Ezra’s principles 2 Week 43, 2026

 So what is the second principle?

It is found in Ezr 8:16-17(ESV) Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of insight,   and sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphia, telling them what to say to Iddo and his brothers and the temple servants at the place Casiphia, namely, to send us ministers for the house of our God.

I see a long list of names, what principle are we to glean from here?

Delegation. Ezra could have left the company at the River Ahava to get the needed Levites himself, but chose rather to send others to do the work.

So what is to be gained by that? Are you unaware of the saying, “If you want something to be well done, do it yourself?” I have heard you say you had to take matters personal to get things well done at the hospital. Practice what you preach

 When you delegate you involve people in the work and they take ownership. It makes it a “we” thing and not a “them” matter. If you never delegate who will carry on after you? And how will they learn? But it isn’t just blind delegation. You must carefully choose who you delegate. Ezra went for leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of insight to help with the work. These are qualities to identify before delegating. Moses also delegated to men with such qualities in Ex 18:21(ESV)  Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs… I do delegate my brother.

Did you notice what happened in Act 6:3(ESV)?  Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. All the men they chose to solve a matter between Hebrews and Hellenists were all Hellenists! I know so because all seven had Greek names. Act 6:5(ESV) And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. That’s the kind of thing you get by delegating!

Some level of input by the person you delegate things to is inevitable, yet that may not make the person unfaithful by such inputs. In delegating what matters most is that the principles you gave must be followed. Never delegate without giving the person(s) clear principles to follow. The request was followed to the letter, and  seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom came forth. Ezra specified where they were to go - the place Casiphia, who they were to meet - Iddo and his brothers and the temple servants, and what the assignment was  - bring Levites. Once they followed that, the results were endorsed in Ezra’s time as well as in the apostles'. Act6:6(ESV) These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. Getting the flavour of the messenger is normal even in Christian service. Even when a prophet speaks expressly from God the accent of the prophet is heard. It does not make the prophecy fake. 

Ezra's principles Week 42, 2026

 I remember him primarily for his commitment to the teaching of the law - Ezr 7:10(ESV)  For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel - and am convinced that is the foundation of true leadership. Many of us have focused solely on this aspect of teaching and omitted other requirements. It is not enough that you have the word, the rhema, and is an acclaimed teacher of the word. Other skills are necessary to be added for excellence in ministry.

I am not interested in being a leader. Just being a believer is enough for me

Ah, no matter what you say there is someone who at some time looks at you and takes a cue from you. Besides, these principles help you in all aspects of living. Learn from Ezra three important practices for success as a person and a leader. One: Ezr 8:15(ESV)  I gathered them to the river that runs to Ahava, and there we camped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found there none of the sons of Levi. 

So what is the principle here?

Inventory.  We need to know how many are in our congregation, and so like the good shepherd we will be able to recognise if any is missing and search for them. The early church kept count. Act1:15(ESV)  In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120). Also see Act4:4(ESV):  But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. We also need to know the type of people we need for any work and determine if they are there with us. Moses who was before Ezra did so Num10:29(ESV) And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the LORD has promised good to Israel.”…“Please do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. Do you know your people’s trade? How can you pray well for them and teach them and deploy them in God’s service if not? We must also know the physical count of equipment and items God has blessed us to serve Him with 1Chr9:28(ESV) Some of them had charge of the utensils of service, for they were required to count them when they were brought in and taken out. 

Interesting. So what’s the second and third learning point?

We are not done with the first.  Checklist. It is very spiritual to have a checklist of what needs to be done before embarking on a journey or procedure, even an outreach. Like Ezra, at a set time before you start, get through the list personally to determine the readiness for the journey, outreach or process

Did Jesus Christ practise such things?

Of course. Lk 22:8, 11-12(ESV)  So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”  tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’  And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” Do likewise

Power in the Spoken Word Week 41, 2026

 I have many testimonies of the power of God, but the one that immediately comes to mind is that of my niece, my eldest sibling’s daughter. She was staying with me at that time, and one day, when I returned from the day’s activities, I found her lying down with blood on her mouth. I took her to the hospital, and she was admitted to the ward at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital. On the third day, she was fully unconscious. The deepest level of unconsciousness is when one is unresponsive to pain. I took a blood sample from her, and when the needle went in, there was no response at all. In addition, her condition was complicated by a clotting disorder - Disseminated Intravascular Coagulopathy - which manifests as persistent bleeding. When I took the blood sample, the site of puncture persisted in bleeding awhile. Several specialists were attending to her, and they came up with a diagnosis: meningococcaemia. The lead doctor called me aside and asked, “Is she your daughter?” “No,” I replied. “She is the daughter of our eldest.” “Call her parents,” he said. “Let her die before them, lest anyone think something else happened.” The doctors had given up! I opened the textbooks to read about the condition. In the textbook, it is written that it is a severe and life-threatening condition with poor prognosis even in the best of centres. This meant that even if we were in an American hospital, there was little hope of her survival.

