Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. - 1 Peter 5:8 NIV
In this Bible verse, the operative word is ‘like’. While it likens the devil to a lion, it doesn’t say the devil is actually a lion. It tells us that the devil walks about as if he were a lion, roaring and looking for prey.
But we know something …
There is only one Lion. And that is The Lion of Judah.
In the not-so-distant past, I heard a revelation about this verse that has since become my own. The speaker had travelled to South Africa and had gone on safari – as one does. They learnt that in a pride of lions, there can only be one Alpha.
At times, though, there may be juveniles in the pride who wish to challenge the Alpha but do not have the strength or the ability to do so. So, they stand off at a distance and roar loudly.
However, it’s not a true challenge to the Alpha. It can’t be. The juvenile doesn’t have the authority, the power, the capacity to back it up. The devil is the juvenile lion, wanting to challenge God but unable to. He’s a defeated foe. So, he goes after God’s children instead.
I was sharing this revelation with my mum and saying, “In essence, he’s a toothless lion.” She laughed and said, “He’s a paper lion.” I found that quite amusing and we laughed about it. But the words stayed with me long after that conversation.
What I didn’t know is that they would become a revelation to me and minister to my soul more than I could have imagined then. Because a toothless lion is still a lion. It still has some power. It has claws and brute strength. The mere thought of encountering one can still strike fear.
A paper lion on the other hand has no power whatsoever. It’s not real. It’s a counterfeit.
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. - Colossians 2:15 NIV
Jesus Christ, the Lion of Judah, took away the power of the enemy of our souls completely through the finished work on the cross. On our own, we’re powerless, helpless, defeated. In Christ, we are victorious. That is why He, being God Himself, chose to lay down His life to set us free from the trap that sin placed us in.
We do not have to be afraid, even when things go south. When we face trials and tribulations, we know we have ultimate victory. We have an inheritance in Christ. Love, joy, and peace never depart, irrespective of circumstances. Goodness and mercy pursue relentlessly and overtake. Always!
We do not cower or turn back. Ever. We take a stand! And when everything is said and done, we’re found standing. We have life and life in abundance. In high school, I had a teacher who used to like saying that empty vessels are the most sonorous. The loudest.
The juvenile lion roars so loudly, at a distance, but it knows it has no substance. The Alpha stepped in for once and for all. We could either accept or reject that truth, but there is no undoing it.
Beloved, if you haven’t already, I implore you to accept it. Ask Jesus to show you, to teach you. If you have already accepted this Good News, ask for a deeper revelation and watch and see what the King of kings will do!
I invite you to pray the prayer at the end.
Love,
Dear Jesus, Thank you so much that you love me. Thank you for dying for me on the cross. You took away my sin and shame; I have absolutely no guilt now. I ask you to completely take over every aspect of my life. I place myself, my whole heart and my life in your hands. Show me what life in abundance looks like. Please give me a deeper revelation of You and Your finished work on the cross for my sake. Teach me Your Truth and Your Ways. Again, thank you. I look forward to all that you have in store for me with anticipation. Amen and amen 🙏🏾
When I meet people from the same family, I enjoy observing both the similarities and the differences between them. I suppose I was socialised that way. Growing up, I spent a fair amount of time accompanying my parents. Whenever I was with my mum and we met someone new, they would often say, “You look so much alike.”
Then they’d meet my dad and quickly change their minds. “Oh, no. I was mistaken. You definitely look like your dad,” they’d say. It happened so often that my standard response to anyone who said I resembled my mum became, “Wait till you see Daddy.”
The other day, in that same spirit, I found myself delighting in noticing the similarities between my heavenly Father and me. Just for fun, I began to count the ways I resemble Him – not in the usual “spiritual” sense, but in literal, everyday expressions. I was delighted to quickly find three.
1. A Love for Gardening
I love to garden. It’s a passion I never imagined I’d have. It seemed to develop out of nowhere. I grew some corn when I was 12, but that was about it. After that, I managed to kill everything I tried to grow including mint and cacti! I concluded I didn’t have green fingers and stopped trying.
Then, in 2014, a friend gifted me an arum lily. I did everything I could to keep it alive and, to my pleasant surprise, it flourished under my care. That small success made me reconsider my earlier conclusion, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Incidentally, my Dad is also a gardener:
The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. - Genesis 2:8 NKJV
Beyond speaking the myriad of plants, trees and flowers into being, we hear that God literally planted a garden in Eden before placing Adam there. Jesus also refers to our Father as a Gardner in John 15:1, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.”
