Month: June 2020

Written By Ben Dankaka

Meditation – Psalm 103:13

Generally, parents love their children. Anyone who is sensible and mentally stable will love his or her child without being told to do so. It doesn’t take training to love your own child. You don’t have to go to school in order to learn how to love your child. You may need some teaching on how to train your child, but when it comes to loving your child, nobody has to instruct you to do that. Because parents naturally love their children, they do whatever it takes to feed, cloth, educate and protect them. Children do not need to pay their parents before enjoying their love and affection. All they need to do is to stay in their presence and honor them. As long as children revere their parents, and hang around them, their food, clothing, education and protection is guaranteed.

When you recognize the role that parents play in the lives of their children, you will understand the role that God wants to play in your life. The scriptures say that “as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him”. That is, as parents love their children, God also love those who “fear” Him. To fear God, means to revere Him. Like in the case of parenting, when we revere God and stay in His presence, He will surely feed, cloth, educate and protect us. Just as our parents father us, God also wants to father us.

The relationship between parents and their children; and God’s relationship with us, is similar because of the way God created man. When God created Adam, it was with a combination of His Spirit and the dust of the ground, which forms our body. Ever since, man has been in partnership with God multiplying that body while God delivers the spirit in the body. So while we are related to our parents because of our body, our bond with God is due to our spirit. For that reason, every human has an earthly father and a heavenly Father. This is why God and parents play similar roles.

But while we can compare earthly fathering with God’s fathering, it is important for us to know that God’s love for us is greater than the love of our earthly parents. This is so because we are not earthly beings, we are in fact, spirit beings. It is the spirit that makes the man and not the body. For it was only when God breath His Spirit into the earth body that it became a living being. Unlike our parent’s love, God’s love is eternal. God himself said through Isaiah, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” Know this: God loves you.

Prayer: Lord, thank you loving me. Amen.

REFERENCES/FURTHER STUDY: Psalm 8:13; Genesis 2:7; Isaiah 49:15

Unless otherwise stated all scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.

Written By Ben Dankaka

Meditation – Luke 2:46

In my leadership class, I often teach five leadership principles. They are; vision, intelligence, passion, courage and integrity. These are proven leadership principles that have been used by every great leader in the Bible, including the ones in the secular world. These leadership principles do not operate independently. They are dependent of each other. In fact, they work in a sequential order. To effectively use the principles, you must use the principles as if you are climbing a ladder, beginning with vision. Of the five leadership principles, I encourage my students to spend more time and energy on intelligence.

The intelligence stage is the point at which you do intelligence gathering. That is, it is the period when you have to study, learn and acquire all the information that is relevant to your vision. Without this process, you wouldn’t have the required tools for achieving your goals. For that reason, I advise my students to exercise patience while they are at the intelligence level so they can be fully prepared for the task ahead of them. The importance of preparation in any given endeavor cannot be overemphasized. Abraham Lincoln said, “I will study and prepare myself, and someday my chance will come.” This means, if you don’t get all the knowledge you need, you may not be ready when an opportunity comes your way.

Although He was God, Jesus subjected Himself to this principle. The Bible tells us that when Jesus was 12 years old, his parents temporarily lost Him because He went into a temple and spent three days, sitting among teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. When His parents found Him and complained, He said to them, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Notice that Jesus wasn’t found in a farm or in a sheep pen. Instead, He was found in a temple – at the very place where He could get the information relevant to His divine assignment.

Later, we are told that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:41-52). Since He grew in wisdom, Jesus must have spent His youthful years listening and getting ready for the task ahead of Him. In fact, He possibly spent over 18 years preparing Himself because we are told that Jesus didn’t begin His ministry until He was 30 years old. When you compare that period with the 3 years that He spent on His ministry, you will realize that He invested more time preparing Himself than in the actual work. No wonder, His townspeople were astonished when He taught at their synagogue. They said, “Where did this man get this wisdom?”(Matthew 13:54). What they didn’t know was that Jesus had adequately prepared Himself for that moment. Be like Jesus.

Prayer: Dear Lord, show me how to learn. Amen.

REFERENCES/FURTHER STUDY: Luke 2:41-52; Matthew 13:54

Unless otherwise stated all scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.

Written By Ben Dankaka

Meditation – Jeremiah 10:12

One thing that is common about every human is the desire to be powerful. Trust me, you and I, have an innate desire to be powerful. Because we want to control others and our circumstances, we crave for power. The quest for power is what makes leaders dominate their followers. Also, almost every violent act is caused by a strong desire to have control through power. Interestingly, power on its own, isn’t a negative thing. It is how we acquire and use power that either makes it good or evil.

Actually, we don’t have to oppress or control other people before becoming powerful. Real power comes when you are able to create something or do something new, especially when it has to do with our purpose in life. When you create a product or service that is original, you will automatically feel powerful because you will be having control over it. So God wants you to have power but He doesn’t want that power to come as a result of the people you have oppressed. He wants your power to come through a technique that He himself set up.  

