Kaiyaba primary school Head Teacher expresses her sincere thanks in her letter to Onfire Agape Ministries, after Rev. Dr. Samuel G. Ndungu's 2012 Kenya Mission Trip in her schoool:

Hi Dr Sam,
Blessed be our dear LORD.Hope this email will find you well.We at kaiyaba are well with the LORD being by our side all the time.I want to thank the On fire agape ministry for their good gesture shown to us through you.Your visit to kaiyaba had a great impact to the community and especially the pupils and we the teachers that is providing food which is very essential for 2 days.This has made parents to come and ask for vacancy to enrol their children which we find very challenging because of our facilities. Your ministry donated ksh 30,000 which was used to buy food and cooked lunch for 2 days.Also the school was shown christian videos which were so educative we had 500 pupils and 20 teachers and parents present.The school also benefited with a lap top from your ministry. We are also glad to tell you that soon we are going to have power through your ministry. We have done the wiring waiting for kplc to respond positively there has been a delay because the quotation given to us was very high.we are trying to find ways of how it can be reduced.There is so much to thank you and your ministry and more so GOD. send our sincere thanks to Goodwin Memorial Baptist church for there donation .Regards to all we miss seeing them
Bye BETTY
Cellphone no +254722126290
KAIYABA PRIMARY SCHOOL
P.O BOX 609
NJORO 20107
KENYA

Click the attachment below to read a copy the  letter from the Head Teacher's Email.

If you wish to financially support our Ministries and mission, Please send your donations to support us at: Onfire Agape Ministries, P.O. Box 411 Myerstown, PA 17067. Tel 717 644 7852. www.onfireagapeministries.org. You may also consider Onfire Agape Ministries in your will. 


OnFire Agape Ministries, Inc. is a section 501(c)(3) nonprofit , tax exempt organization. Donations and contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law 

Greetings in the name of Jesus!

    I returned recently to the United States from my fourth mission trip to Kenya. I had teamed up there once again with some of the staff members of Onfire Agape Ministries stationed there. We had a great time together, and I ‘m delighted to let you know about my trip.

      One of the unique things about Onfire Agape Ministries is that as an organization, it focuses on students in primary and secondary schools, introducing them to the Gospel while they are still young, and their minds still fresh, equipping and enabling them to learn what they will need when their turn comes for them to reach the lost. This endeavour is urgently needed in countries that still allow the Bible to be preached in the public schools, before they are also influenced by those who have denied their children the knowledge of their creator God by claiming the separation of church and the state.

       I arrived in Nairobi on January 14 2012, at around 8pm Kenyan time. The warm air heated by the hot equatorial climate felt wonderful after leaving the cold sub-zero temperatures of the North-Eastern United States. Kenya is a country of vibrant people, varied cultures, breath taking panoramas and prolific wildlife, yet sadly it’s story is also written in blood of colonialism, tribalism and genocide.

        I was received at the airport by some of the members of Onfire Agape Ministries. We immediately drove to the guest house they had booked for me, which was to be my place of residence during the mission trip. I was to spend the next 14 days meeting and working with the supporters of Kaiyaba primary school projects, and evangelizing in schools.

       We travelled to those schools through some of the most inaccessible roads in the Kenyan Rift Valley. We drove to the schools through pothole filled dirt roads, in and out of villages’ without churches, which strengthened our intentional resolve to continue evangelizing in those schools by all means available. The first school we Evangelized was Kaiyaba primary school, our main school of interest.

       Kaiyaba primary school is still in dire need. It is located 15 Km from Nakuru municipality. It is a coed school, and has an enrollment of 500 pupils, with two streams from standard one to eight. The school has faced many challenges, lacking basic resources like provision of classrooms, desks, water and toilet facilities among others.

1  Classrooms:  Most of the existing classrooms are mud houses, poorly situated both in the hot weather and in the rainy season. In the hot weather, the classes are filled with dust making it very difficult for the pupils to learn, and when it rains, they are flooded making them unusable.

2  Desks :  The school is in need of about 100 desks to bridge the existing gap. In many cases a desk meant for two children has to be occupied by up to five children.

3 Water:  The school needs clean  water for drinking and for cooking. The water the school currently has comes from rain harvested through rusted tin roofs which is very dangerous to the childrens' health and wellbeing.

4 Toilet facilities: The school needs good clean pit latrines. Some of the latrines have no doors, and many girls are embarrassed to share these latrines with boys, but they have no other choice.

       Life is also very difficult for the parents of the children of Kaiyaba primary school. To get their children to school is tough. They rise before the sun is up, in a house with no electricity. They carry water from long distances to bathe their children. The families often have no money for breakfast, and many parents must walk their children long distances to school before the 7am bell rings. The school report that by 11:30a.m, most children due to their empty stomachs, look too exhausted to continue with lessons whereas they are expected to go up to 4:10p.m.

     We were welcomed at Kaiyaba primary school by the Head Teacher who took us into her office to sign the visitor’s book. We gave her a laptop computer to be used by her students when the school gets electricity. Then we had lunch with all 500 hundred children in the school at the same time, for two days. This was not the feeding program that we had started, but we ate with them as a sign of our friendship, letting them know that they were not alone in their struggles, and that there were people willing to partner with them during their endeavour to get an education.

