GIVE THANKS IN ALL SITUATIONS

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Battle at the Gate by ‘the litmus arrow’

I had been up for about three hours or more earlier today. I was reading, thinking, praying as I also waited subconsciously for a text from Leroy to confirm that God had granted him another safe trip to his now daily destination. Suddenly I it occurred to me that I had not heard the usual morning sounds of one member of my household. Aunty Njoki should have been in about half an hour ago. I dialed her number hoping that all was well, and that she was simply running late.

She answered warmly and then her voice got frantic as she explained to me that the guards at the gate were adamant that she would not get in today. My phone disconnected and I looked at it frustrated. I didn’t have any more credit etc. I seethed quietly as I contemplated what was ‘really happening’…the ‘real story’. She had been coming to this house daily for over a year…and no one had ever demanded her particulars after her first month. Somehow, as I found out much later, her ID card had slipped out of her bag in the kitchen just yesterday. She called me back and asked me to speak to the guard who was initially rude. I firmly but gently asked him what the real issue was. The phone disconnected again, adding fuel to my fires. I got up and marched in ‘full combat’ (i.e. a lesso (a wrapper), house dress, hair bonnet and phone) all the way to the main estate gate. I was livid. I could hear though, the soft gentle Voice of The Holy Spirit counsel me above the fires of rage and calmed down before I run into Aunty Njoki on her way home. We greeted each other warmly and I asked pointedly if the guards had asked her for a bribe. She said no and I calmed down. Sufficiently to have a cohesive conversation a.k.a. do battle with the hostile at the gate.

Back home, much later – (oh I did get to the gate and have that conversation with the guards which effectively calmed both parties. I am not one that leaves my battles un-fought. If am still quiet – I am probably just bidding my time and gathering arsenal 😁🙂😉) I thought about the incident and something a friend of God and I were chatting about yesterday. When he referred to Daddy a.k.a. Baba Vip as an elder at the gates of Gem Ahono, my mind’s eye saw my father dressed as a warrior with a quiver full of arrows strapped to his back. In this vision, he reached back and removed all five of his and fiercely unleashed them at intruders at the gate of our rural home. It took my breath away, that vision. Then ‘the warrior was escalated’, and we were being launched from the quiver of none other than The Almighty God, El Gibor Himself. Oh…my entire being, bowed in worship at this beautiful vision.

I thought about being an arrow. That at the gate, my father and Father did not stand unarmed because they had us. For my earthly father we would either be his weapons of offence or defense. I smiled as a cheeky thought came to me; ‘no wonder I have had so many bumps and bruises in life – I am his first arrow. The litmus.’ The smile receded as I thought of the seriousness of my role, the role of Daddy’s children…it was imperative that we ensure, no hostile passed through that gate…and if they did, that we be the cause of their emphatic retreat. Or extinction. I stopped then and prayed. My Daddy had sired arrow-heads designed by God for the battles he would face at that gate. We needed to submit to the aim and hit the mark for his Good. Because I was also of The Hosts of YHWH, there was a special codding there that ensured that I not only honored Daddy as I flew free towards the enemies, but my True Maker Himself. I recommitted myself to that role. For, I am after all, a soldier in The Army of The LORD. Come what may.

“Behold, children are a heritage from The LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.”

Psalm 127:3-5 NKJV

Shalom.

vipadhiambo@gmail.com

A Hairy Truth on Unbecoming Spurious

HAIRY TRUTHS
I was blow-drying my hair this morning. A victory of sorts – not the technique perse – I do have an international diploma in hairdressing – but simply that I was. For, among other things, the fact that I had traumatized myself the last time I did by aiming a nozzle at my forehead and sufficiently scalding it…and then the afore mentioned, and daily conquered cravings I have been having for ‘the liberties’ of a bald scalp. Oh well…I am not my own anymore.