The Bible tells us that, “God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.”(Jeremiah 10:12). In other words, in creating the world, God revealed His power. But the power of God in creation didn’t come by oppressing anyone; it came through the use of His wisdom and understanding (Read Jeremiah 10:12, once again). This verse implies that understanding and wisdom are related to power. It also means that in order to create anything, understanding and wisdom have to be deployed. Again, this point is emphasized in Proverbs 3:19. We are told that “By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations; by understanding he set the heavens in place.”

Our God is a Creator whose power is known by the things He creates with His wisdom and understanding. His power didn’t come by oppressing anyone. He didn’t ask anyone to do the work of creation for Him. He did it by Himself, with His own wisdom and understanding. For that reason, He owns and controls the earth. If you want real power, you have to do what God did. Your creation may not necessarily be a tangible product; it could be a project or business. Just make sure it is original. But know that it will require your wisdom and understanding. It is the person with knowledge that can be powerful; not a domineering person. Knowledge is power.

Prayer: Lord, give me the wisdom to create. Amen.

REFERENCES/FURTHER STUDY: Jeremiah 10:12; Proverbs 3:19

Unless otherwise stated all scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.

Written By Ben Dankaka

Meditation – Jeremiah 16: 21

Oftentimes, we fail to think of Jesus as a teacher. Yet He did more of teaching than anything else. According to Matthew, “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,” In each of the gospels, we are told that Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues. At every time, if Jesus wasn’t teaching, He was preaching about the Kingdom of God. It is important to recognize Jesus as a teacher, who preached all the time. He made it clear to us that preaching was one of His main assignments. When Jesus declared His vision statement, He began by saying that the Holy Spirit had anointed Him to preach the good news. Even as Jesus went about doing good, He was always careful not to allow anyone or anything distract Him from performing this important task of teaching and preaching. In fact, Jesus once said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (Luke 5:43).

Throughout His ministry, Jesus spent most of His time teaching the disciples everything about God’s kingdom, including how to pray. His teachings were so important to Him that He once said, “He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.” In other words, the only way to love Jesus is by obeying His teaching. At the end of His ministry, Jesus said to His Father, “I have given them your word…” To ensure that His teaching ministry continued, Jesus promised that He would send the Holy Spirit, who would also teach us all things and will remind us of everything He taught us. This time, He assured us that the Counselor would remain with us forever, teaching us the truth.

I want you to know that God wants to be your teacher. In the book of Jeremiah, God said, “I will teach them —this time I will teach them, my power and might.” If there’s any teaching that can make you great and powerful, it is the teaching that comes from God. A teacher can only teach what he knows. Therefore, a student can only be as great as the one who teaches him. If you want to be like Jesus, go to Him and He would teach you. Jesus Christ himself said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” So don’t waste your time trying to learn from people whose wisdom is a fabricated one. The wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. And there’s no one that can be wiser than their own Maker. Is there anything you want to learn, ask the Holy Spirit. He is the real Master Teacher.

Prayer: Lord, be my Teacher. Amen

REFERENCES/FURTHER STUDY: Matt 4:23; Matt 9:35; Luke 4:18; Luke 5:43; John 17:24; John 14:25; Jeremiah 16:21; 1 Corinthians 3:19

Unless otherwise stated all scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.

Written By Ben Dankaka

Meditation – Joshua 6:1-2

To succeed in any given project, you need to have the eye of a visionary. A visionary person sees what others can’t see. The person who has a vision looks into the future with the eye of an eagle. That is, like the eagle, a visionary person can clearly see from a distance. Long before their dreams materialize, visionaries are able to see the end before it happens. The ability to see and predict the future is what inspires every leader. It is also what gives the leader, confidence and a sense of purpose. When a leader is aware of the outcome of his actions, he would be willing to dare all odds and ignore the urge to quit while he confronts whatever challenges that might come his way.

Unfortunately, most times, the future of a project can only be seen by the one who is at the front. Since the leader of any project is usually the one who knows the outcome, others may not have the same conviction the leader has. Because they can’t see what he sees, they may likely give up on the project when things get tough along the way. I experienced this when I started my first project. Because I was the only one who saw the outcome, others abandoned the project when things got tough. If I had known, I would have spent more time trying to make them see what I had seen.

Anyone leader who wants to succeed in any project must know how to share his vision with his partners or teammates. If you don’t share the vision with others, know that you would be heading towards your goal alone. It is for this reason that every organization does team visioning. The idea of team visioning didn’t originate in our modern world. It is a divine principle, initiated by God. When you carefully study the Bible, you would realize that there was no time that God called anyone for an assignment without, first of all, sharing His vision with that person.  In fact, the entire Bible expresses a vision that God has been trying to share with His team members, since the earth was created.

As the One who often initiates an idea, God usually takes His time to make His people see what He sees. In other words, before doing anything, God begins by giving His people a clear picture of the outcome. When He was about to destroy Jericho, God said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and it’s fighting men”. As at that time, Jericho had not been destroyed. But God spoke as if He had already done what He was about to do. In doing so, Joshua was able to see what God saw. Joshua saw the victory before it actually happened. When you share your vision in that manner, you would be able to instill trust and confidence in the minds of your team members.

Prayer: Lord, may I share my vision in the same way that you do. Amen.

REFERENCES/FURTHER STUDY: Joshua 6:1-2

Unless otherwise stated all scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.