    After the children had eaten lunch, we evangelized to them using a Christian movie, which we repeated in the other schools. We had decided to tell them the story of God’s redemption through his servant Moses.

 The film showed how God used Moses to deliver the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt.

      The new King of Egypt learned that the children of Israel were of great service to the kingdom. This King ranked the children of Israel with the class of slaves who sold their flocks, their herds, their land, and themselves to the Kingdom. He therefore made their lives bitter with hard bondage. He commanded that the male children be killed as soon as they are born, and the women to work in the fields, as though they were slaves.

       When this cruel decree was in full force, Moses was born. His mother hid him as long as she could with any safety. When she could no longer do it, she prepared a little vessel of bulrushes, making it secure with pitch, that no water might enter the little ark. She then placed it at the edge of waters of the river Nile while the baby’s sister, with apparent indifference, watched to see what would happen to her little brother.

           The Angels directed the footsteps of pharaoh’s daughter  to the river, near the very spot where the innocent little Moses lay. Her attention was attracted to the little child, and she had compassion on him. She decided at once that the child should be her son, and called him Moses.

         The Pharaoh expected to exalt his adopted grandson to the throne. He educated Moses to stand at the head of the armies of Egypt and lead them to battle. Moses was a great favorite with Pharaoh’s host and was honored because he conducted warfare with superior skill and wisdom. But the Angels instructed Moses that God had chosen him to deliver the children of Israel from their bondage, which he eventually did.

     The children enjoyed the film till the end, and wanted us to continue coming back with other such films. Nearly all the children  raised their hands when we asked them whether they believed in the story of God's redemption of the children of Israel. We then explained to them that just as God had sent Moses to redeem the children of Israel, He loved the people in the world so much that many years later, about two thousand years ago, He also sent His beloved son Jesus Christ to the world to die in order to redeem the people who accepted and believed in Him from their sins that they had commited against God, so that they could have eternal life.

   It is not God's will that anyone should perish, and we appeal to you, the people of God to partner with us in spreading this message. Please pray for us that our mission may be successful,and that God's will be done through Onfire Agape Ministries.

If you wish to financially support our Ministries and mission, Please send your donations to support us at: Onfire Agape Ministries, P.O. Box 411 Myerstown, PA 17067. Tel 717 644 7852. www.onfireagapeministries.org


OnFire Agape Ministries, Inc. is a section 501(c)(3) nonprofit , tax exempt organization. Donations and contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law

     The head of state is usually the commander- in- chief in many nations today. But in Syria, sometimes within the Biblical times, this title was given to one of the King’s officers. The commander-in- chief of the Syrian army, although not the King himself was a great man. He was very brave and had often been victorious in battles. 

     There was, during that time, one commander-in- chief who especially on several  occasions when “by  him, the Lord had given deliverance to Syria.” The King thought a great deal of this commander-in-chief, and he was a universal favorite, for many a times he returned from the war in triumph, the hero of the people. His name was Naaman. But suddenly Naaman’s brilliant career was shadowed by a terrible disaster. 

      One day Naaman noticed a white spot somewhere on his skin. He must have been very startled, for it looked  so much like that dreaded disease, leprosy. After watching it for a few days, he saw that it had spread, and though probably he managed to hide it for a short time, it soon became known to everyone: “Naaman is a leper.” 

   If Naaman had been an Israelite, he would have been obliged to leave his home at once, and go forth without a city so that no one else might be defiled. But though this was not the law in Syria, the disease was the same. It put a stop to his public life, and would finally have caused his death.

    During one of Naaman’s campaigns, the Syrians had invaded the land of Israel, and among the captives, they had carried a way to Syria a little Israelite maiden who was given by Naaman to his wife. When this little slave girl heard that Naaman was a leper, she was greatly concerned.  She was evidently very fond of her master, and did so wish that something could be done to cure him.

        The little girl thought of her own land, and of the mighty prophet of who she had often heard before she was taken captive. She remembered how he had worked many miracles, and had actuall raised to life a little boy who had died suddenly of sun stroke. She felt sure that he would be able even to cure leprosy. So she said to her mistress, “ I do wish my Lord Naaman could go and see Elisha the prophet in Samaria for he would recover him of his leprosy.”

      Naaman’s wife eagerly questioned the little slave girl. Her words were repeated by one and another till everyone knew what she had said.  Naaman himself heard it, and one of the courtier told the King.

    The Syrians had never heard of such a thing as a man being cured of the dreadful disease, and it seemed too good to be to true that Naaman could recover. But though they scarcely believed it was possible, it was worth trying. Naaman was becoming much worse, the disease had made rapid progress, and already his flesh was being eaten a way.

    So the king decided that Naaman must go to the land of Israel at once. But instead of sending Naaman to the prophet himself, the King of Syria wrote a letter to the King of Israel. Naaman started off at once ,this time at the not head of an army, but with a few servants, and  a handsome present; and with the speed of a hungry cheetah after a prey in the Kenyan plains, they soon arrived at the palace of the king of Israel.

           The King of Israel was dismayed when he read the letter from the King of Syria,  and the startling message: “Behold I have sent Naaman my servant to you that you may recover him of his Leprosy.”

