Hey Friends,

It's been a while here. I trust we're all doing good in this pandemically challenging times.This too shall pass to the glory of God and we shall remain standing strong.

There are answers which we most times seek, some questions seem too much to ask. In this series we will be dissecting some of those questions and getting enlightened on some of these questions. We will be joining the Transformation Church Community and Pastor Derwin Gray in this quest.

Please stay tuned.

Sunday August 2, 2020

God, Why?--Episode 1: God, Why Is There So Much Evil and Suffering?

This is one of the most asked questions in the
religious space. If God is loving, why is there evil and suffering in the world? In this series, starting with todays episode, we will join up with Pastor Derwin and the TC community as we find answers to this question and hope as we face very difficult times.

The biggest challenge to historic biblical Christianity is what philosophers call the problem of evil. The problem of evil is a problem for every single world view. Its important to know that our longing for justice, for beauty and for all sad things to become good is actually a longing for God. Everyone is going to experience the effects of evil and suffering and we might just do it with Jesus in our corner.

Evil and suffering do not belong in Gods good creation and one day they will be vanquished. We learnt from Genesis that Gods creation is good. Even though the kingdom of God is here but not fully, it will happen when Jesus returns.
Where does evil and suffering come from? Romans 5:12 (CSB).

Evil and suffering is a consequence of sin. Sin literally means that I am willfully rejecting my role as a partner with God to build His kingdom. Sin is not just an action, it is also dark power. Often people ask why God who is Omniscient (knows everything) put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden? This is because love demands choice and God wont violate our ability to make choices.

Evil and Suffering:
1. Doesnt compare to the awaiting glory. Romans 8:18. In the midst of evil and suffering, we have to maintain a proper mindset because we have a destination which is the New heavens and the New earth. If we die before Jesus coming, our spirit goes to be with the Lord while our bodies go to the ground but when Jesus comes back, theres a New heaven and a New earth and we have glorified resurrected bodies.

2. Reminds us that all of creation needs redemption. Romans 8:19-23 (CSB) The power of Jesus blood is so epic even creation itself would heal. Please know that if you have conviction, it is different from condemnation and guilt. Condemnation and guilt says youre evil, conviction says what you did was evil but its not a reflection of who youre in Christ. Its important to discern the difference. Condemnation and guilt pushes you away from God, conviction move you into the arms of a loving God.

3. Teaches us to see the invisible. Romans 8:24-25 CSB
This means we begin to see Gods invisible kingdom working even if we dont know it.

4. Teaches us to pray in the Spirit. Romans 8:26-29 CSB
God the Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the triune God. Prayer is allowing the Holy Spirit to intercede for us.

5. Showcases Gods sovereign redemptive purpose in your life. Romans 8:28-30 (CSB) Its good we know that if God were to get rid of all evil right now, He would start with you and me. The Holy Spirit wants to perfect Gods work in us and God uses all things to do it even evil and suffering. We are now living from the overcoming power of Jesus not living to overcome. Christ already did it, we walk in it faith.

6. Reminds us that we are more than conquerors in Christ. Romans 8:31-39 (CSB) We can through Gods grace take what the enemy means for evil and God uses it for good and the good is that God conforms us to the image of Christ and we continue the ministry and mission of Christ in all of life. You precious child are more than conqueror in Christ and His sovereign goodness is holding you into His nailed pierced hands.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Monday, 3rd August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: Evil and suffering do not belong in God's good creation and one day they will be vanquished.

Notes/Prayers: Dear Father, help me to understand that evil and suffering is not part of Your original creation and that it will vanquished when Your kingdom comes in its fullness.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Tuesday, 4th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: Everything God created is good. Evil and suffering is a result of sin and this led to the fall of man.

Notes/Prayers: Sweet Holy Spirit, help me to know that everything you created is good and teach me to see good in everyone and everything.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Wednesday, 5th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: It's important we maintain a proper mindset in the face of evil and suffering. Evil and suffering doesnt compare to the awaiting glory.

Notes/Prayers: Spirit of God, help me keep a right mindset towards evil and suffering. Help me to never loose focus of the glory ahead.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Thursday, 6th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: Evil and suffering reminds us that all of creation needs redemption and there's power in Jesus blood to heal us all.

