Sep 13 2018
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Daily Devotional – I Need to Be by Myself

By Sodwana Bay

TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE Unfriendly people care only about themselves; they lash out at common sense. Proverbs 18:1 “A man who isolates Himself seeks his own desire.” Proverbs 18:1 My loving wife told me: “Honey, you are cutting yourself off from the Holy Spirit’s comfort and healing hands. Our friends at church miss you and want to hug you and share their love with you.” I thought, “Look at me, I should be by myself.” Tears came to my eyes because I was different. But, my gentle, tender wife still looked at me through the eyes of love. I had been home from the hospital for a few weeks after a two-month sequence that included: blood spitting pneumonia, a massive stroke and then extensive pulmonary embolisms in both lungs. Two of my attending physicians told me that I had been given: “a Divine reprieve to a death sentence, enjoy it”; “a miracle”. I wasn’t doing much enjoying. I felt more like a damaged vegetable and looked like something you wouldn’t take home from the market. My wife felt I was isolating myself too much as I felt better being alone and just passively watching T.V. Without knowing it, I was falling into one of the devil’s schemes, but my angel wouldn’t give up. She came to me and laid my head on her lap. Then, I felt Jesus’ warm presence as I had in the Valley of Death. I felt Him say: “It is alright my son, I cried too.” As my wife kissed my face, His love filled my broken heart with peace and gratitude. The story behind this tender moment between my wife, myself and my Lord happened after she had watched me for several weeks after coming home from the hospital. It is a surprisingly new experience when your heart, lungs, and hearing stop and you discover how quiet things really are without your heart and lung sounds anymore. I discovered a beauty, silence, and peace that I didn’t want to leave. I’m glad my Shepherd brought me back from the Valley of Death where I went blank. He brought me back so that my dear wife and my children didn’t have to grieve yet. I feel another reason He brought me back is so I can tell His children what it is like to die. In death we are blank and can’t think, pray, quote verses, or move a muscle. We only feel the presence of our Shepherd and that’s enough. I began to lose my blankness after a few days in the hospital. Miraculously, I’m back to my writing ministry, which is a miracle in itself, as after my stroke I couldn’t put two sentences together. I learned that death is nothing to fear as He has conquered death. “Oh, death where is your sting? O grave where is your victory? (1 Corinthians 15:55) God’s injured children need different degrees of isolation as a part of recovering from trauma. Whether it be divorce, death, or disease — time to heal is necessary. However, I learned that isolation that cuts a person off from our Lord’s healing hands is a scheme of the devil. Jesus told His sheep to “Come unto Me you who are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:28. We need the Holy Spirit’s healing love that flows through the touch and prayers of God’s children and the words found in the bread of life. Bring your broken and lonely heart to Jesus and His children and allow them to touch you, as I did. You will find the love and confidence you have lost. Thankfully, pro-active Love imparts the cure to desiring “isolation” and “seeking our own desire.” Copyright © 2018 Bob Segress, Ph.D., used with permission.

Mar 22 2016
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By Sodwana Bay

Date published: 21-03-2016 Lee Strobel, bestselling author of “The Case for Christ”, is now celebrating his 34th Easter as a Christian. This, after spending his life prior to the book and his investigation into the reliability of Gospels as an atheist. After finding faith many years ago, he remains as convinced as ever in the truth of Jesus’s death and resurrection. While still an atheist, it was his background as a journalist that prompted Strobel to investigate and conduct extensive research into Christ with the help of religious and historical expert.  He originally embarked on the project to discredit the veracity of Christ’s resurrection and dissuade his recently converted wife from life as a Christian, but in the end he was the one who was powerfully converted. “For nearly two years, I explored the minutia of the historical data on whether Easter was myth or reality. I didn’t merely accept the New Testament at face value; I was determined only to consider facts that were well-supported historically. As my investigation unfolded, my atheism began to buckle,” he recounted in an article for Stream. One of the first pieces of evidence he gathered was actually from atheist historian Gerd Lüdemann who declared Jesus’ death by crucifixion “indisputable.” This was supported by a thorough study by A. N. Sherwin-White of Oxford, who himself cited ancient eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ death. As more evidence piled up that built the timeline for the events surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection, Strobel recounted scholar Willian Lane Craig’s position that it would be unlikely for the story of the empty tomb to explode with no basis since its location was known to all and could have been verified by supporters of the idea and naysayers alike. But even Jesus’ opponents said that the tomb was empty, saying that the body was taken, although there was none who had a clear motive for doing so. “We have nine ancient sources, inside and outside the New Testament, that confirm the apostles’ conviction that they encountered the resurrected Christ. Repeatedly, these sources stood strong when I tried to discredit them. Could these encounters have been hallucinations? No way, experts told me. Hallucinations occur in individual brains, like dreams, yet Jesus appeared to groups of people on three different occasions – including 500 at once!, ” Strobel said. In the end, Strobel, a man armed with logic,education and skepticism, was finally convinced by the overwhelming evidence laid out in front of him and he completely embraced the truth not because he was afraid of death or needed a psychological crutch but because of the facts. “I read books by skeptics, but their counter-arguments crumbled under the weight of the historical data. No wonder atheists so often come up short in scholarly debates over the resurrection. In the end, after I had thoroughly investigated the matter, I reached an unexpected conclusion: it would actually take more faith to maintain my atheism than to become a follower of Jesus,” he said.