   The son of  Ahab and of the wicked Jezebel knew very little of the prophet’s power, not nearly as much as the little slave girl; but he did know that only the power of God could heal a leper, and he tore his clothes, exclaiming: “ Am I God to kill and to make alive?” He felt sure that the King of Syria only wanted to pick a quarrel with him.

     When Elisha the prophet heard that the Syrian Commander- in-chief had arrived, and that the King of Israel had torn his robes, he sent a word to him. “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will  know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

          Naaman was a very important personage in his own Country, and he was accustomed to being treated with great respect, and with much ceremony.  But he was as proud as a peacock; even though he had leprosy! 

     He did not mind driving in chariot to the prophet house, though  he expected that the prophet would be very proud to have a visit from such a great man, and that he would come out to him , and , calling upon the name of the Lord his God, would make a number of pass over him, and then would be cured.

   Naaman not only needed that his flesh should be become like the flesh of a little child, but that his heart should become like the flesh of a little child. God would not cure him till he was humble and Obedient.

        When Elisha sent out a message to him, and told him to go and wash in Jordan seven times, promising that then the flesh that had been eaten a way should come again, and he should be clean, Naaman was very angry, and rather than do such a thing was prepared to go home at once, in rage. He could not stand the very idea of the prophet asking him to go and dip in that little river ? The rivers , Abana and Pharphar that run through the city of Damascus were far greater.

        Fortunately Naaman had some wise  servants who succeeded in pacifying him. They went to him and said, “my father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then when he tells you, "wash and be cleansed!” (2 King 5: 13). Naaman allowed  him to be persuaded, and he started once more, this time towards the Jordan river.

     It was quite a journey to the Jordan, through the winding valley between the mountains. A number of the Israelites, may be, followed to see what would happen. Finally, the mountains and the valleys now lay behind, and Naaman found himself along the plains of river Jordan. The people formed a small crowd, and eagerly, they all watched as he descended from his chariot and entered the river.

     Naaman dipped himself in the water, and looked at his diseased flesh. No change, just the same! Again he dipped himself, and still again, but each time there was no improvement. Six times he came up just as when he had gone in the first, but the seventh time, oh joy, the leprosy was all gone! There was not a single trace of it left. His flesh was restored, and became clean like that of a young boy!

       What a different journey back to Samaria! How delighted they all felt! The charioteer whipped up the horses, and as quickly as possible they stood before the prophet’s house once more. Elisha came gladly to the door, this time, and listened to Naaman’s grateful thanks. “Now I know that the is no God in all the world except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant” (2 King 5: 15).

     It was very natural that Naaman should want to give Elisha a handsome present; but no, Elisha would not accept any payment from Him. The Prophet’s answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing”(2 King 6: 16).

     The reason why the Prophet refused to accept any gift from Naamam is very plain when we see  that the whole scene is a wonderful picture of sin, and it’s remedy. God’s salvation is absolutely free! It is  “without money and without price.” If Elisha had allowed Naaman to give him anything, he would have spoilt God’s picture.

      This is what Gehazi, his servant did afterwards. Gehazi thought it was a great pity that something had not been made out  of Naaman, and no sooner had Naaman got out of sight than Gehazi ran after him, and pretending to give him a message from Elisha, asked for money and garments. Naaman gave him twice as much as he had asked, and two changes of raiment. But Gehazi had spoilt the picture, and because of this, the leprosy of this, the leprosy of Naaman came upon him.

 “Where have you been, Gehazi?” Elisha asked. “You servant didn’t go anywhere,” Gehazi answered. But Elisha said to him, “was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flock, herds, or menservants and maidservants? Naaman’ leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever” (2 King 5: 25-27). Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s present and he was leprous, as white as snow.

       What rejoicing there were in Damascus when Naaman reached home! His wife and all the household were looking out for his arrival. Some of them it may be that some of them were watching on the roofs of their houses for the first sign of chariots, and how eagerly they greeted him! They hardly needed to ask: “are you healed? Did the prophet cure you?” His face and the faces of all the company mist have shown what had happened.

          We may be sure that one of the first things that Naaman did after he had had an audience with the King was to send for the little slave girl, and thank her. How she must have rejoiced to think that the few words she had spoken had such a result!

    Throughout the scripture leprosy is used as a picture of sin because of its corruption, its defilement, its contagion, and its fatal results. Naaman had all that his heart could wish, “but he was a leper”; and that spoilt everything. When he first went to Elisha, and was told that the remedy was such an easy thing, he said in anger, “ I thought the prophet would have done something very different; I thought there would have been important ceremony.” But his thoughts were all wrong. God says, “My thoughts  are not your thoughts, neither  your ways my ways.”

     Before we come to the Lord Jesus, we think all sorts of wrong thoughts about His ways of salvation, but when we have seen how He died on the cross to put a way our sins, and have accepted himself and His work, instead of saying, “I thought,” we can say, as Naaman did, “Now I know.”

     Many people think it is impossible to say, “I know I am saved; I know I am forgiven; I know I am healed.” Naaman did not think it was impossible. He had only to look at the place where leprosy had been, and he was quite certain that he was cured; but he did not feel any better until he had done what the prophet had told him.

