‘We had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found’  (Lk 15:32)
A rich Land Owner King had two lost sons. The younger one was lost outside the church, the elder inside. Their Father is God!
The younger man soon got tired of farm work. Some traders from ‘the far country’ came passing by with their wares displayed for all to see. This was the first time the young man saw pictures of ‘half dressed’ women. They gave him a taste of drink and a little cigarette with it. In his father’s house, things like these were never found. Little by little the desire to go and settle abroad, in ‘the far country’ of fun and excitement, grew inside him. He became restless. The work at the father’s farm became burdensome. The odor of the animals and the sweat of the laborers made him ‘mad’. Then one day he got the courage to ask:
‘Father, give me the portion of my inheritance…cash please…’
That was the beginning of a road that went down to the pit. Except for the grace of God intercepting him who wasted it all to prostitutes and thieves, he could have lost even his soul. The devil only shows the sweet beginning of sin; he never shows the end of it, the emptiness, the despair and the pain without cure.
He finally came back to himself and came home. He told himself: ‘It is better to be a door man in the House of my Father than to dwell in the diamond studded tents of wickedness’
The elder brother got angry. He never prayed for the lost brother. He never thought that they will see eye to eye in this life. He never thought that he will ever have to divide his own share with anyone else again. He hated the rejoicing, the party, the music so much out of place in the house of God…so he thought…he never knew the pain of his father, the longing to see all his children surrounding his table…with all the servants and staff, one son was missing and all the money in the world could not buy a son…He never joined the father in the race to welcome his son…his brother really…
When the father saw the slow moving shadow of his son coming home…HE RAN…the Old Man ran as fast as he could…to embrace, to kiss, to dress, to cover, to restore, to rejoice…
The fatten calf has been slain! Blood was shed that we may rejoice!
Life should always be enough reason for celebration!
Eternal life should always be the reason for dancing, and singing, and rejoicing, for it is a gift paid with the Blood of the Lamb!
I am a sinner saved by grace…I was blind, but now I see…I was lost but now I am found…I was dead in trespassing and sins but now I live… therefore I rejoice…let the angels take the lead, I shall follow…let the music begin…and never end! Forever!

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (Jn 3:7, 8)

The Holy Spirit is like the wind, free, mysterious, adventurous, whispering, dancing, embracing, filling emptiness, changing hearts, giving life to whom He wants…No one can replicate His works…
The Holy Spirit is God!

‘So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS’ (Jn 19:16-19)

There is a green hill far away,
Outside a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all.

We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains He had to bear;
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.

He died that we might be forgiv’n,
He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to Heav’n,
Saved by His precious blood…

There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven and let us in.

O dearly, dearly has He loved,
And we must love Him, too,
And trust in His redeeming blood,
And try His works to do.
(Song by Mrs. Cecil Alexander, 1847)
(In the picture, the Golgotha Hill in Jerusalem, as it is today)

‘But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do’ (Jam 1:6-8)
Doubt is a type if faith. It is very difficult to describe, detect or imagine doubt. It is much easier to identify the sin of lust or lying, for example, than to isolate doubt from our mind. Doubt is wavering faith, unstable faith, damaged and unacceptable faith. Doubt is an evil religious spirit. It spreads like a plague. It is much more difficult to produce faith in your listeners. You have to preach to Word of God, the Gospel of Christ Crucified. This ministry has to be done patiently against all odds. Faith comes by the hearing of the preached Word of God. Doubt is like an infection. It is much easier to damage the faith than to produce or increase it. Doubters hate the believers and attack their faith. Be careful who your friend is!
Faith is wavering faith. To waver it means to go to and fro between two opinions, two choices, to loves or to directions. Doubters have an ‘on and off’ type of faith. They believe, for example, on Monday, but doubt on Tuesday…they believe again on Wednesday…and so on…
The sin of doubt affects especially three areas of God’s blessings:
*God’s power (especially the supernatural power to experience miracles)
*God’s provision (especially to trust God for abundance)
*God’s promises (especially to trust God for ‘impossible’ things)
Doubters are like the waves of the sea. They move on and off, day and night, without rest. All their movement is in vain for they do not expand the boundaries of the sea. Doubt makes you worried and overactive emotionally but there is no clear progress spiritually or in the natural. Doubters are ‘unstable’ in all their ways. The word ‘unstable’ means to be reckless (they seem bold and take unnecessary risks, but later back of as cowards). It also means to be confused, restless, unsettled.
Marriages can be affected by doubt. The husband and wife may agree to do something but the next day one of them will change his mind. The unity of the Spirit cannot be established in a marriage where doubt has access.
The worst thing that can be said about a doubter is that God refuses to answer his prayers. It does not matter that his needs are great or urgent. Doubt disqualifies him to have communion with God and his prayers do not pass the ceiling.
We then repented of the sin of doubt and each one of us confessed: ‘I believe in God!’

