Month: December 2013

As I contemplate and reflect on the passing of the great icon of humanity, NELSON MANDELA, I keep on asking myself a simple question. How many of these people pouring out great encomiums and eulogies to his greatness will truly stop and allow his life to shape their next decisions? How many will even attempt to step up and fill his shoes? How many will hang on to power for dear life? How many will seek revenge and kill their adversaries? How many will be magnanimous and pardon those who have offended them? So I decided to write this elegy. I published it a day ago, but on seeing the gathering of world leaders today in Johannesburg, i thought to myself, this elegy deserves another day on the blog.

These were the words that came to me as I contemplated a world without Nelson Mandela. A world without Madiba.

Is this the end?

 

 

 

 

Is this the end

Who can we send

Where has he gone

Searching wildly but found none.

 

Is this the end

Of those heaven sends

Where should we look

No one fits the mould in the book

 

Is this the end

Peaceful ones come to an end

Abel lover of his brother

Who now will be our keeper

 

Is this the end

Man crossing race road lined

Living for all but himself

All but an empty shelf

 

Is this the end

Why should we pretend

Man is purged of a bitter gall

So leading everyone away from the fall

 

Is this the end

Men who can fend

Strengthened from realms above

To show us the way of love

 

Is this the end

Politician without fiend

Servant of servants

Learning the art of the ants

 

Is this the end

Fearless ones who walk with knees abend

Stooping so low to conquer all

Leaving no one room to fall.

 

Is this the end of Nelson’s

Or is there a lesson

In the life of passion

For a cause with every reason

 

Surely there must be an end

To vagabonds and rogues devil sends

If there is a realm where he came from

I know for sure The Best is yet to come.

 

Till then I sit and weep

For my soul cannot fall asleep

Just for my eyes to see that twinkle

Perhaps with my finger I can touch the wrinkle!

 

Charles Abraham 101213

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is this the end

Who can we send

Where has he gone

Searching wildly but found none.

 

Is this the end

Of those heaven sends

Where should we look

No one fits the mould in the book

 

Is this the end

Peaceful ones come to an end

Abel lover of his brother

Who now will be our keeper

 

Is this the end

Man crossing race road lined

Living for all but himself

All but an empty shelf

 

Is this the end

Why should we pretend

Man is purged of a bitter gall

So leading everyone away from the fall

 

Is this the end

Men who can fend

Strengthened from realms above

To show us the way of love

 

Is this the end

Politician without fiend

Servant of servants

Learning the art of the ants

 

Is this the end

Fearless ones who walk with knees abend

Stooping so low to conquer all

Leaving no one room to fall.

 

Is this the end of Nelson’s

Or is there a lesson

In the life of passion

For a cause with every reason

 

Surely there must be an end

To vagabonds and rogues devil sends

If there is a realm where he came from

I know for sure The Best is yet to come.

 

Till then I sit and weep

For my soul cannot fall asleep

Just for my eyes to see that twinkle

Perhaps with my finger I can touch the wrinkle!

 

Charles Abraham 091213

 

 

Morning Dew

 

Key Passage: Genesis 32: 24-32

 

Key Word: Genesis 32: 30 – “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

 

There are times you look into a person’s face and you can see so many stories on the lined face. Some it’s their eyes that tell you they have a story or two to tell you. They have lived and they have had life leave its imprint on them. Again, some people just by looking at them you can see that they have had some life-changing encounter and they are alive to tell the story. Then there are those that their countenance tells you everything about them. If you meet an ex-soldier you can always tell by their posture. If you meet an athlete, their ‘ripped’ bodies tell you a lot about them. So it is with those who have truly met God. There is an indelible imprint of God on them. 

In our text today we see a man called Jacob coming face to face with God and being forever changed and transformed. Jacob was born a struggler, a hustler and a usurper. What we would call a regular con man. He stole his brother’s birthright, skilfully enriched himself at the expense of his father in law and tried to run away with all his wealth. But on this faithful day, he was about to come face to face with his brother Esau from whom he stole the birthright. Esau was going to kill him, so he was in a desperate place. That night he stayed at a place called Penuel. Penuel means face to face with God.