Notes/Prayers: Dear Father, help me never to lose sight of the power in Jesus blood to redeem and heal.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Friday, 7th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: Evil and suffering teaches us to see the invisible and to pray in the Spirit.

Notes/Prayers: Spirit of God, help me to see the invisible and to pray in the spirit.

Hey people, hope your weekend went well?

The delay here is due to inconsistent network connections. I apologize. I'll post all outstanding devotionals now ( I pray network allows this time). Thanks for understanding.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Saturday, 8th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: The Holy Spirit wants to perfect God’s work in us and God uses all things to do it even evil and suffering. Our God is sovereign.

Notes/Prayers: Thank you Lord for your work in me. Help me to know that You are sovereign in all Your ways and that You can use all things for Your redemptive purposes.

God, Why?--Episode 2: God, Why Are Christians Such Hypocrites?

In this week’s episode, we will tackle the question of hypocrisy amongst Christians. Do you struggle with the attitude and actions of people who
claim to be Christ followers but don’t seem to reflect him? Do you sometimes have difficulty reflecting Christ yourself?

Our circumstances does not determine our faith, our faith in Jesus is what gets us through our circumstances, not merely to survive but to thrive.

Don’t let one moment define someone’s life- including your own. Holiness is a lifelong journey the more we trust Him and gaze on Him, the more we will become like Him. Gal.6:1-2

The ethics and beauty of a life that Jesus lived and the life that Jesus invites us into to live through the Holy Spirit’s power, is so beautiful and so engaging that people has to see it.

A Hypocrite is a person who acts in contradiction to his/her stated beliefs. A person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion. Hypocrisy is borrowed from a Greek word ‘hupokrisis’ -answerer (actor on stage) /pretender.

God has a play titled 'The kingdom of God' and by grace He invites us into His kingdom, to become His actors in His story. He takes off our masks (our old self) and gives us His new self Romans 6:6

Why are Christians Such Hypocrites? Because:

1. Holiness is a lifelong journey of trusting Jesus. Rom. 7:14-15, 24-25.
God does not need glory, God is glory. We need His glory, because of that which we admire is so beautiful; the more we gaze on Him, the more He will begin to rub on us. Jesus is the embodiment of Holiness. He came to earth to live a holy life because you and I couldn’t.

God did not come to make bad people good, He came to make dead people alive, therefore if we boast of our goodness, it is an indication that we have not come to the knowledge of His greatness.

Grace humbles us without deflating us. It encourages us without making us think too highly of ourselves.

God grabs us out of darkness and positions us into light. Holiness is a progressive sanctification. The same faith that brought you into the kingdom is the same faith that grows you in the kingdom Rom. 7: 14-15, 23-25.

When you are in the midst of the battle, don’t go on with the mindset of fighting on your own, instead fall to your knees and cry out saying God live through me.

2. Holiness is a choice to ‘put on’ Christ.
Jesus is not a means to the end, He is the end. He is not a resource, He is the source. The greatest prayer you can say is; LORD, LET YOUR WILL BE DONE. Sometimes God rips away from us (a process that can be painful) so He can give us what we really need. Rom. 13: 13-14.

3. Holiness is a war. Let the Holy Spirit fight it for you. Gal. 5: 16-18
With the help of the Holy Spirit, we love God completely, love ourselves compassionately and we are also empowered to love our neighbors
correctly. We have to walk intentionally by the Holy Spirit and let Him work in us and through us.

It is not about you: It’s not ‘ianity’ it’s ‘Christianity’. Put on Christ by walking in the Holy Spirit. Set your mind on things above.

4. Not all who say they follow Jesus are His followers. Jn. 4:20-21.
When you are learning about Jesus, the focus should always be on Him.

To love doesn’t mean you have to agree with all the choices people make, it means you affirm the image of God in them. Matt. 23: 23-28.

Don’t neglect justice, as long as it matters to God, it should matter to you. Don’t say that’s
not my problem because it doesn’t affect me: Remember Jesus didn’t say, ‘I won’t go to earth because sin does not affect him’.