Eric was a great, famous man. He was a general in the US army, a pilot for many years. He invented many things.
During the Second World War, he was in a military plane with a special message from the president. He and seven crew members suffered a plane crash on the rough Pacific Ocean.
Miraculously, all of the men survived, crawled out of the plane, and climbed into life rafts.
Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough waters of the Pacific. They fought the sun. They fought sharks. Most of all, they fought hunger. By the eighth day their rations ran out. No food. No water. They were hundreds of miles from land and no one knew where they were. They needed a miracle.
That afternoon they had a simple devotional service and prayed for a miracle. Then they tried to nap. Eddie leaned back and pulled his military cap over his nose. Time dragged. All he could hear was the slap of the waves against the raft.
Suddenly, Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap.
It was a seagull! Old Ed would later describe how he sat perfectly still, planning his next move. With a flash of his hand and a squawk from the gull, he managed to grab it and wring its neck. He tore the feathers off, and he and his starving crew made a meal – a very slight meal for eight men – of it. Then they used the intestines for bait. With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and more bait…and the cycle continued. With that simple survival technique, they were able to endure the rigors of the sea until they were found and rescued.
Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never forgot the miracle of that first lifesaving seagull. And he never stopped saying, “Thank You, Lord.” That’s why almost every Friday night, for as long as he lived, his neighbors in Florida will see him, an old man above ninety, slowly going with a bucket, full of fish and shrimps, feeding the seagulls. He always had a heart full of gratitude towards these birds, for one of them send by God, saved his life.
If Eddie can come back to feed the seagulls, as an act of gratitude for saving his life, how much more we should remember the good things God has done for us…Remember the miracles of the past…salvation, healing, deliverance, provision…this grateful remembrance is one of the greatest weapons in spiritual warfare!
‘Lord, on behalf of my family, I say: THANK YOU!”

These past few days…people just come to us with tears and they say something like this: ‘Pastor, I thought I was born again, but now I know I am not. Please pray for me for I want to give my life to Jesus’…
These are people that were considered serious believers for many years…
There is no other explanation except the move of the Holy Spirit convicting of sin (of unbelief, of religious false hopes…) revealing Christ Crucified to the broken hearts…
Blow your trumpets in Zion…shout from the rooftops…revival is at hand…even in Warri, Nigeria!
All glory to God Almighty!

The following are (edited) notes from a Chinese army general. Read them and pray for wisdom to apply them as a believer in spiritual warfare. Judge your self, man of God! Let the light of the Holy Spirit shine in your heart to expose hidden ‘pockets’ of sin. Even if the sin is small, repent BIG time! The weakness of a leader is more dangerous than the strength of the enemy outside! Be filled with the Holy Spirit and be strong in the Lord!

‘There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general of the army:
1-Recklessness (desire for fame, adventure and entertainment during warfare), which leads to division in the camp and destruction;
2-Cowardice (fear of death), which leads to capture;
3-A hasty (hot, impatient) temper, which can be provoked by insults;
4-A delicacy of honor (pride, self love) which is (over-)sensitive to shame (embarrassing situations); (Remember: a wise and humble man overlooks an insult!)
5-Over-solicitude for his men (pleasing men too much, pampering his soldiers), which exposes him to worry and trouble.
These are the five besetting sins of a general, a leader of men and it is ruinous (a disaster) to the conduct of war.
When an army is overthrown and its leader slain, the cause will surely be found among these five dangerous faults.
Let these words be a subject of meditation’
(Excerpts from the oldest manual on warfare: The art of war, by Sun Tzu, 1910)