      During the days of our Lord’s ministry, many lepers were cleansed. On one occasion, as  He was passing through Samaria and Galilee, and was about to enter into a certain village.Ten men that were lepers, who had been standing  “a far off,” because of the terrible disease called loudly to him, “Master, have mercy on us.” The Lord Jesus did not work instantaneous miracle, as they probably expected, and as Naamam had thought  Elisha would have done, but sent them to the priest.

         As the ten lepers went to the priest, the miracle took place. They felt they were healed. They looked at each other and saw no marks of the fatal disease. Nine of them hurried on eagerly to the priest, but one and only one, a despised Samaritan, felt he could not go a step further. He was compelled to return immediately to thank the one who had healed him. “with a loud voice he glorified God, and fell down on his face, giving Him thanks” (Luke 17: 15-16).

      Not merely was he the only one  out  of the ten  who gave thanks , so that the Lord asked, “Where are the nine?” The silence concerning the others who were healed is sadly suggestive.

        Every curse of sickness that was supposed to fall on you fell on Jesus instead, when the solders tied Him to the scourging post. What came on Him was not just the whip stripping the flesh off his back, but your sickness and diseases. He bore every one of those stripes, so that you can walk in divine health all the days of your life.

      The price has been paid so that you can rise up and get out of your afflictions. Have you accepted this very precious gift? If not yet, you could to accept it now “The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53: 5).

 Please send your donations to support us at: Onfire Agape Ministries, P.O. Box 411 Myerstown, PA 17067. Tel 717 644 7852.    www.onfireagapeministries.org
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     The conflict between the Israelites, and the Philistines continued even after David had taken refuge in the city of Ziklag in Philistine. The Philistines gathered all their forces against the Israelites, and marched towards Israel for attack. David wanted to join the Philistine army, but the commanders of the Philistine forces won’t let him for they didn’t trust him, and feared that he could turn against them during the battle. They said to their King, “He must not go with us into the battle, or he may turn against us during the fighting. How better could he regain his masters favor than by taking the heads of our own men?” (1 Samuel 29: 4).

     Many Israelites fell slain as the battle raged fiercely between them and the Philistines, and finally the Israelites fled. The Philistines pressed hard after King Saul and his sons, including Jonathan, and eventually they killed all his sons, and critically wounded Saul. When Saul saw that all his sons were dead, he committed suicide by falling on his sword rather than being captured alive by the Philistines. One of the men from the Israel camp saw what happened, and managed to get hold of King Saul’s crown before the Philistines did it, and was able to give it to David.

     In the course of time, David inquired of the Lord what he should do now that now he had  the King’s Crown. “Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?” he asked. The Lord said, “Go up.” David asked, “Where shall I go?” “To Hebron,” the Lord answered. So David went up to Hebron where he was anointed King over the house of Judah (2 Samuel 2: 1,2,4).

    When David came to the throne, he did not forget his love for Jonathan his friend, and after he had been reigning for sometimes, he begun to look around, and to inquire if there were any of his family left that he could be kind to for Jonathan’s sake. Yes, he was told, there  was one but he lived long off at Lodebar. This was the poor lame Mephibosheth.  

    When the news of Saul’s and Jonathan’s death came to their household, there was great alarm, and the nurse of Mephibosheth fled with him in her arms, for he was only five years old. But in their haste he fell, and was so badly hurt that he was lamed for life. Now he was a grown man, but he had never dared to come back for fear of David. Mephibosheth probably thought that since he was a grandson of King saul, David might suspect him of waiting to size the throne, and so he kept out of his way. How little  he knew of David’s kindness, and his love for his father.

      Lodebar like so many of the names in the Bible had a meaning which was very appropriate. Lodebar means the place of “no pasture.” There is probably much similarities between Lodebar and the Kenya’s Internally Displaced Peoples’(IDP) camps, where the survivors of the 2007 genocide, against the Agekuyu people of Kenya, are currently living in.

     The school age children are mostly affected. The schools they attend lack important health necessities such a adequate sanitation. The Schools  do not have water supply, and the children do not have enough latrines. The few latrines they had were semi-separated, and sometimes they were shared by both boys and girls. They lacked proper doors which meant locking from inside was uncommon. The girls were the most affected by this very  deplorable learning conditions. Experience showed that when girls reached puberty, they dropped out of School due to the embarrassment of having to share latrines with boys, or because the facilities did not give them privacy and dignity.

    David was not satisfied to have Mephibosheth so far away from him, and he sent to fetch him from lodebar. Mephibosheth had no idea what David wanted, and probably was very much afraid at the summons. When he heard David’s voice speaking so kindly to him, he was greatly surprised.

    David had not sent for him that he might put him in prison, but had called him to the palace to tell him that there was a place ready for him , and that  he would always find welcome there. Mephibosheth thought of his lameness, and felt that he was not fit to sit down at the King’s table, but David did not mind this, and would not take any refusal. Beside giving Mephibosheth a place at the royal table, David restored to him the property that had belonged to his father Jonathan. He also told Ziba, an old servant of his grandfather, Saul, that in the future he and his sons were to serve Mephibosheth. How glad Mephibosheth must have been to exchange Lodebar, the place of no pasture, for the King’s own palace, and a seat at the King’s own table!