Mar 17 2016
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By Sodwana Bay

Pixabay The argument that to believe in God and to believe in science is irreconcilable is one that believers of every faith are used to (and tired of) hearing. None more so than Italian Catholic Tom Todesca it seems. Todesca has launched a kickstarter fund so that he can publish and distribute a graphic novel about the relationship between science and faith. The novel, Science and Faith: Friends not Foes, will be the first of its kind, according to Todesca. If published, the graphic novel may be the first time that the subject has been explored extensively in this modern format but the question has been explored for centuries by scientists, religious leaders, believers and atheists. Here’s what six famous scientists have said on the subject. Charles Darwin, naturalist – “I have never denied the existence of God. I think the theory of evolution is fully compatible with faith in God. I think the greatest argument for the existence of God is the impossibility of demonstrating and understanding that the immense universe, sublime above all measure, and man were the result of chance.” Maria Mitchell, astronomer – “Scientific investigations pushed on and on, will reveal new ways in which God works, and bring us deeper revelations of the wholly unknown.” Carl Sagan, astronomer – “Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.” Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist – “I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist.” Thomas A. Edison, inventor – “My utmost respect and admiration to all the engineers, especially the greatest of them all: God.” Carl Ludwig Schleich, pioneer of local anaesthesia – “I became a believer in my own way through the microscope and observation of nature, and I want to contribute, insofar as I can, to the full harmony between science and religion.”

Mar 08 2016
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What are the telltale signs of a sick church?

By Sodwana Bay

As pastors are tasked with spreading the ministry and the word of God in their churches, it is important that they are attuned to the different signs in their church to make sure that the churchgoers are sticking around for all the right reasons. In her article on Charisma News, Dina Kalmeta, urges pastors to watch out for 10 signs that their churches are sick. According to Kalmeta, one of the first signs that there is something wrong is a steady decline in attendance. As this is usually gradual, Kalmeta advised leaders to compare the average month’s worship attendance to that of the previous years. Related to the first sign, the second symptom is a decline in the frequency of attendance among church members. This symptom is associated with a waning commitment to the faith or lack of interest in what the church has to say, and churchgoers manifest this by not going to church as often as they used to. Other signs include a lack of vibrancy in the worship service and a lack of evangelistic fruit.  In Kalmeta’s view, if a church fails to reach the hearts of non Christians and encourage new Christians to join the Church, then there is a need to reevaluate the methods being employed by the Church to reach new members of the faith. Low community impact is also a sign that a Church is not doing as well as it should because churches should always make a difference in the community. If there are more meetings than ministries, she believes the Church is being ineffective in its mission to spread the word of God as it is more occupied in forming committees rather than focusing on conversions. If meetings within the Church result in more disagreement and bitterness rather than unified and harmonious results, something must be wrong within the organization. “Very few guests in worship services. A vibrant church will attract guests. A sick church will not,” Kalmeta said.