‘Listen my son to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching, they will be a crown to grace your head…’
‘These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up’ (PV 1:8; Deut 6:6, 7)
The family is God’s institution. It is made of father, mother and children. The father is the head of the home. The mother is the helper to the head. The children are commanded by God to obey their parents. This is not just a natural tradition. It is the command of God. The parents have authority over their children for as long as they depend on them. God has given the parents the right to train, to mold their children thoughts and opinions, by teaching them the Word of God. That is why the children are commanded to fear, to honor, to respect and to obey their parents. They are not supposed to obey the aunties, the uncles or the neighbors in the same way. They are to listen and obey especially their parents, because God gave the parents that authority over them. By learning to obey the parents, they learn to obey God.
God expects the parents to train and teach the children the Word of God. The parents are accountable to God for fulfilling this peculiar duty. This training is not to be left to the church, to the pastors or to the school teachers. It is the primary duty of the parents: mother and father. It is not easy to teach a student. Instruction is always hard. It is so much easy to play, to look for ‘fun’ and to be distracted by it. Entertainment is much ‘sweeter’ than learning the Bible or even studying science subjects. That is why discipline must be enforced in the home. As parents, we cannot expect our child to become a spiritual, mature person, if he stays in front of the TV set or the computer for hours.
The authority of the parents over their children represents the authority of God. These relationships are to be ‘unto the Lord’. God’s name is at stake in the way we handle authority. For example, as parents, we cannot teach our children how to steal money from the bank. That is an abuse of authority and shall be judged by God. The general principle in the case of abuse of power is to quietly disobey man and obey God’s Word (Ac 5:29). That means to be ready to receive the penalty from men, trusting God to bring justice to you at last. This peculiar type of suffering is seen when the children are believers and the parents are not. Or when the wife is a believer and the husband is not. It takes much faith, patience and prayer not to sin under such painful provocation. God allows these situations so that the oppressor may witness the Christian behavior in action. It is a very powerful weapon of spiritual warfare to learn submission unto God while rejecting the sinful abuse of authority. Many husbands and many fathers were brought to their knees in total surrender to God because of the grace upon the ones in subjection to them. Selah!
There is another point to be made: our children belong to God. He is their highest eternal authority over us all. Practically, it means that our plans for the future for our children should be totally under submission to God’s plans for them. Our duty as parents is to pray and find out God’s desire, plan and purpose for the future our children. Much pain can be avoided for the whole family if we remember that we are just care- takers and not the owners of ‘our’ children. This prayer is a very important spiritual work, but few parents take it seriously. May we humble ourselves and do it right, at least from now on!
As a parent, you do not have to struggle to earn this honor of respect from your children. This is God’s command to them and He will enforce it. Children do not respect their parents just because they are older or stronger than them. The parents do not have to be ‘perfect’ in all things. No! The reason why the children have to fear and respect their parents it is because God, who created all men, says so! Disobedience to this command will receive just punishment. But in the same time, as parents, we have to prove that we are worthy of the privilege of having children entrusted to us by God.

The following are notes from a Chinese army general. Read them and pray for wisdom to apply them as a believer in spiritual warfare. You can see that ignorance is deadly. Pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see yourself thru the eyes of Christ. Pray that the Holy Spirit will expose and reveal the strengths and weakness of your enemy. Remember, God never loses a battle! The more you are filled with the Holy Spirit, the greater the chance for victory each time you attack! Also remember that Love never fails and Love drives away the torment of fear (1Cor 13, 1Jn 4:18). Love means worship! Worship the King and under His banner you will be lead in triumph always! Jesus is Lord!

“Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory:
He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.
Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle”
(Excerpts from the oldest manual on warfare: The art of war, by Sun Tzu, 1910)

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth” (Ps 121:1, 2)
Hills stand for successful men, mentors and teachers. We look up to them to be inspired, to grow to their heights. This may look good to the world. But to the Believer, looking to long at the hills brings discouragement, for we compare with them and feel cheated. ‘When will I be like Apostle Paul?’ –I used to ask myself. The more I tried to be like him, the more the gap between us increased. Then one day, the light of the Spirit shone on my understanding: ‘You look to low, Lia. Do not look at the hills; look at the Maker of the hills…’ The Lifter of my head adjusted my vision instantly. The Lord applied His salve on my eyes and now I see all things well. Since then, I look at the hills, but I do not stop there…they point me to their Maker who is my Lord! He never slumbers, He never sleeps. He watches me day and night.
My Helper, my God, how great Thou art!

