Explosions!

Today I'm talking about dreams that God uses to propel His own into relevance and change in society hence the title EXPLOSIONS. I'll corroborate our discourse with a story. A young man, living in a one room apartment with his parents had a dream one day. In his dream, he saw a brand new laptop and he wondered if it meant that God was going to give him a brand new laptop. As he looked on, he felt impressed  to draw the design of the laptop and as he woke up from the dream, he quickly sketched out what he saw. He discovered later as he surfed the net that the design of the laptop he saw was new, infact revolutionary. He then made efforts to contact a few well known computer companies;HP, Dell and Toshiba. Only one of them responded to his email but after three mail exchanges they suddenly stopped communicating. Every effort to reach them just fell flat. This young man gave up and just went back to his mundane life.

One day, as he sat before TV, watching BBC, he suddenly screamed calling for his father. His dad ran into the sitting room, startled by the noise and expecting the worst. The young man pointed to the TV and right in front of him was his laptop design on display. He couldn't believe his eyes!

He promptly contacted the computer company with his lawyer of course. Evidence of his communication with them and his sketches proved the validity of his claim on ownership of the idea. After some negotiation, the company decided they would pay him 4 million US dollars. You will agree with me that for someone who had been living in some level of poverty that kind of money should change his life forever. Upon advice from his pastor, he decided to make a better negotiation on the percentage of royalty that comes to him on every unit of the product sold. Of course that changed his financial fortunes for life.

To now make things even better, the company asked him to come over to their company overseas. He went to Abuja to pick up his visa, expecting to get a 2 week visa. That would be just enough for him to be able to get his share of the booty he had earned. He was in for another surprise. The company wanted him to come and join them for a 4 year contract as a staff.

This story is a true story and was not made up. I told it to show us that God is still in the business of showing us things that can change our lives drastically and even change our world. A similar story is told in the bible (Genesis 31:10-12) where Jacob had a dream that transferred wealth to him from an employer who was a cheat and conman. I believe that this grace is available for all God's children in this 21st century. All creation is waiting for our release into full expression.

Contacting The Divine, Connecting the Earth

In continuance of the discourse of yesterday, we'll be spending the week looking at some models. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we'll adopt a scientific approach in examining these models. These stories were written for our learning and instructions (Romans 15:4). Today we'll be starting with Joseph.

PRINCIPLE 1: RECOGNIZE THE SOURCE OF YOUR GIFTS, INSPIRATION OR IDEA - GOD.
Joseph started out with a gift (just as we all do). He had a divine deposit. He had the ability to dream and interpret. Dreams are God's way of communicating instruction to mankind just as Job 33:15 says;

In a dream, for instance, a vision at night,
when men and women are deep in sleep,
fast asleep in their beds—God opens their earsand impresses them with warning. 

PRINCIPLE 2: USE YOUR GIFTS IN YOUR COMMUNITY(CHURCH, HOME, WITH FRIENDS, ETC)
You may disagree but I discovered that Joseph interpreted his first dream to his brothers and this (plus the fact that he was his father's favourite and was probably a spoilt brat) made his brothers hate him so much. He arrogantly declared the meaning of this dream he had even to the point that his father had to rebuke him. How else could they have known the meaning of his dream if he didn't interpret it? So Joseph started out by using his gift on himself. 

PRINCIPLE 3: USE YOUR EXPERIENCES TO PERFECT YOUR GIFT

A few years of hardship in Egypt helped Joseph refine his character and his administrative skills. He was obviously gifted but he also learnt how to manage resources so well that twice his bosses left all they had in his charge.

PRINCIPLE 4: LOOK OUT FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO HELP OTHERS WITH YOUR GIFT OR IDEA (DO IT FOR FREE)

Joseph's gift moved to another level-he now began interpreting dreams for others. How did the opportunity come? By observation.

PRINCIPLE 5: EVERY DIVINE IDEA/INSPIRATION IS BUNDLED: LOOK FOR THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE INSPIRATION/IDEA.

Finally Joseph had the opportunity to stand before the king of Egypt and he was prepared. If you read the story in Genesis 41:14-33, you'll find out that Joseph was asked to come and interpret a dream but he went further than that. He interpreted the dream and now looked for a practical application as a solution to the problem presented. He communicated God's mind (by interpreting the dream) and then explained what needed to be done as a result. I believe this is where his experience as an administrator kicked in.

God hides things, honour and respect come to men that investigate such matters till they discover the hidden treasures ( Proverbs 25:2 my paraphrase).

For those interested, there will be a workshop on how to access and unlock divine creative streams on Sunday 18th September. Click here to get the details.

N.B. I tried to find out if Joseph's story was a historical fact or just a religious myth and found this.