All this while I had been acting as a doctor and not as a believer. I excused myself and went to look for a brother - Evangelist Chris Akosa. I told him the problem, and he agreed to come with me to pray for her. When we arrived, she was still lying unconscious with her eyes closed. Eze37:4-5(ESV)  Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. He then asked me to stand aside and began to declare the word of God to her. “Every system in this body: begin to align properly. Every biochemical function: work normally…” As he declared the word of God, she opened her eyes and looked around. I  was not told; it was all in my presence. Eze37:7-8(ESV) And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. He continued to declare the word of God to her, and she sat up. By now the entire ward was in pandemonium. Eze 37:9-10(ESV) Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Chris Akosa continued to declare the word of God, and she began to walk around. I have never seen anything like it before then, or after that time. There is power in the word of God. She was instantly healed and remained healed as the word of God was spoken forth. Heb 4:12(ESV)  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. This same person has completed her Masters’ degree 

Obi Okye is a consultant at UNTH Ituku Ozalla

A missed opportunity Week 40, 2026

 Mat 19:22(ESV)  When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. This passage reminds me about a chapter in the book “The Pursuit of God” by A.W. Tozer - The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing. In it he makes a distinction between holding wealth, people, and other blessings from God as a trust, or as our own possessions. Having a readiness to give them up at any time required by God who is the owner, and who entrusted it to our care. People with such a mindset do not possess the items (and those items do not possess them either). This man had those possessions and would not let go. He lost an opportunity.

But was Abraham not rich? He had a lot of wealth too - Gen24:34-35(ESV)   “I am Abraham's servant. The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys. How come Abraham did not lose his own opportunity?

It is true Abraham was rich. But did you notice even the servant acknowledges these things were given, and they were not acquisitions that held Abraham. He had already given the most precious blessing - Isaac - back to God. Hear David: “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. 1Chr29:14(ESV) If the rich young ruler practised this would he not have willing done as Jesus requested? You give up something to gain someone higher Php 3:7-8 (ESV) But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Which brings me to a puzzling thing: since the man stood to gain in this present life a hundred fold more what he was asked sell and give to the poor, why did Jesus allow him to go? Why not run after him and say “Wait up. There’s a hundredfold awaiting you if you give this up! Don’t go away.”  Mk10:30(ESV) Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. I wonder why He let him go.

Don’t wonder at all. When Peter and other disciples left all to follow Jesus their target and motivation was not money or material acquisitions. It was and ever is Jesus Christ Himself. Motivating people to come over to Jesus Christ to gain money is a wrong approach

What is wrong with that approach? I mean it is true isn’t it? A hundredfold does show up in this present life. He would have gained a disciple - and an eager one too.

Far from it. 1Tim6:5(GW)  and conflict between people whose corrupt minds have been robbed of the truth. They think that a godly life is a way to make a profit.You would have simply robbed him of the truth, confused him and further lost him by suggesting that. Mk4:19(ESV) And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. If you must follow Jesus into eternal life He and He alone must be your pursuit. 

The Rich Young Ruler Week 39, 2026

 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.Mk10:17-18(ESV)   Why did Jesus answer him that way? Is Jesus not God incarnate? I heard a man once cite this quotation as meaning Jesus acknowledged He is not God, also alluding to the idea that Jesus was imperfect.

On the contrary, Jesus is saying, “ Recognise who I am and know it is God speaking to you. I am God.” Unfortunately, he fails to grasp that and the next time addresses Jesus no longer as “Good Teacher” but simply as “Teacher”. Mk10:19-20(ESV) You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”

Now, how come Jesus asks him to keep the law to gain eternal life? Isn’t eternal life a gift from God through faith in Jesus? Is it that up until Jesus died the way was through obeying the law? I am confused…

No need to be. Jesus drew him in to see the impossibility of his thinking that by a good deed he would inherit everlasting life. He claimed to have obeyed all, but in making that request, Jesus makes him see he has not loved his neighbour as himself, which he claimed. Mt19:19-20(ESV)  Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Can’t you see Jesus pointed it out? Mk10:21(ESV) And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  Jesus knew fully well that trying to keep the commandments can save no one. To qualify for righteousness by the law, one must have always obeyed everything written in the law all through their lives. No one met that criterion. Gal 2:16 (ESV)  yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

So what exactly did Jesus say about the way he was supposed to gain eternal life?