OUR TESTIMONY
On this day, 20th of March, 2000, our Church, Father’s House was born!
After about 20 years of medical practice, God called us to full time ministry. This building was our private hospital, Lily Clinic, Warri, Nigeria. We were in the US when the Lord said that we should come back, sell the medical equipment and change the hospital into a church. We left our children with Christian friends in the US. We came back to Warri. It was not an easy decision, but we obeyed. We started with less than 20 people, now we are more than a hundredfold! The Gospel of CHRIST Crucified is preached, souls got saved, the sick were healed, the troubled were delivered, marriages got restored, ‘baby’ Christians are now mature men and women of God!
To God be all the glory!

POVESTEA NOASTRA (In Romanian)
Azi, biserica noastra este 13 ani! Sotul meu, Ruchmond si cu mine, am lucrat ca doctori an Warri aproape 20 de ani. Am facut bani si nume. am devenit crestina aici in Nigeria an 1986. Sotul meu de asemenea. An anul 1989 ne-am dus la America cu copiii. Acolo Donum ne-a zis sa ne antoarcem anapoi si sa vindem echipamentul medical de la spitalul nostru particular si sa schimbam cladirea antr-o biserica. Am lasat copiii acolo cu prieteni Crestini an SUA. Nu a fost usor, dar l-am ascultat pe Domnul. Pe 20 Martie, 2000 am deschis cladirea ca biserica (vedeti an poza). Se numeste: Father’s House (Casa Domnului). A, anceput cu 20 de oameni, prieteni si colegi, iar acum santem mai mult de doua mii de adulti. Cuvantul lui Dumnezeu e predicat, sufletele s-au salvat si botezat, bolnavii s-au vindecat, cei tulburati s-au eliberat, casatoriile s-au normalizat…
Toata slava merge la Domnul Isus!

‘So on March 7th, the two decrees of the king were put into effect. On that day, the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but quite the opposite happened. It was the Jews who overpowered their enemies’ (Est 9:1, NLB)
There are two nations: the Jews and the Amalekites. One nation was blessed and the other was cursed by God. God picked their leaders: Mordecai, the servant of God on one side and Haman, the Amalekite, on the other side. God allowed Haman to be promoted first. Many accepted the king’s decision and bowed down to Haman, except Mordecai, who could not submit to a cursed man. This refusal to worship made Haman mad with rage. He decided to kill Mordecai, but his anger was too much to be satisfied on only one person. So he made a plan to kill not only Mordecai, but all his people, the Jews. He convinced the king that these Jews are trouble makers and they should be exterminated. The king, who loved to drink, was foolish enough to believe him and he agreed. Then Haman went to the court magicians to cast lots to know the day when this ‘sacrifice’ should be done. They gave him a date, on the 7th of March, eleven months later.
This is a miracle! On that day, the Jews were prepared for battle. By this time things have changed: Haman, who picked the date given by the magicians, was dead. Mordecai was promoted by the king and replace Haman. The king sent messengers with the news that the Jews are free to fight back for their lives. The fear of God fell upon all the people in the land. No one could fight the Jews. So the tables were overturned and the victims became the victors in less than a year.
Spiritual lessons:
*God is faithful and He chose His faithful servants ‘for such a time as this’. During times of crisis, God will position true believers to help and counsel you!
Esther did what she was supposed to do and Mordecai did what he was supposed to do. Each one was faithful and wise in his own area of influence. There was no confusion in God’s camp!
*God restrains the evil people so that they are not able to attack the believers even when they are angry. Haman wanted to kill Mordecai, later he changed his mind, and making plans to kill all the Jews. God was behind this change of mind. When Haman asked the magicians to play lots and to find a date for slaughter, they could have said: ‘immediately’. Then Mordecai and all the Jews could have died. But God was restraining the evil and the magicians gave him a date on the 7th of March, eleven months later. Haman was too superstitious to ignore the magicians. The period of almost a year was enough time for God to completely change the scene, spiritually and naturally. Haman died before the date of his expected victory. Mordecai was recognized as a loyal servant in the court who saved the king’s life. He replaced Haman. And Esther became not just a pretty face in the palace, but a wise, spiritual queen, a helpmeet comparable with her husband.
*The wicked people may be crafty and make ‘perfect’ plans, but God is in charge of all human affairs and He can never lose a battle. No weapon fashioned against the people of God can ever prosper, for this is God’s inheritance to them!
*Wicked, greedy, unrepentant people, you who hate all the is good, you that hate the Word of God and the people of God…repent if not you shall perish!
*People of God, rejoice, for the victory is here and the joy is complete!
In Jesus name, amen!