Mar 03 2016
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Three questions to ask when God seems silent

By Sodwana Bay

Moses heard God’s voice through a burning bush. Elijah heard it as a whisper. The prophet Samuel heard an audible voice, and the disciples heard it as thunder. God is a communicating God and uses a variety of ways to speak to us. But while we may celebrate in times of answered prayer, sooner or later we must face an opposite truth: sometimes God is silent too. For ten years my wife and I tried to start a family. During that time we sought God diligently through prayer. But the dreamt-of child never came. While God has turned that around for good, what was most perplexing was God’s silence on the matter. We heard him speak on other things during that time, but never about our pursuit of a family. Even having God say No to us would’ve been a mercy in the end, saving us much heartache. But all we got was silence. I don’t know why God speaks clearly sometimes and not others. But I have since learnt to ask three questions when he seems silent to us. 1. Am I shouting too loud to hear him? CS Lewis’s raw, vulnerable words in A Grief Observed speak for many on the topic of God’s silence. Writing shortly after losing his wife Joy he said: ‘Meanwhile, where is God? …go to him when your need is desperate, when all other help is in vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence.’ Lewis expresses the frustration of those who seek God but hear nothing. But Lewis’ mood changed as he journeyed through the grief process. Describing his experience as like a drowning man who couldn’t be helped because of his frantic clutching and grabbing, he finally reflected: ‘Perhaps your own reiterated cries deafen you to the voice you hoped to hear.’ Just as the world’s clamour can drown out the voice of God, so can the noise of the heart – the sadness, confusion, angst, anger, and the frantic ‘Answer me!’ shouts of our prayers. As Lewis discovered, sometimes these emotions must be allowed to ebb before we can hear God again. He’s ready to speak, we’re just not ready to listen. 2. Do I want God or only his gifts? Christian scripture is beautifully authentic; it covers both the joys and the frustrations of walking with God, and the problem of divine silence isn’t airbrushed out. We’re told Israel experienced it (1 Samuel 3:1), as did biblical greats like Job and Asaph (Job 23:1-9; Psalm 77:1-9). ‘Do not turn a deaf ear to me,’ David prayed during his own experience of God’s silence (Psalm 28:1). ‘Why do you hide when I am in trouble?’ (Psalm 10:1). When we know that the heroes of the faith wrestle too, we can take some comfort. We can also follow their example. While these saints express in unvarnished terms their dismay at God’s silence, they don’t walk away. They may have tears in their eyes, but they keep looking heavenward. They may rant and rave, but they stay in the room. God’s silence has a way of testing whether we want him or just his gifts. If he doesn’t come through with the guidance, healing, or breakthrough we seek, will we still follow him? A friend of mine is going through one of the worst seasons imaginable. The suicide of one family member was followed by the death of another, then a third member getting critically ill. ‘I’m not hearing from God at all right now,’ he told me, ‘and neither do I feel God’s presence. At the moment I’m living by what I believe to be true of God, not my feelings about him. And despite everything, I still believe he’s good.’ My friend is staying in the room. He wants God, not just God’s gifts. 3. Have I really heard what he’s already said? Jesus was silent once, in a way that baffled everyone. It happened as he was teaching in the Temple one day. Having enthralled the crowd with his words, he had suddenly stopped, stooped down, and begun scribbling on the ground. ‘The law of Moses says to stone her,’ angry voices around him shouted. ‘What do you say?’ (John 8:5). But Jesus had stayed as silent as the shamed and shivering woman standing half-naked before them all. When Jesus finally broke his silence it was brief. ‘All right,’ he’d said, ‘but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!’ (8:7). Then he’d looked back to the ground, wordless once more. Silence, a few words, then silence again. One by one, people drifted away, those few words of Jesus ringing loudly in their ears. What is God doing during his periods of silence? Preparing the answer to our prayers? Maybe. Testing the depth of our devotion? Probably. But Jesus’ encounter with the woman caught in adultery shows us something else about God’s silence: Jesus may not have spoken, but he was there. God’s silence doesn’t mean his absence. And his lengthy pauses were meant to ensure his audience really heard what he’d already said. When God is quiet to us we can ask: what did God last say that I need to remember or act on? God doesn’t stay silent forever. He ultimately spoke to Israel and to Job. The morning finally dawned for Asaph and David. My wife and I may never know why God remained silent to our request for a child, but he’s spoken to us since. And amid all the remaining questions I believe this: Sometimes God is speaking and we just can’t hear him. And sometimes he stays silent so we’ll act on what he’s already said. And every moment of silence asks us if he’s really worth following, even if we don’t get what we ask for. I have so much to learn but still believe the answer to that is Yes.