    This picture story is only a faint picture of how the Lord Jesus treats those for whom He has loved so dearly. When the news of Saul’s and Jonathan’s death came to their house, the nurse of Mephibosheth fled with him in her arms, because of the fear of David who had taken the throne. They did not know the great love David had for Mephibosheth’s father Jonathan. This is how satan tries to deceive us and to make us want to get a way from the Lord Jesus, who is seeking to deliver us and make us happy. Mephibosheth was like a great many people now who are afraid of the Lord Jesus because they do not know how full of love  His heart is. We are afraid of Him because we do not know Him.

     Mephibosheth lived in a place called Lodebar, the place of “no pasture.” David sent to fetch  him from there. The Lord Jesus does not merely send to fetch us as David sent. The Lord Jesus came Himself to the place of no pasture “to seek and to save that which was lost,” and now He bid us welcome to His home.

      David told Mephibosheth that he might sit at his table “as one of the King’s sons,” but those who come to the lord Jesus are not merely like King’s sons, they actually become God’s children.  “Behold what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God: and such we are.”  “As many as received Him  to them gave the power to become the sons of God,” and “because you are sons, God sent the spirit of His son into our hearts, the spirit who calls out, ‘Abba ,Father,’ and has made you also a heir” (Galatians 4: 6,7). This was something David could not do for Mephobosheth despite his great desire to show kindness towards him. 

Please send your donations to support us at: Onfire Agape Ministries, P.O. Box 411 Myerstown, PA 17067. Tel 717 644 7852.    www.onfireagapeministries.org
                                         Or
You could help raise money for onfire Agape Ministries, Inc. every month without lifting a finger and you could save money in the process. Get started today: visit
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       One day while David and the little expeditionary force was absent from Ziklag, another enemy appeared on the

       When David and his men returned to find the city in ruins, and all their wives and sons and daughters gone, they were in great grief, and the men were quite inclined to blame David for the disaster. They even spoke of stoning him. Each one was bitter in spirit because of his  sons and daughters. But, “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30: 6).

         David knew where to go when in trouble, and he was not disappointed. He did not drink alcohol or take drugs to make himself feel better, but he told God all about his troubles and asked Him what he had better do. He had learned the great secret that we may go to God in prayers about the things that concern our daily life and that of our dear ones. So David definitely asked God two things:  Whether  he Should pursue after the troop, and whether he should  overtake them. God not only replied to David’s two questions, but added something more. ” Pursue them,” He answered. “ you will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue ” (1 Samuel 30: 8).

      David and his little band of followers  immediately started on their pursuit af

        The young man had taken part in the burning of Ziklag for he was a servant of  one of the Amalekites. He himself was an Egyptian who had been serving a very bad bad master who cared nothing for him, for when he fell ill, this master left him by the wayside to die. He  had been doing all he could to injure David, but how kindly David treated him! David was even willing to take him into his service then and there. David asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?”  There was one thing the young Egyptian wanted to know before he took service with David. Would David not only promise to spare his life, but swear to him that his old master should not get hold of him again. He said to David, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me, or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them” (1 Samuel 30:15).

      The young servant wanted to be free, and to have done with the Amalekite for ever. The old master had left him to die, and he was alive only because David had saved his life. He wanted the Amalekite to have nothing to say to him, that he should have no right over him any more, but to yield himself to David and serve him. He realized that he had gained nothing by the burning of ziklag, and all the other things he was so ashamed of.  But now, he had entered the service of God’s chosen King, whose service would bring nothing else but rewards, and his master would never tell him to do anything of which he would have to be ashamed.

      The Story goes on to show how the young Egyptian was really able to help David. He led the little band to the camp of the enemy, and they were able to overcome them and to recover all the captives that had been taken at the burning of Ziklag. “David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken including, his two wives. Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken”  (1 Samuel 30: 18-19).

        The young Egyptian is a picture of every unsaved sinner. “But God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” and even “when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to  Him through the death of His Son” (Roman 5: 8, 10).  

             Sin and Satan are very hard Masters. This is something the Internally Displaced People (IDP), those who survived the ginocide, who are living in extremely deplorable conditions in camps in Kenya know too well, and we could learn from them. Many of them were once well-to-do people in material things. Some were prosperous farmers, landlords, shop keepers, and successful traders within all occupations, who earned a lot of money due to their shrewdness and hard work. Some of them may have been deceived by Satan into thinking that there was security in money and material things,and they probably had little time to pursue spiritual matters. But Satan, using merciless enemies, in human form, struck without warning, seeking to destroy them with everything they had.

      The enemies were so determined to completely destroy them that  when they discovered that there were people hiding in a church, they set it on fire. Someone inside the now burning church tried to save a child by throwing  him,or her out through a window, but when the enemies saw the child, they grabbed him, and threw him back into the fire that engulfed the whole church, where he died a horrible death together with those who were trying to save him, and this was all because they were Kikuyu (or Agekuyu) people!

          Those who survived the nightmare have already realized that they could no longer put all their trust in material things of this world, and they want something more. They all need to hear from an evangelist (whom you could become, or help send to them), that “the lord is a refuge for the oppressed,and a stronghold in times of trouble” (psalm 9: 9); and that He has never forsaken those who trusted in Him.

