The Lord of the Sabbath

My name is Valentine, and I love the Lord. I was born into an SDA family—a family that dearly loves and adores the Lord. We treasured Sabbath days, looking forward to them as a watchman looks for the break of light, trying as much as possible to keep the day holy: not working on Sabbath and reserving it all for the Lord. Sabbaths have always been interesting and intimate. Not only do you meet the Lord on this beautiful day, but you also meet friends you haven’t seen the entire week due to a busy school schedule.

But to me, this eventually became more of a routine. My parents wanted me to go, so I would go. If they didn’t expect me to, then I might enjoy some good Saturday morning cartoons. The latter never happened—not on their watch! My parents tried their level best to bring me to Christ, as expected. Might it be that I never met the Lord? That I never had something to testify about?

Paul, on the way to Damascus, met Jesus, and he then says, “I speak of that which I have seen.” And the other apostles gave their witness.

John 3:11 (NKJV)

Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.

Or might it be that I was getting partial truth in church and therefore could not know Jesus fully? Pump me with knowledge about Jesus—something new, something exciting. Pump me with depth. Allow me to see Jesus through different lenses; then that will spark my interest to find Jesus beyond what I have heard. I have heard how Elijah killed the prophets of Baal several times in church, how John the Baptist preached repentance, clearing the way in the wilderness for Christ. Sometimes the sermons are so common that we think Jesus is common. Shock on you.

This testimony is not aimed at demeaning my church. By all means, I love our singing and our preaching—but something is missing: demonstration of power.

1 Corinthians 4:20 (NKJV)

For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.

I have always heard of tongues. This is where my testimony begins. The Sunday-goers (a reference to those attending church on Sunday) spoke tongues—“shikaraba”—and we thought, What is that? My church knew those were not tongues. We had been taught how to identify tongues! I mean—are you Kikuyu? Yes. Have you gone to Luhya land to spread the gospel? Yes. Is Luhya the only language they understand? Yes. Did you, out of nowhere, speak Luhya? Yes. Those are tongues.

That which you spoke, which you witnessed—those are tongues. And we ran with that narrative till this day as the present truth. Allow us to shock you: can a whole religion be wrong? Yes, it can. If that were impossible, Christ would never have been hanged on a tree.

Matthew 22:15 (NKJV)

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.

During my university days, I rested so much spiritually. I never attended Sabbath except when I was home. My Damascus moment had not yet arrived. Business was as usual. Years after campus, I met the Lord, and I started walking on a Christ-motivated path. It was at this point that I started seeking for more—more revelation, more wisdom, more knowledge.

I remember we formed a prayer group and would go to church to pray three times a week. It was during those times that I started asking questions like: Why is there no Holy Spirit here? Why are we not speaking in tongues? And the question of what we term tongues would emerge every now and then. I expressed my desire to operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which I believe are not present in the church—not because God isn’t present, but because we believe He doesn’t operate in that sense anymore. Talk of statutes and limitations.

This is why I believe the Holy Spirit is not absent in the church, but rather restrained. We have limited Him to the writings in the Bible and a beautiful song we sing every Sabbath: “May the Spirit of the Lord come down.” Yes, He does come. Actually, He is always present, but He works within the confines of our limitations.

Psalm 2:8 (NKJV)

Ask of Me, and I will give You

The nations for Your inheritance,

And the ends of the earth for Your possession.

Most of the time, we tend to criticize that which we know nothing of. Apostle Paul did the same until that rude awakening.

Acts 26:15 (NKJV)

So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’

I used to listen to many sermons about the Holy Spirit and how speaking in tongues activates other gifts like healing, and how you operate in other dimensions through speaking in tongues. That was interesting to me, and I really wanted to speak in tongues. I knew there was more to tongues than what meets the eye—or ear. I also wanted to know if “shikaraba” was tongues.

So I prayed to God, asking Him to bless me with tongues. I expected to be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues as on the day of Pentecost, but the Lord had different ideas. I remember this day when Pastor Vlad was praying for people to receive the gift of tongues, and I received by faith. He then said we should practice with a word that we know. So, out of faith, I said “shikaraba,” and my third shikaraba burst into deep, nonstop singing in tongues. I was so excited—how amazing that was, how real.

That is how I started speaking in tongues—transitioning from singing to full-blown speaking. But how can I tell my SDA friends that that which we knew, which we spoke about, laughed at, and criticized, is in fact tongues?

Now this is a motto I live by: before saying something is fake or not authentic, why don’t you ask God to prove Himself?

Judges 6:39 (NKJV)

Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.”

I wish to share this revelation with my friends, but right now they are not able to digest it. God will enable them someday to accept this truth: that the gift of tongues is the best thing that ever happened to us; that the entire church is edified by tongues; and that shikaraba is indeed tongues.

1 Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV)

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.