5. Christians are known by how they love.
Love doesn’t mean I approve your sin, it means I approve your human dignity and worth. Jn. 13: 34-35. Trusting Jesus and growing in Holiness
should be an opportunity to display Jesus to the world.

Humility and kindness wrapped up in Love is a portrait and picture of what it means to grow as a follower of Christ.

You will always have something to give, because Jesus is all you need to give.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Monday, 10th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: Our circumstances does not determine our faith, our faith in Jesus is what gets us through our circumstances, not merely to survive but to thrive.

Notes/Prayers: Dear Father, help me never to allow my circumstances define my faith in You. Help me to know that I was made to thrive in spite of what’s going on around me

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Tuesday, 11th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: Don’t let one moment define someone’s life- including your own. Holiness is a lifelong journey of trusting Jesus.

Notes/Prayers: Sweet Holy Spirit, help me to see myself in the light of who I am in Christ and to keep trusting You to make me like Jesus.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Wednesday, 12th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: God by His grace invites us into His Kingdom to be actors in His story. He does this by taking off our masks (our old self) and giving us a new life.

Notes/Prayers: Lord I thank you for making me a part of Your kingdom by Grace. Dear Lord, please have Your way in me and express Your life through me.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Thursday, 13th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: To love doesn’t mean you have to agree with all the choices people make; it means you affirm the image of God in them.

Notes/Prayers: Dear Father, help me see everyone around me as one You love and died for and to affirm Your image in them.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Friday, 14th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: Grace humbles us without deflating us. It encourages us without making us think too highly of ourselves.

Notes/Prayers: Dear Lord, help me to understand the workings of Your grace in me and never to take Your grace for granted.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Saturday, 15th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: Humility and kindness wrapped up in love is a portrait and picture of what it means to grow as a follower of Christ.

Notes/Prayers: Spirit of God, help me to be a living figure of one who is growing in You. Let love and kindness be my embrace as I engage with others.

God, Why?--Episode 3: God, Why Should I Trust A Book That Supports Slavery And Misorgyny

Our faith is an holistic faith, and asking questions is one of the most important ways that helps us to seek and know more about Jesus. By so doing we get to tell others about Jesus and call people to worship God better. Also asking questions help us to overcome hypocrisy which was our focal point last week.

The bible has been misconstrued to suggest and encourage slavery and Misorgyny (hatred towards women). But this is not true because our God is a God of equality, treating people the same way, both Gentile or Jews, male or Female and Slave or Free .He has poured His Spirit out on all those who believe.

Romans 2:11 (CSB) says "For there is no favoritism with God." So in todays Life Discovery Gathering, we'll be looking at this two questions; Does the Bible support or encourage Slavery? And Does the bible support or encourage misorgyny?

Does The Bible Encourage Slavery?
Colossians 3:22 (Slaves, obey your human masters in everything. Dont work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. CSB)

What was Slavery in Bible Times: Bibilical slavery, was about employer, employee relationship, people captured during war. In the Bible times, slaves could own property, own other slaves and even purchase their own freedom. You can even use yourself to work to pay off debts, and get money.

How was the church to treat people who work for them?: In Christ an ethnic distinction is not placed above another. We are all robed in the righteousness of Christ.

1) We are to treat people equally not based on anything but based on their status in Jesus, because Christ thinks we are all worth dying for.
How we serve those who are underneath and beneath us is a reflection of how we worship the One above us.
Ephesians 6:5-9 CSB ( 5. Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart , as you would Christ. 6. Don't work only while being watched, as people-pleasers but as slaves in Christ, do God's will from your heart. 7. Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to people, knowing that whatever good each one does slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord, 9. And masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him.)

2) Servants are members of God's family; we are expected to treat them with love and equality. Philemon 1: 16. Treat your workers as a brother and sister in the Lord.

Does The Bible Support Misorgyny? 1corinthians 14: 34-35 (CSB) (34.  the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but are to submit themselves, as the law also says. 35. If they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home, since it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.)
The essence of a woman being silent in church is to attain order and maturity in public worship not that a woman cannot speak in church.