      When we come to the Lord Jesus, we too change masters. He graciously set us free from the old master,  and  when we enter the service of the Lord Jesus, the old masters, sin and satan have no right to us any more. He no only forgives us, by his grace, for what we have done when we were His enemies, but He also take us in His service, and allows us to help Him in His work. And like a mother hen that spreads her wings over her chicks to protect them,  He will “cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge” (Psalm 91: 4).

Please send your donations to support us at: Onfire Agape Ministries, P.O. Box 411 Myerstown, PA 17067. Tel 717 644 7852.    www.onfireagapeministries.org
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     David had no time to rest after he had killed the great giant Goliath. He soon led the army of Israel in pursuit of the Philistines; and when they returned victorious from the battle, he became the hero of all the people. The people welcomed him home and celebrated his victory with music, and dancing and songs of praise. But King Saul became very angry at this, for he did not like to hear all these notes of triumph; and he grew more and more jealous when David’s exploits were compare with his own. He gave David a place at court, and  a command in the army, but hatred was in his heart.

       Prince Jonathan, Saul’s eldest son , was full of admiration and affection for David, despite his father’s hatred towards him. “The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David; and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” He “delighted much in David” (1samuel 18: 1; 19: 2) ; and David loved him too, for long afterwards, at the death of Jonathan, he sang a lamentation over and said: “Very pleasant has you been unto me: Your love  to me was wonderful” (2samuel 1: 26).

     Jonathan, unlike his father, had realized that the Lord had “brought a great salvation” through David (1Samuel 19:5), and so his heart was drawn toward his deliverer.He was quite willing for David to take the throne, and so he gave him his most precious possession; his sword. The Philistines had previously forced the children of Israel to give up all their swords, and only two remained in all the land. These two belonged to Saul and Jonathan, but Jonathan loved David so much that he was glad to give even this precious sword to him.

        When Saul saw how much his own son loved David, he hated David even more, and tried to kill him, and even Jonathan as well, because he stood up for David. On two occasions Saul threw  his spear at David. But David eluded him because “the Lord was with David but had left Saul” (1samuel 18: 12), and so Saul had no power to do him any harm.

       At last David saw that it would be better for him to leave the court, and so he went about from place to place hiding from Saul. In the first Book of Samuel we have an account of some of  his narrow escapes, for Saul pursued him and tried to get his people to betray him into his hands. “Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and kill David in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, ‘if you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.’ So Michal let David through a window, and he fled and escaped” (1 Samuel  19: 11-12).

    In the days when David used to feed his father’s flock in the fields of Bethlehem, he learned to know many safe hiding places, and probably he had long known the cave  of Adullam. Here he took his abode for a time, and when news spread, his family and a number of men joined him. They were the beginning of his army. Some of them were a strange recruits, for this is how they are described: “Everyone that was in distress and everyone that was in dept and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them” (1 Samuel 22: 2). He did not turn a way any of them for each one was welcome. There was no standard of size, they had to pass no medical examination.

       David recruits reminds us of the conditions of the children of Internally Displaced People (IDP) in Kenya and the challenged we face while trying to help them. Early this year during our mission trip to Kenya, we visited some of them in one of their school. The school was in deplorable condition, and the children were in distress. They had insufficient learning materials such as texts books meant for teaching, chalks, exercise books, and it goes without saying that they didn’t have any computer in the entire school. They seemed to have never heard of computers being used in teaching in schools while a computer is a key facility since the current world is technology oriented.

     The School also lacked other important basic health necessities such as a clean water supply. We had been fortunate to have friends in an organization that assisted disadvantaged people around the world, and when they heard the condition of the school and the children in Kenya, they offered to help them by sinking a well  or a borehole to provide them with clean drinking water. Inorder to get the job done,they needed to work with their sister organization there in Kenya.

        We were disturbed to learn that the leaders in the sister organization had refused to cooperate with us. At first they told us that it was too expensive to sink a well or a borehole in the school compound as the water in that area was too far underground beside having  a lots mineral salts which made the water unfit for drinking. They added that even after sinking a well or a borehole in that area, sometimes no water was found at all. But we soon learned that the community around the school have several wells and the water was quite good for drinking and was used for many other domestic purposes.  In fact the owners  of the wells have a good business selling that water to the other members of the community. When we gave these facts to the sister organization, they told our potential sponsors  that the wells we saw were dug in area where there was an underground river flow underneath, which was untrue. The project was been put on hold, while the children continued to suffer.

        The 34^th psalm was composed at the time when David was  a fugitive, freeing from Saul, and being joined by his recruits. It greatly adds to it’s interest when we think of the character of David’s audience in the cave of Adullam. At first about four hundred came to him there, but we read in 1 chronicles 12 that many others joined them,  “until it was a great host, like the host of God (v. 22).

        We hear nothing now about distress, depts., and discontents! Interactions with David and the training he gave them changed the first recruits into veteran soldiers. The description is wonderfully varied, and suggestive. Some excelled in the use of the bow, other could hurl stones with either right or left hand. They were “Men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the face of lion, and were as swift as the gazelles on the mountains” (v. 8), or in the East African plains. And all these learned to “keep rank” with one another.

