Monthly Archives: May 2016

holiness is what I long for

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While we spent a week earlier this month in the bush with our Discipleship Training Institute, I started singing the chorus “Holiness, Holiness is what I long for …”, except I sang it in Maa and taught to the DTI students and our dear friends Francis Yenko (the DTI Director) and Moses Mashipei (the DTI Assistant Director).  It made for great campfire music, along with the song of the night-time grazing zebra, under the Southern Cross.

Here are the lyrics (see below for the audio):

esinyatisho, esinyatisho enayieu
esinyatisho, esinyatisho ninye ayieu
esinyatisho, esinyatisho, eniyieu te nanu

intayu oltai lai, intobira
intayu enkishui ai, imbelekenya
tolino, tolino, li Aitoriani !
tolino, tolino, li Aitoriani !
tolino, tolino, li Aitoriani !

intayu oltai lai, intobira
intayu enkishui ai, imbelekenya
tolino, tolino, li Aitoriani !
tolino, tolino, li Aitoriani !
tolino, tolino, li Aitoriani !

esinyatisho, esinyatisho enayieu
esinyatisho, esinyatisho ninye ayieu
esinyatisho, esinyatisho, eniyieu te nanu

 

Discipleship Training Institute

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One of our favorite ministry opportunities has always been time spent with our DTS (Discipleship Training School).  In order to avoid confusion with the similar ministries of YWAM (Youth With A Mission) that use the same name, we just changed the name to Discipleship Training Institute (DTI).

We’ve just spent a week out in the bush with the DTI.  Ruth has written a delightful blog post that touches on our time there.  And check back here later for another update.

Visit our Ministry page for more details about the DTI (you’ll need to scroll down).  You can also revisit our older post, “Discipleship Training School reborn“, read the full story of that rebirth (.pdf file), or browse the “Reader’s Digest” version of that story (shorter .pdf).

the corruption of scoundrels

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“Now the sons of Eli were worthless men.  They did not know the LORD.”
(1 Samuel 2.12, ESV)

The word here translated as “worthless men” is בְלִיָּעַל (beliyya’al). Other major english translations render it as “wicked men” or “scoundrels.”  I’m currently enjoying a “Through the Bible” podcast in the NKJV.  Listening this week, I was struck by its translation of this verse:

“Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the LORD.”

We know that corruption is rampant.  Here in Kenya, most of the paved road nearest to our house isn’t really paved at all.  A mere half an inch (or less) of asphalt on dirt doesn’t last long between the heavy truck traffic and the heavier rains.  But there are some folks with nice, big houses that were paid for with funds intended for the roads.  Meanwhile in American politics, the two current presidential front-runners both have a long history of benefiting from and fostering corruption.

While it is easy to become frustrated with the corruption that daily has a negative impact on us, this verse clearly reminds me that politics isn’t the answer.

Corruption is simply the symptom.  The illness is not knowing Yahweh.

healed waters

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כֹּֽה־אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֗ה רִפִּ֨אתִי֙ לַמַּ֣יִם הָאֵ֔לֶּה 

“… Thus says YHWH, ‘I have healed these waters’. …” (2 Kings 2.21)  This little snippet is so rich. The city, Jericho, was “well-situated” but the water brought death and the land would not produce food. Do you know the back story? Joshua had cursed the place. After the walls of Jericho collapsed and the city was destroyed, Joshua cursed it.  If any would rebuild the city, it would cost him his firstborn and his youngest son (Joshua 6.26).  Later, this is exactly what happened (see 1 Kings 16.34).  Apparently, this curse also affected the land itself with its springs.

(Note:  Many bibles translate this verse as “I have purified the water,” which was also certainly the case.  But the verb used is R-F-‘, which is the primary word in hebrew for the healing of something sick.)

So we see clearly that curses have power. But curses do not have the last word. Blessings have more power than curses. This particular curse had been effective for generations – perhaps 500–600 years or so from the time of the curse to the time of the city’s rebuilding, and then another generation until this story begins.  But now someone had a hope for something different. So folks from the city sought out God by seeking out his prophet Elisha. And the curse on land and water was broken. “Until this day,” the writer testifies, “that water remains pure,” it “remains healed” (2 Kings 2.22).  That was true when 1 & 2 Kings was written. But now, thousands of years (thousands!) after the healing of the water, even today the water in that corner of Israel is good.  Read 2 Kings  2.19–22 for the whole story.

Blessings have more power than curses. God is the Healer who holds healing and purification in his hands. There are many curses – spoken curses, curses through witchcraft, ancestral curses, spiritual strongholds of bondage, addictions, corruption of all sorts, deliberate partnerships with sin, curses received along with abuse. Those curses have not been without their hurtful impact. But blessings have more power than curses. Curses can be broken and nullified, replaced with blessing and healing.  

Blessings have more power.