t finding full expression on the inside us?
Truly, we have been created for the praise and glory of his name (in words and deeds) Revelations 4:11. Amen.
*All scripture quotations are gotten from the KING JAMES VERSION.

What say ye?

With joyful singing,
Debby

Life Diary The Christian Faith 8 Comments

My take on House Chores

Hello!
Story, story? Story. Once upon a time, there lived a boy called David and he was a shepherd. One sunny day, his father sent him to enquire about his brothers’ welfare. Here’s what happened:

Early in the morning David left the flock with a shepherd, loaded the supplies and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle position, shouting their war cry. Israel and the philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and greeted his brothers. As he was talking with them, Goliath the philistines champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it.

1 Samuel 17:17-23
A/N: This post was written some many weeks back but its ever relevant:
SINCE I got home a while back, I’ve been pressed with a few house chores – nothing too much really, but things that haven’t gone down well with me.

WHY?

I had a wrong mindset. I had gotten so consumed in the fast-paced, so-called ‘result driven’ world that I subconsciously put a price on everything. If it wasn’t going to add to my knowledge base, better my spiritual life or yield me money, it was pointless.
But that is far from the truth.
What happened to the scripture that says whatsoever presents itself for you to do, do it with all your might, because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or skill in the grave where you’re going. Ecclesiastes 9:10.
What of 1Corinthians 10:31?
God makes our meek character through things like this. I’ll be honest to say I’ve had amazing moments doing the dishes at home – times when I heard God review my life and actions, times when I worshipped and prayed. And even if none of these, like I stated, just learning meekness is sufficient.
ON SUNDAY, we had an extraordinarily long bible-passage reading in church – as I joked, it was almost longer than the sermon which came up later.
One of the passages read was the story of David’s meeting with Goliath – 1 Samuel 17. The Lord gave me a simple lesson right in the church – you can find your life’s vision while running an errand!
In the midst of house chores, you can fulfill divine mission. If you’ve listened to great men, you’ll reckon a number of them talk of finding their big calling in the middle of service to God and/or man.
David was so diligent with his errand that he got someone else to handle the cattle he shepherded while he went away to obey papa. At his brothers’ camp, he gave the supplies to the supplies keeper (might’ve paid for that) and ran to say hello to his brothers.
He didn’t say, “Well I’ve taken the supplies over, they’ll meet it when they get back“. He was so diligent with it all. If you’re like I was two weeks ago, thinking everything should literally add to you (even when sacrificing and helping), it’s not called being a goal-getter, it’s a ME-mentality disorder (selfishness).

“You can find your life’s vision while running an errand!”

You can find God in the middle of your mega errands. Tell me, what has been your experience running errands? Or are you one of the infinitely lucky ones who live life without house-chores?
P.S: If you’re unfamiliar with the rest of David’s interesting story (the life vision he got while running his errand), run a google search of 1Samuel 17 or get in touch with me.

Much love,
Debby.

The Christian Faith 7 Comments

'Ambitious Millennial Christian' Kara

Kara as a case study, is a new feature on the blog in 2019. She’s decided to help us in analyzing some matters; she does this by sheer honesty about her life. You’ll be hearing a lot about her ?.
Today, Kara is an ambitious millennial Christian. She has good drive about her professional life. She’s in stride to ensure a good plan up till her retirement years. Kara is a a Christian: she loves the Lord and fellowships at a good bible-believing church. Finally, Kara is a millennial.
Dear Kara is prone to facing a problem that some other ambitious millennial Christians are facing today: using her mind, rather than the Bible, to judge.
She’s curious and often ready to learn; she’s an adherent to the blog post – blow your own mind. For this reason, she reads blogs, books, listens to podcasts and watches documentaries. She’s so used to this that it’s imbibed into her daily routine; she either listens while in transit to work, during her lunch break or as she’s falling asleep. Her mind is growing fertile. We are proud of Kara; she has a growing intellect, emotional perspective and a strengthening will.
Physically: Kara eats well ( we’re so proud of her). Kara goes a notch higher by posting all her healthy eating pictures online (for now, let’s ignore how this is a subtle attempt on her part to flaunt her good outings)
Kara’s body and soul are bouncing. What’s left? Her spirit.
On the mornings Kara doesn’t wake up late, she observes her quiet time. Kara remembers to listen to a message from her bible-believing church every once in a while – once a week. She’s not chanced to go for her mid-week service (except when on leave from work) but she goes on Sundays.
What that does to dear K is make her mind and body more fertile than her spirit. Imagine the daily nourishment on one hand and the average unpredictable nourishment on the other hand.
Consequently, she over-rationalizes homosexuality as a Christian, she permits a level of lasciviousness. She creates ‘Modern Christianity’. Her perspective is but a subjective 21st century skewed lenses.
Kara has an open mind, as it is said, to many matters. She considers the many possible sides and she gives varying worldviews a chance. The trouble here is: Kara’s bible isn’t as open as her mind is.