The same way any other person today can gain eternal life. What was the last thing Jesus said to him? Mk10:21(ESV) ...and come, follow me.   

By following Jesus?

Exactly! All who truly follow Him eventually come to that conclusion. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Jn 6:68-69 (ESV)  

It is a great pity he went away, if only he truly understood Jesus. Why did Jesus let him go?

It seems he loved his money more than he wanted eternal life. Jesus will never force anyone

The River Week 38, 2026

 Eze47:1,2 The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side. It starts in trickles. With trickles, one may think it is not very important, that it can sustain nothing. Is your relationship with God like that? Is the flow from your altar coming in trickles? Here a little, there a little? A thin flow that makes no noise, heard only in the quietness? Sometimes it seems to break off and appears to stop, but keeps on. That trickle does not show you all of God’s plan. Keep at it - don’t stop. If you persist and persevere, that trickle will build up. Eze47:3 Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. God has great plans for you, unimagined yet by many.

It is the altar that initiates and sustains the flow. Keep feeding your relationship with God. Lev 6:12 The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. Every day present yourself a living sacrifice afresh. Have a practice of removing the ashes daily - ashes of yesterday’s success and yesterday’s mistakes and failures. Lev 6:10-11 he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and put them beside the altar. Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. When you keep the fire burning, God will see to it that the trickles don’t stop. When God calls for a new measurement, even more would have happened. Eze 47:4 Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. Never neglect that service point you have to serve the Lord. It is in the nature of great things to start out small. Mt 13:31-32“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”  Fan it into flame, stir it up. Nurture and keep using every opportunity. Keep doing it until every time we taste you, we get a taste of what God has put in you by grace. 2Tm1:6 For which cause I remind you to stir up the gift of God that is in you through the putting on of my hands. God is calling us to persist. Never be satisfied because the trickle has become ankle-deep, or waist-deep. Don’t stop then! The evidence you see of God’s hand is not the fullness of His plans for you. There’s more - much more. Eze 47:5 Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in… As you walk with Him, whatever you enter into will receive freshness. From you shall living trees be nurtured. Eze 47:9 wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. Walk consistently with Jesus Christ.

Promotional Interview Week 37, 2026

 I don’t enjoy exams - when I am the one being examined that is. Facing the paper while my mind manifests a slowness at opening drawers is something I dislike. I wish it were unnecessary. I have listened to the lectures and surely that should be enough, right? However examinations have a way of revealing what I did not realise. I thought I knew it but really I did not. Then the things I know become more solidly entrenched in me. Revealing what I truly know and strengthening it makes it worthwhile. What is your view of examinations?

God started it. Gen 1:3-4(GNB)  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. Right from creation He examines, interprets and intervenes. He also constantly examines us, not because He does not already know, but perhaps because He wants it to be manifest to the spirit world. One thing we can be sure is that after exam success comes promotion. So how does God test us? By exposing us to circumstances in which a choice is made. His interest is in what choice we make.

Consider the testing of Abraham Gen 22:2, 12(ESV)  He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” This led to God taking an oath - the first I see in the Bible to a man. This oath became a guarantee for all his descendants. Down to this generation. Do you want to have guarantees for your coming generations? Stand with God through tests. Let’s see some others: Dan 1:17(ESV)  As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Dan 3:18, 30(ESV)  But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.  

Why does God pass us through the test first? I believe it equips us to handle the blessing. It makes us empty ourselves of things, and helps us be at that point where it isn’t the blessing which occupies our minds or affections but He alone. So when next you pass through matters that make you have to choose remember God wants to promote you. Listen to this: Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, Rom 5:3-4(ESV).  Did you hear that? Endurance produces character! Another translation uses the term proven character. Lastly Heb12:7(ESV)  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? Heb12:10(ESV)  For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. We must experience this holiness. I have come to realise nothing else forms character. Not teachings, incentives, or simply praying or fasting. Not even laying on of hands and anointing by ministers, or going through deliverance. So when next a choice is before you, understand it is your promotional interview. Pass it!