So, when I tend to my plants – planting, nurturing, watching things grow – I am, in a very real sense, being just like my Dad. That thought brings me such joy and satisfaction; it makes me enjoy gardening even more. God honours me in my gardening too. Not only does He bless the work of my hands, He gave me a vision of a garden, a gift purely for my enjoyment.
2. The Joy of Cooking
Cooking is my happy place. I love every part of the process: selecting fresh, quality ingredients; deciding what to create; choosing the right cooking method(s); then marrying the ingredients to form something each ingredient could never have dreamed of becoming on its own.
What’s more, cooking is about nourishing and providing sustenance in addition to bringing people together. That certainly reflects God’s nature and ways. However, I wanted to focus on a literal example.
So, I present to you, Jesus braaiing (barbecuing) at the beach:
Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. - John 21:9 NKJV
I am convinced that Jesus is an excellent cook. Being fully God – all-knowing, attentive, intentional and all-wise – how could He not be?! When He invited the disciples, “Come and eat breakfast,” they weren’t surprised that He’d prepared a meal. His presence astonished them, understandably, but not His cooking.
And what about Elijah being fed by the angel of the Lord (1 Kings 19:5-8)? Perhaps God preparing a table before us is not limited to a symbolic sense. What if culinary arts have a place in heaven? I’m persuaded cooking is heavenly. And when I prepare meals, nourish others, and use food as a blessing, I am being just like my Dad.
One example is when God made some leather outfits for Adam and Eve:
Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. - Genesis 3:21 NKJV
God made garments. He clothed them. That’s sewing! And His craftsmanship? Unmatched. Just consider the detailed instructions He gave for the priestly garments in Exodus 28 – 31! Astounding in their precision, uniqueness and beauty. And when I sew, I reflect that same creative impulse, however small my expression may be.
That is the cloth from which I am cut. I am deeply blessed and endlessly delighted to know this.
I was born again in 2010, but my journey really began years before that.
As far back as high school, I carried a deep sense that something was missing. I used to feel like I was searching for something and I was just not finding it. It wasn’t something I could grasp or easily explain, but it stayed with me—persistent and unrelenting. I felt like I was searching for something, yet I couldn’t quite grasp what it was.
Having grown up in a Christian home, I had seen my mum’s relationship with God. That inspired me to search for the same. I started going to church more and reading my Bible more. Deep down, I believed the missing link lay somewhere in those pages. And yet, I still couldn’t find it. One day, I came across a passage that perfectly captured what I was feeling:
All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him. I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him... - Song of Solomon 3:1-4 NIV
I was elated! This truly expressed the feeling I had been carrying. I was looking for something precious but it eluded me. I had been looking for the One my heart loves but, try as I might, I couldn’t find Him.
The Night Everything Changed
Years passed. More than a decade after high school, maybe 12 or 13 years, I was still searching. I remember I used to attend Bible studies, church services, read my Bible and pray. Yet, I always felt I was missing something. Then, one night in 2010, I attended a Bible study. I remember feeling frustrated and disengaged, thinking, “I’ve heard all this before.”
Nonetheless, I stayed and I paid attention. Suddenly, something clicked!! Words I had heard countless times before suddenly took on a deeper meaning. The message of Jesus—why He came into the world, what He did—suddenly made sense. It wasn’t just information anymore. It was revelation.
The best way I can describe it is like I had been wrestling with a math problem. I knew the answer but I didn’t know how to work it out, how to arrive at the answer. Then suddenly, understanding dawned. I got it! I finally comprehended! On the way home, I cried tears of joy. I kept saying to my friend, “I get it! Something has happened—I get it now!”
On Fire… Then Fading
After that encounter, life felt different. Brighter. Full of purpose. I was on fire for Jesus and it was awesome. A new world of possibilities opened up to me. The world seemed brighter. I saw many changes in me, big and small. I was changed and I knew it. It changed how I spoke to people, how I saw the world, how I felt and how I lived. I served, volunteered, attended courses, and immersed myself in church life. I was hungry for God and consumed everything I could.
However, after a few years, I began to notice a pattern emerge…
I would go through seasons of fire and passionate living for Christ. Then that would wane and I would experience lukewarmth and dryness where fire once was. Then, something would stir me again – a word from God, a time at home with my prayerful mum, a bad thing happening to me, or a great thing happening to me.