She judges everything on the basis of her experiences and understanding instead of judging her experiences and understanding on the basis of an unchanging God.
The solution is hidden in the whole exposition. Kara, feed your mind(knowledge-lover? Tick). Feed your body (fit-fam eater? Tick)
Above all, seek God’s Kingdom first and everything would be added unto you(Matthew 6:33).

“For we fix our attention not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever. 2 Corinthians 4:18″

Change your priority Kara.

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With abundant love,
Debby
Do leave your comments below, we’re interested in learning.

Movie Reccomendations 5 Comments

HOMELESS TO HAVARD: the Liz Murray story

Liz at 15: troubled by a dysfunctional family and homeless.
Welcome to this read.
Liz preferred to go by the name Liz or Lizzie and that’s because ‘Elizabeth’, was what her mum called her when she was slipping into crazy.
She loved her family so much that she baby-sat her whole family especially her mum. In between living in a dingy apartment where the bath tub wouldn’t drain so she she’d shower ontop of an upturned bucket to escape the dirty water, and trying to get whats left of the money her mum hadn’t used for drugs to buy food, she didnt think of school. Liz hated school anyway. She turned up at the end of the term just to write her exams. She dropped out at grade 8. She was the absolute outcast in school. She smelled, she itched.

“my house wasn’t a place you could come out of and be normal”

Its heartbreaking to watch a child cling hopelessly to a drug addict. An addict who would always go back to the same things. Her mum always got taken to a mental institution for her schizophrenia, then released back.
Liz shoplifted a bit, ate in dumpsters, hung out in alleys, and slept in underground train stations.
She nursed the hope that everything would turn out right once again if she just continued to help her mother. When Liz’s plan didn’t work, she got a reality slap in the face.
Liz became her own knight.
She worked hard to get back in school. She studied maniacally and completed four years of high school in two (she didn’t want to end high school at 21 and she’d lost some years already).
She worked hard for an essay scholarship and got it. At the award of her New York Times scholarship, a journalist asked:
Journalist: “Liz, Liz, how did you do this?”
Liz: ” how could I not do it? My parents showed me what the alternative was”.

“I feel I got lucky because any sense of security was pulled out from under me, so I was forced to look forward. I didn’t have a choice so I got to the point where I just thought I had to work as hard as possible and see what happens.”

Likes
I really like the narration Liz did in the background. It worked well with the whole narrative, it gave it solidity and perspective. Her voice held a certain appeal too.
I really like how convincing the acting was. They each acted their part. Sister was detached; Mother was hopelessly addicted and sick; Father was intelligent yet crazily absent in a world of his own, lacked social skills and consumed by AIDS; Friend had lost all hope; and Liz, Liz was passive about her life in a big world until she changed her own story.
Dislikes
We don’t get enough perspective on her elder sister.
Excerpts

“the world moves and in just a sec, it can all happen without you. Situations are not conducive to what you want for yourself, someone else’s need, someone else’s plate is going to be stronger than yours is. Then, people just get frustrated by how harsh life can be and so they spend their life dwelling on that frustration, calling it anger, keeping their eyes shut to the wholeness of the situation and to all the little tiny things that have come together to make it what it is”

The place of family:
I think the best part for me was the relentless optimist and softie she was for her family.
Journalist: “Is there anything else you’ll like to tell us?”
Liz: “I loved my mother, so much. She was a drug addict, an alcoholic, legally blind and schizophrenic but I never forgot that she did love me even though she did all the time, all the time, all..all the time”
Journalist: “Is there anything you’ll change if you were able?”
Liz: “Yeah, I’ll give it back, all of it, if I could have my family back.”
About her mother:

“It wasn’t like she was running off being a good mother to anyone else. She just didn’t have anymore to give”

Production:
Original release date: April 7 2003.
Its an american TV film directed by Peter Levin. Written by Ronnie Kern. Original language: English. Movie length: 1 hr 27 minutes. Thora Birch played the part of Liz Murray.
The movie has been nominated for many awards. It won the best edited miniseries or movie for commercial use -Anita brandt -buryoyne.
Apparently in 2018, another boy goes from homeless to havard: Richard Jenkins by name.
Who should watch this movie? Everyone! For an appreciation of the privilege you have and not to take your security of a decent life lightly. Remember:

“I feel I got lucky because any sense of security was pulled out from under me, so I was forced to look forward. I didn’t have a choice so I got to the point where I just thought I had to work as hard as possible and see what happens.”

P.P.S: Because I’m so hooked on this Liz Murray’s story, I wholly encourage you to read her interview done by BBC.
Because this story is incomplete without the BBC interview version, I insist you read it.
With abundant love,

Debby.