     David’s story continue to reveal more pictures of our lord Jesus as He relates to his friends. Jonathan realized that the Lord had “brought a great salvation” through David and so his heart was drawn towards his deliverer. It is when we see what the Lord Jesus has done for us, when we understand that He brought a far greater deliverance than David brought for Israel, that we begin to love Him, and long to give him the first place in our lives.

       David in the cave of Adullam, receiving all the strange recruits is another  beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus, for these are the sort of people who flock to him. It is these things that make them want to come- distress, discontent and sin. Others feel the weight of their depts, they know they can never pay; and when they come, they find that He graciously welcomes them, heals their sorrow and pays their depts. He want us to come to him just as we are, if we have even such a faint desire for Him, just a feeling of discontent or a longing for rest and satisfaction.

          Nearly 2000 years ago the Lord Jesus looked into the faces of perhaps hundreds of little children on a hot middle Eastern afternoon.  Their faces, like the faces of the children of IDPs in Kenya, were dusty giggly, sad, tired, mischievous, but above all curious. They had one thing in common, they wanted to get closer to Jesus.

       The disciples were doing their best to keep them at bay, telling them and their parents that Jesus was very busy and He did not have  enough time right now to see all these kids. When the Lord Jesus saw what his disciples were doing, he was indignant and upset with disciples for keeping the children away from himself. His voice thundered out for all to hear, “let the children come to me and do not forbid them;  for such belong the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19: 14).

     And then they came perhaps running into his open arms, hugging him as he hugged them and picked them up. As the sun went down that evening, who knows how many little heads had the memory of the touch and grace of the Lord Jesus on their lives to bless them.The Lord Jesus also said: “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will not certainly lose his reward” (Matthew 11: 42).

    We would like to join hands with those who believe in the Lord Jesus, and let him use all of us together to help the children of the Internally Displaced People (IDP) in Kenya, so that they could became productive members of their society in future, like David's recruits when he  trained them, after they had joined him in the cave of Adullam.

Please send your donations to support us at: Onfire Agape Ministries, P.O. Box 411 Myerstown, PA 17067. Tel 717 644 7852.    www.onfireagapeministries.org
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        Many nations today are in enormous turmoil and so many disasters seem to be occuring within a very short space of time in all the continents, completely destroying the people’s  livelihood. Children seem to be affected the most by these tragedies. These disasters are both natural and human induced.

      In situation of  conflict induced displacements like the one that occurred in Kenya recently, schools have often been destroyed or damaged and school premises and teachers singled out for attack. Many children who survive these attacks usually end up living in the Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps. Most of the children there are Orphans whose parents have died during or after the attacks.

      In the IDP camps, schools which are often established by the IDPS themselves tend to be makeshift and only offer primary education. They lack everything including books, blackboards and even roofs. But the people keep encouraging the children to learn in any way they could because they all know that education is their only path to a successful future, and their only defense against hunger and poverty. Without access to education these orphans have little chance of raising their families out of poverty. It is  the  key  that opens many doors especially when it includes the word of God.

     The Bible is allowed to be taught in all theschool in Kenya including in these makeshift schools and the children are able to learn the word  of God. Prayers also play a very important role in inspiring the children to persevere. When the children read stories in the Bible and learn that there were people who overcame great odds against them through their believe in God, prayers and perseverance, they are encouraged to do the same, believing  that they too could overcome their difficulties through their faith in God. One of these stories is  of  shepherd boy from Israel , called David, who overcame a great giant with a sling and a small stone from the brook.

     The children of Israel wanted to have a King like the nations around them, but this was not God’s plan for them at that time. He was their King and He wanted to remain their one ruler. But He let them have their desire, and their first King seemed just like the one to be the leader of the Nation. He was such a fine handsome man, head and shoulders taller than anyone else! Saul was his name.

        Saul reigned for forty years. God often allowed the Israelites to be victorious over their enemies, but Saul was not a success. On several occasions, he disobeyed  God, who determined to choose a King “after His own heart.”

  “And Saul offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived and Saul went out to greet him” (1Samuel 13: 9-10) “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mishmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor. So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” “You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord  your God gave you: If you had, He would have established your Kingdom over Israel for all the time. But now your Kingdom will not endure; the lord has sought out a man “after his own heart” and appointed him leader of his people because you have not kept the  Lord’s command” (1Samuel 13: 11-14).

    The choice, this time was not according to the outward appearance. God looked at the heart, so he sent His servant Samuel the Prophet to Bethlehem, and told Him to anoint one of the sons of a man named Jesse. One by one they stood before Samuel, and as he looked at the God whispered again and again in his ear:  “No, not this one, this is not he.” At last seven sons had passed before Samuel, and he asked their father if he had no other son. “Yes,” said Jesse  “there is one more, but he is only a boy, and he is looking after the sheep.” “send and fetch him,” Said Samuel. So David the shepherd boy was sent for, and  immediately the prophet saw him, he knew that he was the chosen of God, and he anointed him before them all.

   God had watched David when he had been all alone with the sheep on the hillside, and he had listened when he was singing songs of praise and playing skillfully on his harp. God thus proclaimed him as the one who would reign as King of Israel, but the time had not yet come for God’s anointed to reign.