The bible records him wrestling with an Angel all night and when morning was dawning, the Angel asked to be released, but Jacob hung on for dear life, saying the Angel had to bless him. The Angel eventually asked for his name and he for the first time came face to face with himself. He confessed that his name is Jacob. A usurper, manipulator, deceiver and crook. The Angel them said to him, you will be called Israel, meaning a Prince of God. Prior to this, the angel dislocated his thigh joint, so he could no longer run away. From that day on Jacob became Israel, a man who walked with a severe limp. His encounter with this Angel, that is believed to be God, marred him for good for the rest of his life.

There are times in our lives, we need to stop and drop everything and met the God of Penuel. God is able to transform our lives and make us who He wants us to be, but we may need to risk that encounter with Him that will most certainly transform us, but leave us messed up for anything else but Him. If you have a character flaw you have struggled with all your life, Go to Penuel. If you have a long standing personality issue, Go to Penuel. If you are struggling with curses and deep-rooted sinfulness, Go to Penuel. Whatever your chronic situation, remember that there is a God of Penuel.

Penuel is the place where you are alone with God and you come face to face with God. If you survive Penuel, you will be transformed forever. Let’s go to Penuel.

Let’s pray: Father God, you are the God of Penuel. Lord help us to be so fed up with our sins, flaws and chronic issues, that we drop everything and come aside until we meet you at Penuel. Lord help us not to be scared of being changed by you, because you will break us, shape us, fill us and use us for Your own glory. I want the God of Penuel in Jesus name. Amen. 

Morning Dew

 

Key Passage: John 18:28-38

 

Key Word: John 18: 37 – “For this cause I was born and for this cause I have come into the world.”

 

The great Madiba has taken his final bow and the curtains have fallen on another great person. Perhaps, the greatest African of our time and no superlatives can accurately describe his impact on our continent and our world. He was a colossus of a man. He transcended race, culture, hate and dogma. He was a large man. A big man. A real man. One only wonders in all these eulogies and encomiums being poured out on this great man, if truly people pause to think about why he was so great.

Last week unknown to me that he would pass this week, I preached a very poignant message to our congregation on living for a cause. My text was from the book of John and the encounter of Pilate with our Lord Jesus Christ. Pilate had an encounter with the one person who could change his life forever and missed it. He asked the wrong question. “Are you a king?” How sad, his question ought to have been, ‘are you the King?’ The answer he would have got would have changed His life forever! But that’s not the point of my blog today. It was what Jesus said to him that we must really stop to consider. Jesus said “For this cause I was born and for this cause I came into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.”

Right here is the distinction between those who come to this earth and pass through and no one remembers them, because they made no impact and those who came and left indelible impressions in the sands of time. Jesus spoke of His purpose and His reason for coming to the earth. He is the Truth. He is the Life. He is the Way. Yet He came to bear witness to the truth. Jesus is the only one allowed to live for a cause He is greater than, all the rest of us humans, must live for a cause greater than us.

Let me say unequivocally, that God our creator is not a God who is wasteful. Like Morris Cerullo said many times, “God is a God of objectivity, purpose and design”. Meaning that God is very deliberate about His actions and He creates with a clear vision of an end. So bringing this home. God has created you for a purpose; For a cause; For an objective. And you can never be fulfilled outside this cause. I will also add, that you really have not started living until you start living for a cause bigger than your self. Let me also say that God created you to solve some other person’s problem. You are someone’s answer. You are here on this earth to fulfil a cause. Most people sadly live and die without ever finding their cause. They perish and are forgotten, because the lived for themselves. What you carry in you is not for you. It is for others and perhaps if you start giving that away, you will really find  who you truly are.

History is replete with people, great people who discovered this truth. Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr, Apostle Paul, King David, Queen Esther etc etc.

Mandela lived for a purpose greater than himself and today he is etched deeply in the hearts of all who care to know.

What is your cause? What is your purpose? Why are you here? Who are you here to help? What did God intend in creating you?

Whatever your answer to my rhetorical question, please don’t die insignificant. Don’t leave until you have lived. Lived for your cause and your purpose.

Finally can I interest you in the greatest purpose on the face of this earth? One that God is recruiting for everyday? It’s the purpose of time. Time will cease once this is done. It is the great commission of Matthew 28:18-20. “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 

Let’s Pray: Father God, please forgive me for living an aimless and purposeless life. Help me to discern and understand my reason for being on this earth. Please speak to me and let me hear your call. I want to live for the cause you created me for. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.