‘Everyone must submit to the governing authorities for there is no authority except that which God has established…Consequently, he who rebels against the authorities is rebelling against what God has instituted and those who do so will bring judgment in themselves…for he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing…’ (Rom 13:1-5)

This is the definition of authority: The right to rule, to decide, to command and to judge others. Authority is the power to influence the thoughts, the opinions and the behavior of others.
The following are some Biblical principles concerning authority in general:
*God is the only authority that has authority and power within Himself
*God is the only original source of all secondary, delegated authority and power in the universe.
*God delegates His authority to men, by His sovereign will. He also decides the level and the boundaries of that authority
*God’s Word is the final authority over every area of life. Therefore authority must be a good thing.
*God has established institutions thru whom He carries out His authority on earth (for ex. the family, the civil governments…)
*Any word from the authority is a command to be obeyed. Without obedience, a command is lowered to the status of a suggestion. Even a suggestion coming from the one in authority should be taken very seriously, just like it is a command!
*There are consequences (punishment) for disobeying the authority (for without consequences, there is no authority)
*God establishes and protects His delegated authority. All rebellion is punished by God!
*The preaching of the Gospel is always powerful for it is done in the Supreme, eternal authority of Jesus Christ!

THE GRASSHOPPER’S NIGHTMARE
(to be fried and eaten like chips)
‘But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak (giants) come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them’ (Nu 13:31-33)
In certain countries, grasshoppers are eaten as a good source of protein. In southern Mexico, China and Africa, they are usually collected in the evenings, using electric lamps in sweep nets. Sometimes they are placed in water for 24 hours, after which they can be boiled or eaten raw, sun-dried, fried, flavored with spices, such as garlic, onions, chili, drenched in lime, and used in soup or as a filling for various dishes.
The ten spies doubted God’s protection and became afraid that they will be eaten just like the grasshoppers. Fear and doubt poison and damage the faith. You can never be a true leader once you indulge in doubt. Fear not: just believe God! In Christ, all His promises are ‘yes’ and ‘amen’!

“Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (Nu 13:30)
The people of God were ready to cross over and enter the Promised Land. They should have trusted God’s promises and just move on to occupy their possessions. But doubters prevailed and convinced Moses to send spies to confirm the blessings (Deut 1:22). They left the desert and went into the valley of Eschol. The word ‘eschol’ means fruitfulness. They came back after forty days with a cluster of grapes, too big to carry by two men on their backs. They confirmed that the Land is good, exactly the way God promised them. ‘But…’ they say, the giants that occupy the Land are too big to be destroyed. So they spread an ‘evil report’ among the people, who soon started grumbling. Only Joshua and Caleb brought a good report, based on truth having God in the middle of the picture. They said: ‘We can certainly do it because God is with us and not with them. Their ‘protection’’ has left them. The word ‘evil report’ in Hebrew comes from the word ‘snake’. The doubters spread snake evil spirits among the congregation with their doubting words. They saw themselves as grasshoppers, like nobodies, like failures.
Doubt quenches the Spirit. Doubt is having two contrary opinions in the same time. Doubt is damaged faith. God does not answer the prayer of a doubter (Jam 1: 6-8). Doubt is much more contagious than faith. Doubt is the faith of a fool. Doubters see the problems first of all, and God is in the background. The people of faith see God first of all, and the challenges are in the background. What do you see first, in your daily life?
Joshua had faith in God’s promises. He encourages the people to trust God for the dispossession of the giants. He said that their ‘protection’ has left them. The ‘protection’ in Hebrew is the same as the word ‘shadow’. It is like a hen protecting her chicks. What Joshua was saying is that ‘the mother hen of the giants has abandoned her chicks for now. Let’s go and kill them before she returns’. There is a window of opportunity for every attack to become victory. The doubters prevailed and the people hesitated to go ahead. Doubters hate spiritual warfare. God gives the judgment. The ten doubters are killed by God. The rest people shall suffer and die in the desert. Doubt kills before you are able to enjoy your fulfilled, fruitful dreams of life. When later they tried to enter the Promised Land, they were defeated by the giants. This is because the window of opportunity of faith has been closed. In other words, the mother hen has come back to protect her giant chicks.
May we trust God and move, led by His Spirit, when the window of victory is opened! Never follow the crowd for most of the time the crowd is wrong. Follow the leading of the Spirit and the tracks of the remnant of grace. That is the narrow, holy, safe and sure path that always leads to victory and eternal life!

