Okore Esther, Author at Earth Shakers

Joseph the Managerial Dreamer: A Coat of Many Colours Or A Covering Cast

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Today we explore the familiar story of the beloved child of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham. Joseph, also known as the Dreamer, was the beloved son of Jacob’s old age and the offspring of his first love– Rachael. So loved was this child that Jacob made him a coat of many colours to showcase his love and admiration. That stirred the jealousy and spite of his 10 older brothers. And that hate led them to sell the young lad into slavery while they deceived their aged father that the child was killed by a wild animal. That was a callous thing to do, but this turned out to be strongly sponsored by the Lord Almighty because although Joseph had the potential to be an astute businessman and manager, all those qualities were hid beneath the colourful clothe and his father’s doting love.

Why The Disciples Abandoned Jesus, And How You May Follow Their Footsteps

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Going over the Account of Jesus’ last moments with His disciples, including the Gethsemane prayer and arrest, I couldn’t help but marvel at how often we make promises we don’t fulfil, or take stands, we don’t sustain simply because those affiliations were made after careful planning rather than sole dependence on the Lord. We start out our God-assigned projects having done the mathematical and economic calculations, but having failed to employ the Almighty formular– divine strategy. The Lord gives us an instruction or an idea, and rather than ask Him who knows the end from the beginning to show us how to navigate through or what to do, we assume we have it all figured out. The end point is usually not pretty or productive.

The Wedding Guest List 2: The Gospel of Works

Reading Time: 6 minutes

This post is a sequel based on the parable of the King who had a marriage feast for his son. Click here to read the previous part.

The Church of God is one founded on grace. It is by grace that we are saved. It is by grace that we are enabled and empowered and qualified to take on certain feats and record successes in them. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the embodiment of grace. The only way to truly demonstrate allegiance to the Lord and His gospel, is to do everything on the bedrock of grace.

The Wedding Guest List 1: Does God Change His Mind?

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The greatest Teacher that ever lived, by way of parable, recounts the ordeals of a King whose son was to be married. Like any proud and excited father, the King took on the task of organizing a grand wedding feast. The ceremony would run on for days. It would feature the best artists and performers in the kingdom. The large dance hall of the palace would honour the presence of the high and mighty in the society. He had also sent words to the kings of neighbouring kingdoms, to invite them and keep them in the know of the biggest event yet… the King’s son was getting married!

The D-day came in with light showers. That was a good sign. Heavy rains would have ruined the celebration, but light rains were symbolic– the union was blessed. As the King made the last rounds, double checking the perfection of previous arrangements, He sent a group of servants to remind the elites of the wedding slated for later in the evening.

Crisis Management: An Intriguing Skill to Handling Your Crisis

Reading Time: 4 minutes

What do you do when you face crisis and crippling situations? When you face issues that seem to take the fun out of your life, how do you respond? We all encounter situations that don’t look like they were designed to make us smile. It may be your overbearing flatmate or neighbour. It may be a delayed promotion. It may be a crumbling business that forces you to consider compromise. It may be the burden of a crippling illness. Or maybe your flat bank credit. Or possibly, the unpalatable detours of plans and dreams. We don’t always have the “sunny side up” in life and hence discomforts are relative ‘normal’.

Why Believers Make Unbelievably Silly Decisions

Reading Time: 7 minutes

There is a long-standing tradition of a dividing cup popular among the Asians and not alien to the Egyptians. The cup was proposed to possess the properties of representing the world, all the things in the world and the activities of it. This cup, which is said to contain the elixir of immortality, was usually passed from hand to hand among different potentates and royalties across generations. Coincidentally, when Joseph, son of Israel, was made Prime Minister in the land of Egypt, he was handed down that cup. The cup was ideally used for divination, hence the name, but Joseph obviously didn’t need it. He divined from the Lord. However, by virtue of tradition, the cup was required to be in his custody.

Gate Pass To The Abundance of Life

Reading Time: 6 minutes

The Bible recounts an exciting story of the sons of Jacob during the famine that ravaged the whole earth at the time when Joseph was second-in-command over the land of Egypt. See the story in Genesis 43.

The background of the story was that after the prophesied 7 years of abundance came 7 years of deleterious famine all over the earth. When nations exhausted their proceeds (obviously they were not as informed as Egypt, so they didn’t store up food), they started to visit the land of Egypt for their meals. Jacob was also in this category of the uninformed. He instructed his sons to go to Egypt for food. They did, and they came back with Simeon locked in the Egyptian prison and a demand for Benjamin, without whom they should not come to Egypt again.

This is Your Sanctification

Reading Time: 6 minutes

The pattern of change is from the inside-out

The message of sanctification was adored by patriarchs and fathers of faith. They understood that Christianity did not stop at coming into the fold of Christ. They understood that the nature of God and the nature of sin were miles apart, and that although there is an instantaneous swap at redemption, there is a need to consciously begin to live the new life. They recognized that although they sincerely handed the wheels of their lives to God, there were still traces of the old man lurking somewhere. This, they accepted as unacceptable and worked towards eradicating, but not by their strength.

Egypt or Eden?

Reading Time: 4 minutes

We are everyday faced with the conflict of decision making. To take tea or coffee. To make that trip or not to. To fix our rooms now or in an hour’s time. There are some who find decision making difficult. With so many varying options, it becomes increasingly important not only to make decisions, but to make the right ones. Usually, these options never seem complete. What this means is that, option A may have a part of what you need and option B would have a different thing which you also want. But unfortunately, that of option A is completely different from that of Option B. Maybe you need a phone that allows you to select any part of a song for a ringtone instead of compulsory starting from the beginning of the song. You find such a phone but sadly, you also need a phone that allows a split screen, that is, it allows for two applications to fit snugly into the screen at the same time. And that phone doesn’t support it. At that moment, decision making becomes more a battle of compromise than of choice.

KEY POINT

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I remember reading “Rich Dad Poor Dad” after ignoring the book on bookshelves for many years. I was both enthralled and amazed at it. Enthralled by the rich content of it and amazed that I knew way a good number of people who have read the book through, but still didn’t look like their life was up to much. I confess I didn’t finish it, but the less than half I read were filled with easy-to-implement, quick-to-execute principles that made me always stop in-between lines to wonder, “If it is this easy, how come many are still broke?”