We see in I Corinthians 11:5 that the Bible acknowledged that a woman can prophesy. I Corinthians 11:5 (CSB) (5. Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since that is one and the same as having her head shaved.)

The Bible does not condone misogyny because women are coheirs in Christ, Jesus equally bled on them. Gal 3:28.

Below are few points we can meditate on:
-Jesus elevated women : the Samaritan woman was the first person that Jesus told He was the Messiah - John 4:21-28, the woman that was caught in adultery that Jesus didnt condemn (John 8:1-11)

-Women were key testifiers of Christ: Mary Magdalene who was the first testifier of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in John 20:1-2, Mary the mother of Jesus of course testified of the genuineness of the Christ Child (Matt 1:18, John 2:5)

The concept of Women Church Leader: In Acts 16:14-15, the Bible talks about a rich woman who encouraged her household to receive the Lord and even invited the Church into her house. The first church plan in Europe was started in the house of a woman. In Romans 16:1-7, we can see that a woman was also made a deacon.

Personal Reflection: The word of God drives us deeper and deeper in understanding our faith and understanding how God treasures everybody. And drives us deeper to see the world as part of a big story for God's Glory where male, female, teenager, pre-teen have a role to play, we all have a space in Christ.

Soul tattoo: Trust and read the bible daily, which includes listening to the bible (Our bible is trustworthy and it tells the story of the One who is faithful.)

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Monday, 17th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: We have all been called to worship God whose name is LOVE.


Notes/Prayers: Dear Father, please help me to trust in Your faithfulness and Your love, also help me to reciprocate this love to everyone around me.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Tuesday, 18th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: Slave or free, Jesus bled for them all. Treat people like Jesus would treat them, because they are worth the sufferings of Jesus and His passion.


Notes/Prayers: Dear Lord, please give me the grace to share Your passion in treating people right and with love.

Peter, the apostle, warned people about ALL MOGs (False Prophets and Teachers), from about 2000 years ago.

2 Peter 2 vs 1-7 (ERV)
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1. In the past there were false prophets among God’s people. It is the same now. You will have some false teachers in your group. They will teach things that are wrong—ideas that will cause people to be lost. And they will teach in a way that will be hard for you to see that they are wrong. They will even refuse to follow the Master who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves.
2. Many people will follow them in the morally wrong things they do. And because of them, others will say bad things about the way of truth we follow.
3. These false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you things that are not true. But the judgment against these false teachers has been ready for a long time. And they will not escape God who will destroy them.

4. When angels sinned, God did not let them go free without punishment. He sent them to hell. He put those angels in caves of darkness, where they are being held until the time when God will judge them.

5. And God punished the evil people who lived long ago. He brought a flood to the world that was full of people who were against God. But he saved Noah and seven other people with him. Noah was a man who told people about living right.

6. God also punished the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He burned them until there was nothing left but ashes. He used those cities as an example of what will happen to people who are against God.
7. But he saved Lot, a good man who lived there. Lot was greatly troubled by the morally bad lives of those evil people. 8 This good man lived with those evil people every day, and his good heart was hurt by the evil things he saw and heard.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Wednesday, 19th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: No matter the social status, gender or colour, the blood of Jesus makes everyone equal.

Notes/Prayers: Spirit of God please impact in me the grace to treat people equally, showing no favouritism to anyone.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Thursday, 20th August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: Our work is a worship to God. The way we live our life, do our work and relate with others should reflect the Excellency of God

Notes/Prayers: Dear Lord, help me to live a life of worship to You, not excluding my job and business. Help me to know that every aspect of my life should bring glory to You.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Friday, 21st August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: Read daily the word of God and listen to it.

Notes/Prayers: Spirit of God, You are our great teacher. Please, help me to understand Your word as I study. Please, inspire my thoughts and interpretations of the word.

Focus for Daily Personal Reflections/Devotion for Saturday, 22nd August, 2020.

Focus/Reflection: Our God is a God of all, that is why He promised to send His spirit out on all to those who believe. Male and Female, we are all heirs

Notes/Prayers: Thank you Lord for making me a joint heir with Christ. Help me to highly esteem coheirs in Christ regardless of gender.