A powerful thought came to me as I contemplated my life with hair:
IT IS IMPERATIVE FOR ONE TO COME TO TERMS WITH AND MAKE THE MOST OF WHAT THEY HAVE. It was almost audible, so I giggled to myself as I settled into this very pleasant train. I thought about Anne, Margaret and Caroline – who were in my Standard 1 class in 1979, and who because of their extremely long hairs and delicate feminine looks – and the resultant attention from my then school community, somehow became my marking scheme of how I should look like as a woman. Long hair and ‘ponytail’ included. I remembered that these three little girls did not even look alike – so this was a ridiculous standard to begin with. If they were the epitome of female, then what did that make me? They simply took what God had given them, and worked to present to the world the best of themselves. A remarkable feat.

I thought of the various reunions I had been to. (Oh yes…my hair was still being lightly blow-dried 😁…and I was simultaneously listening in on an online Saturday prayer meeting that has become part of my week in between the loud blasts of my Drier.) I thought about how gatherings are, ahem, a ‘few’ times, about measuring ourselves and others by other people’s presentations of themselves. Many times, these are not even real. They have endeavored and mastered what is publicly available about their ‘icons’ and become spurious. And we pretend not to notice the deep sorrow in their eyes that signifies their life-long state of mourning over their vigilantly muted beauty that they would not allow even themselves to experience, because it does not conform to a standard. And ‘we agree’, to pretend we do not notice the lapses in the roles they play…because we have experienced a little bit of the original, or read the book, and it would be impolite to call this out because it would inadvertently imply permission to judge us. And we scorn those that appear as themselves as ‘shao’ a.k.a. retrograde/unsophisticated etc… because they live lives that demonstrate discomfort with conformity with standards not fully developed and understood.

So, we bought the thing they did, that we have no idea how to really use, or how to make these really bring out the best in us…just so we become part of the club. Because it seemed to have worked out for them, we entered into alliances – of the permanent or functional kind with those who are not bad in and of themselves but the combination of us and them were…well…contraindicative. Potentially lethal. We even devastated ourselves by going where (and how) ‘they’ went so as to be part of one or two status-defining and ‘qualifying conversations’. I stand guilty as charged. I giggled as I thought of some photos I have hidden under several passwords, where I am wearing weaves that perched defiantly on my scalp, in open hostility to me…as we both pretended to belong to each other😅🫣. And let’s not discuss clothes here…its sensitive…

I remembered Anne, Margaret and Caroline again. I thought to myself how sometimes I smiled when someone complimented me by telling me how well I know how to dress my body, while inwardly boiling at the implied insult – that I knew how to mask my flaws. I released the bile as I combed out my hot hair 😇😁😉 and, belatedly, genuinely accepted every such compliment I had ever received. It was important to understand what one had. Completely. Or as much as possible. Then make it work for oneself. God is so vast in Wisdom, Knowledge and Creativity, that He does not create the same thing or person twice. He can handle the diversity…and expects us to bring out fruits in keeping with His Standard in us. So, if you are still bent over, even backwards because you are not your own version of Anne, Margaret and Caroline – be made well as you look into The Beloved’s Eyes and Mind.

YOU ARE THE ONLY STANDARD FOR YOU THAT THERE IS.

Shalom.

vipadhiambo@gmail.com

ULITUMIWA NA NANI?

Am not sure if what am asking is what I am meaning…what I mean. I mean to ask: WHO SENT YOU?

So whether it is ‘Aliye kutuma ni nani?‘ or ‘Nani alikutuma?‘ or even ‘WEUWE!!! Nani litumia wewe?‘…my thoughts have troubled me lately. Been concerned about the wars we sent ourselves into without consulting our Commander. Especially these [kujituma kibinafsi]…and then there is the issue of WHEN GOD SENDS US. Why He does? Let me try share…

You see, there is a scripture about stealing prophecies that pursues me. [Jeremiah 23:30 ‘“Therefore behold,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words they attribute to Me.”] A prophesy by the way, in my understanding, is a declaration, prediction i.e. a spoken word. So, when we speak things, in The Name of God, think things and then articulate them with the hope of achieving…many times to be honest – MAYHEM…or let’s be calm and gracious about this…an expected end: and you did not do so from within the counsel of God, and you seek to compel me and others to live by that word… Anyway, am getting ahead of myself. But understand me…these are my thoughts in process.