I would awaken as though from some kind of slumber. My faith would receive a new lease on life and I would be on fire again. Yet, the cycle would repeat. While I never lost my faith, I wasn’t fruitful or growing. I knew there had to be more.
A Sign I Couldn’t Ignore
Around 2024, about 14 years since I got born again, I found myself in the same cycle as before. I was like the church in Laodicea. I was painfully aware of my state, perhaps not the full extent, but I knew something had to give. I was miserable, and my life was beginning to reflect the years of internal struggle. One day, I was on my way to do something that I knew I shouldn’t be doing. It was not bringing me closer to God but creating distance.
I was riding in a car and we passed a familiar corner near my home. I had seen it countless times before. But this time was different. A Charis Bible College sign jumped out at me. I was surprised. “Has that always been there? How have I never noticed it?” I quickly took out my phone to take a picture. I remember saying a quick prayer that the traffic light would stay red long enough for me to do so. It did and I happily took the picture.
However, I went on with my day and soon forgot all about it.
A Series of “Coincidences”
Not long after that, a friend asked me if I knew of a good Bible college. She was considering joining a Bible college to improve her faith and knowledge. So, I told her that I had recently seen one near my house. That something about it stood out to me. I also told her that I knew nothing about the college. So, I couldn’t recommend it one way or the other but it was worth looking into.
I sent her the picture I had and promised to also look into it. Then, I forgot about it again. This happened around mid-October 2024. The festive season came round and I visited my mum in Zimbabwe. We enjoyed watching faith programs together. One day, Andrew Wommack, one of the preachers we both enjoyed gave a teaching. At the end of the program, an advert came on. For Charis Bible College! That got my attention.
I had no idea that Andrew Wommack was the founder of the same college I had seen on that sign months earlier. I had yet another moment of thinking, “How come I had never seen this before?” I enjoyed watching Andrew’s sound teachings now and then but I had no idea up until that moment.
I shared with my mum how I had seen the Bible college in Johannesburg and how it had caught my interest. She encouraged me to reach out to them. This time, I didn’t miss the opportunity. I sent an email to Charis South Africa.
When God Confirms a Step
To our surprise, the very next day, Charis Bible College Zimbabwe reached out to my mum. I was in the garden and she came to me and asked, “Did you give that college my contact details?” “No. Why do you ask?” I responded. It turns out that they’d just invited her to an open day in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. We still don’t know how she got on their mailing list. Perhaps it’s because she’s a pastor who operates in the city. I figured it could only be God’s leading.
We registered and attended the open day on 24 January 2025. Even though we only made it to the evening session, it was powerful. The main speaker, Bongani Msibi, opened with a simple but profound statement:
“God brought you here tonight for a reason.”
I knew it was true, and when I later shared this with mummy, she said the same thing. That night, I decided I would enrol with Charis Bible College. And in March 2025, I did.
Not Perfect, But Purposeful
It has not been smooth sailing, but it has been full of God. After enrolling, I was on excited and on fire. Yet, due to both personal struggles and circumstances, it took nine months before I actually began my first lesson. I slipped back into familiar cycles.
As the year 2025 was drawing to a close, I asked God what I should focus on next. His response was gentle but clear—just one word: “Charis“. There was no condemnation in His voice. Just the love, patience, and guidance of a good and perfect Father.
My Father revealed to me that I rely on my feelings a lot, something He is now transforming. Not long after that, Andrew Wommack taught on the exact same thing. Through the teachings at Charis, I’ve begun to understand that my roots were not as deep as they needed to be. And so, I struggled in my walk with Christ. I wanted to operate in Jesus’ rest, but I was going about it the wrong way.
God is healing some deep-seated issues, such as feelings of unworthiness, people-pleasing and striving. He is changing how I see myself and others, not through effort, but through His work in me. I am rediscovering just how Faithful and True my Dad is.
See, the desire to attend a Bible college was planted in me when I first got saved. I wanted to grow in the Word and be effective in whatever God called me to do. Though I kept this desire in the back of my mind, Jesus never did.
He reminded me. He positioned me. He called me.
And I have seen Him do some amazing things in the 1.5 months I have been doing classes online.
I cannot wait to see and experience all He has for me. I am so excited for all that lies ahead!
iBloom for God 