    Some years later after his anointing, David met in a single combat, Goliath, the great enemy of Israel. The two enemy armies were encamped on the mountain-side with a valley between them. In those days there were no guns and it was quite safe for them to pitch their tents within sight of one another. They did not need to dig trenches in which to hide.

      As they were waiting for the battle, there came out from the camp of the Philistines a great giant, more than nine feet high, fully armed with helmet of brass and a coat of mail; a very terrifying figure indeed.  He stood in the valley, and proclaimed in a loud voice so that the Israelites all a long the mountain-side could hear that he was ready to do battle with anyone they would send out to fight him.     Goliath stood and shouted to the rank of Israel, “Why do you come and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects, but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subject and serve us” (1 Samuel  17: 8-9).

     The Israelites were very much alarmed, for this continued for forty days. Every day Goliath came out and shouted his challenge. But there was no one to take the challenge, even Saul himself , Israel’s chosen king, was no good at all.

    One day Jesse sent his son David with a present to some of his soldier brothers who were in the army of Saul, and while he was talking with them, Goliath’s loud voice was heard. David asked what it meant, and made many inquiries as to what would be the reward of the man who slew the giant. When he  offered to go out and fight the giant, Saul thought he had undertaken a hopeless task; but he was really very glad that someone was willing to try to silence the Philistine.

      David knew where to look for help, and he told Saul that God had enabled him to overcome both a lion and a bear that had attacked one of the lambs of his flock. Saul was very anxious to array David in his own armor, and he was obliged to submit to it being tried on, but  it was soon off again. He did not want Saul’s helmet of brass; God would cover his head in the day of battle (Psalm 140: 7).

       And so David went out to meet the giant with his shepherd’s sling and  five smooth stones from the brook. The  bag into which he placed them had often used it to carry food for himself, and remedies for sick and wounded sheep, but now he put into it stones for the enemy.

     How eagerly the armies must have watched the two champions as they went forth to meet one another; the great Philistine giant and the young shepherd:

  ” Goliath looked at David over and saw that he was only a handsome boy and he despised him. He said to David, “Am I a dog that you come at with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his Gods” (1 Samuel 17: 42-45). David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and Javelin, but I come against you in the name of  the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, who you have defied. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give all of you into our hands” (1 Samuel 17: 45, 47).

    The God who Goliath defied guided the hand of David, and the stone from his sling hit Goliath on the temple, so that he fell on his face to the ground; and with Goliath’s own sword David cut of his head. David carried Goliath’s head to Jerusalem ( 1 Samuel 17: 54); here it would be buried and a mound raised over it, and it is supposed that the name given to this hill was gradually changed from Gal goliath to Golgotha, “ the place of a skull”- the skull of Israel’s great enemy in the time of  David.

    In this story, David himself in many ways is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus; as the anointed King, the good shepherd and the victorious deliverer. The anointing of David at Bethlehem reminds us of  the time when the Lord Jesus at his baptism was  anointed by the Holy spirit, who descended  upon Him in form of a dove, and a voice  out of heaven said: “This is my beloved son , in whom  I am well pleased.” God thus proclaimed that the Lord Jesus was the promised Messiah, the one who would reign upon the throne of David as King of  Israel, but in both cases the time had not yet come  for God’s anointed ton reign.

    In the gospels we read how the lord Jesus, immediately after His baptism, was led by the Holy spirit into the wilderness, that He might conquer Satan, the great enemy of His people. David met in a single combat, Goliath, the great enemy of Israel.  Goliath came out every day, for forty days and proclaimed in a loud voice that he was ready to do battle, reminding us that the Lord Jesus was forty days in the desert tempted of the devil.

        During the combat, David met the giant with his shepherd’s sling and five smooth stones from the brook. When the Lord went forth as His people’s champion to meet their great enemy, Satan, in a singe combat in the desert, His weapon was the word of God. “It is written” was hurled again and again at the tempter as He quoted three times from the book of Deuteronomy.

      Jesus clearly demonstrated to the Devil, in the desert, that words have power. It is therefore important to help the orphans and the children of the IDPS in Kenya to cling to their education,so that they could listen to the words of their Godly teachers who also taught them the word of God, and perhaps those words are the very thing they need to rescue themselves and their families in future.

      We learn that the stone from David’s sling hit Goliath on the temple, so that he fell on his face to the ground, and with Goliath’s own sword He cut off his head. Likewise the Lord Jesus went to the cross that “through death (Satan’s own sword) He might destroy him that has the power of death, that is the devil” (Heb 2: 14). This probably took place over the very same spot where the head of Goliath lay buried. The same hill far a way that had so long commemorated the victory of David, was to be where David’s greater son conquered a far greater enemy, crushed his head (Genesis 3: 15) and graciously brought a far more important deliverance than David had done! 

        Did you know that?

Please send your donations to support us at: Onfire Agape Ministries, P.O. Box 411 Myerstown, PA 17067. Tel 717 644 7852.    www.onfireagapeministries.org
                                         Or
You could help raise money for onfire Agape Ministries, Inc. every month without lifting a finger and you could save money in the process. Get started today: visit
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OnFire Agape Ministries, Inc. is a section 501(c)(3) nonprofit ,  tax exempt organization. Donations and contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law.