Fractional Distillation

Over the past few weeks, my posts have been laying emphases on the obvious impact of the media, particularly at such a time as this that we find ourselves in. I won't like to enter into a general error where one can point out the problems and give lengthy talks and discourses about how those on the scene are not doing things properly without providing solutions. I'd like to follow the scriptural model, where the solution provider not only sees the spiritual (revelational) side of things but also brings practical, pragmatic solutions into the situation.

If you did not pass Chemistry I bet the title of this post jolted you. Well I'm not going to give you a long discourse in how to pass Chemistry. I'll just tell you how this relates to us. Fractional distillation is the separation of a mixture into its component parts, or fractions, such as in separating chemical compounds by their boiling point by heating them to a temperature at which several fractions of the compound will evaporate. How does this relate to us? Spiritual resources can be distilled to products that can be used to make human life better. That is what fractional distillation is all about as it relates to us!

It is clear all through history that the things that brought change into society occurred as a result of a spiritual resource that was downloaded into the earth for communal relevance. Isaac Newton, Martin Luther, Abraham Graham Bell, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates are just a few examples of individuals who logged into a spiritual space and brought into the earthly realms inventions that revolutionized human existence.

I believe that spiritual resources or revelation should translate into physical things that can influence life. What's the use of spiritual stuff that can't change or improve my life and that of others around me? The reason the Body of Christ seems like a bunch of religious people is because we are high on spiritual activities and resource but low on the effective transfer of these resources into society. What use is bible knowledge that has no practical application? Or fasting and prayer that doesn't produce, for example, increased business growth.

One question that I will endeavour to answer over the next few weeks is how to translate these spiritual resources into tangible results, inventions people can see, touch, feel and handle. The scientific way to understand how things/systems/products work is to examine a model. Simply break it down into its smaller component units, look for patterns in the operation and apply the principles or dynamics you observe into the existing situation or product.

This is what I believe God means when He said in Romans 15: 4 "Everything written in the Scriptures was written to teach us..."

God's judgement on homosexuality!

Many times we think God is silent on the things happening around us. We are concerned when we see homosexuals seemingly advancing, with legislation and funding that favours them. If you are like me, you are concerned for your children and may wonder how they will survive in the years ahead. However just as God wasn't silent when Pharaoh refused to let His people go and executed judgement on all the demon gods of Egypt, God is not silent in the 21st century either.

I came across this story about the way Hurricane Katrina came just a few days before a homosexual celebration was scheduled. Was it a chance "natural disaster" or God's judgement on the city that had allowed an annual celebration called "Southern Decadence" to thrive for so long?


"Southern Decadence" has a history of filling the French Quarter section of the city with drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets and bars. Last year, a local pastor sent video footage of sex acts being performed in front of police to the mayor, city council, and the media. City officials simply ignored the footage and continued to welcome and praise the weeklong celebration as being an "exciting event." However, Hurricane Katrina has put an end to the annual celebration of sin. 


On the official "Southern Decadence" website (www.SouthernDecadence.com), it states that the annual event brought in "125,000 revelers" to New Orleans last year, increasing by thousands each year, and up from "over 50,000 revelers" in 1997. This year's 34th annual "Southern Decadence" was set for Wednesday, August 31, 2005 through Monday, September 5, 2005, but due to massive flooding and the damage left by the hurricane, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has ordered everyone to evacuate the city. 


I strongly believe that as we pray to displace all these demonic forces, God will begin to execute His judgement on them. It's time to get on our knees.

On books that crossed over

I just wanted to compile a list of some books that have been able to make a crossover into the mainline community from the Christian community. I've read some of them and been greatly blessed. I believe this is another area the kingdom of God can permeate the world. Jesus employed the same style-using stories to share truth (His parables). The truth is who doesn't love to hear some nice story or interesting gist, uhn?

The Circle Triology by Ted Dekker. This set of books explore the story of Creation and redemption using fantasy. His novels have sold over 5 million copies in the United States and over 1 million in 2010 alone. One of his books (THR3E) has even been made into a movie and I bet there's more to come.

Piercing the Darkness by Frank Perretti. It seems to me this is the father of supernatural thrillers. "With more than 15 million novels in print, Frank Peretti is nothing short of a publishing phenomenon and has been called "America's hottest Christian novelist". His books opened up the power and influence of prayer in influencing the outcomes of events in everyday activities.

The Atonement Child by Francine Rivers. This book explores the emotional and spiritual aspects of abortion. The Atonement Child brings a new perspective to this very controversial topic in America.

Have you read any fictional book that's explored the themes of God's kingdom? Let me hear about them, ok? Psst...Tomorrow's my birthday.