A CONSENCRATED ARROW OF GOD: I was thinking about the scriptures, and a pattern I noticed among the ones sent out by God to speak out His words especially when they pertained to judgment. I noticed that there was often a sense of reluctance initially on the part of the one being sent out. I wondered why. I realized that when we TRULY stand before God’s Presence, there is a sense of AUTHENTIC NAKEDNESS by which we are seen as we are…and WE IN TURN SEE OURSELVES AS WE ARE. And what we see, is not usually pretty. OFTEN IS NOT.

So, God chooses me, or even better YOU, to go tell someone that they have offended Him, are offending Him and from the looks of things will continue to stand or remain fallen as repugnant offenses before Him – and the first thought should be _{‘HOW CAN YOU SEND ME KNOWING ALL YOU KNOW ABOUT ME?’} And with that comes a true humility. A realization, that should NEVER LEAVE US, that He chooses us BECAUSE OF HIS GRACE. So Kingdom Giants faint and stay fainted or perhaps in a stroke for days…or they get hot coals…from a divine fire…like no earthly fire…from God Who is Himself The Consuming Fire…to sanitize their own tongues first before they go. We are given instructions that speak of our being launched from the posture of receiving His Word to deliver it and a boomerang without engaging in civilian affairs to The Commander of Heaven’s Hosts. Let me just ask us, you and I, have we been processed for this mission we are undertaking? Sanctified for it?

The DELIBERATE RICHOCHET: Been thinking a lot about how intentional God is. There is another pattern. A pattern through which He sends out a people with whom He has a score to settle, to deal with someone who He desires to redeem. O…this second lot, are full of themselves. They preen, prance, gloat…think the world of themselves. ‘EIYSHHH OF CAUSE HE COULD NOT HAVE MADE A BETTER CHOICE THAN ME, MYSELF AND I.’ O they rush at those God tends to discipline with an often reckless and gleeful abundance to swiftly, thoroughly, pressed down-shaken together-to the overflow kind of words and actions that eventually – they imagine – would scratch out their itch against a fallen nation or individual. They conveniently forget that God has and does sometimes send out exceedingly wicked people to deal with wickedness in His own camp. Akin to the broken branches by which our parents and teachers caned us – once upon a time – that were themselves shredded to smithereens…eventually…after dealing with us. Remember how we were left with welts, weeping, repentant and changed by that beating, but the cane could not say as much for itself? It was destroyed by our beating.Hmmmm….

ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN: And then there is the other lot. These are simply ‘jesi la saiytan‘ – ‘satan’s hosts.‘. We used to call them ‘sneak babies’ in the days when we were younger. These are the ones who gleefully enjoy watching, partaking of, even cheering you on in your wickedness. Some of the higher-ranking ones will even show you how to do bad, or suggest it to you…they are the catalysts. But you should see them complain, present a case to prosecute you before God’s Throne. The performance…there is no award on earth yet even entered the mind of man for this degree of skill. They are of The Accuser of the Brethren. They are vile, vile, vile, themselves, but because they have reputations, something others need, etc…they have a platform…they will articulate your sin as though to convince God that you are beyond Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, and should serve them eternally in the pit. But God. He is Wisdom embodied.

I have not yet reached my conclusion, but I am leaning towards thinking that in order to point out for sure, in echo of God’s counsel what is a Cult, I need to first of all ensure that I individually, am not an occultist…living in flagrant and unabashed disobedience to God’s instructions to me – even when these differ directly from His to the one I seek to disqualify from The Race. Am I truly living as He would have me live? Are you? I am off to submit myself to the fire of His Holiness, for I don’t really like the answers I get when I look into His Word – His Presence…about my own state. Come with me first, will you? It will be good for us all. I want us to say in answer to the heading question ‘WHO IS USING YOU?’ ‘WHO HAS SENT YOU?’ that I, we, have been truly sent out by YHWH.

Shalom.

“Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.”

Jesus Christ in Matthew 7:3-5

“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Jesus Christ in Mathey 12:36-37

#ThereisMercyStill#LORDGodHaveMercyonUs#LoginMyEye#BecauseGodIsIntentional

vipadhiambo@gmail.com