‘The LORD our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country…and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites… I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’ (Deut 1:6-8)
I remember hearing a naturalist describe a species of jelly fish which, he said, lives fixed to a rock, from which it never stirs. It does not require to go in search of food, because in the decayed tissues of its own organism there grows a kind of seaweed on which it subsists. I thought I had never heard of any creature so comfortable. But the naturalist who was describing it went on to say that it is one of the very lowest forms of animal life, and the extreme comfort which it enjoys is the very badge of its degraded position.
Dear ‘Jelly Fish’, it is time to move on! Leave the rock and go, dance for the Lord who created you to float!
You have stayed long enough in this position! You have learned all the lessons you can learn here! Move on! Use your spiritual ‘legs’ to walk in the Spirit! From ‘comfortable’ sadness to adventurous joy! From settled ignorance to active understanding! From ‘ease in Zion’ to ‘dancing until your feet hurt’ in worshipping God!
May the strength of God fill you today! May you hate to live a passive, barren and stationary life! May your ‘comfort zone’ be revealed to you as bondage! May the sense of adventure grip your heart as you start to follow Jesus once more! On your mark…set…go! In Jesus name, amen!

WHY DO I HAVE TO FEAR AND HONOR MY PARENTS?
Letter to you, our child…
‘Your mother carried you in her womb for nine months. Your parents were there every evening when you went to sleep and there when you woke up in the morning. Eighteen years of your life was spent under the same roof with your parents. Human beings imitate what they see. The majority of what you know as an adult comes from your parents teaching you. You say that your parents are not ‘perfect’…OK, I agree…But no human being is perfect except Jesus…Even if your parents made mistakes, you can still learn from them, at least not to repeat those…
Your parents were your first role models… Until you grew up, your parents decided what clothes you wear and what type of food you eat…And they provided those…Did you forget how hard your dad worked to pay the bills? He is old now, maybe you have forgotten, but it is true, your dad tried his best to pay for the rent, the food on the table, the clothes and the school fees…
When your parents were sick or in need, you did not solve their problems…they sheltered you from the life storms the best they could…
Look into the palm of your hand and see the lines. In between them you shall see your parents’ faces and all the generations of your ancestors. You are not an island! You are not self-made! Each is present in your body! You are a continuation of all these people…But most of all look up and think of God….Fear God! That will make you wise and pure! God alone will give you the strength and the inspiration to live well, to be a blessing to others… Remember to pray and read your Bible daily…
Surely you know that for better or for worse, you had parents who loved you and did the best they could to raise you. Their mistakes and their successes made you into the person you are today…
We, your parents, we have tried our best to be a good example to you…Mostly, we wanted you to see Christ in us, so that you may be inspired to follow Him too…Sometimes we encouraged you, sometimes we rebuked you, often we made mistakes…but we repented and made corrections and you saw the changes with your eyes…even when life was hard and no words were left to explain the pain…one thing is clear, we never regretted to be parents to you…We loved you then, we love you now…
We pray for you every day that you be blessed with the blessings of Christ…there is nothing more we can do for you now, for there is nothing better in this whole world than the gift of prayer…
If it is hard for you to understand our pain, but we have hoped that you may know it later, when your own baby will be placed in your arms…Then, we believe, you shall better understand our love for you…
We do not beg for honor or respect…we do not beg for your words of gratefulness…we do not beg for your money or time…but this is the will of God, that you should do so!
Be a servant of Christ! Be a worshiper of God! May God bless and keep you! May God’s face shine on you and give you peace!
Love in Christ alone,
Your parents’