Book Review: How to sail through the storms of the year

The other day, as Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, faced a large gathering of worshippers in Ibadan, Oyo State, he related the secret of success in a world with its myriad of near-overpowering challenges.

He spoke on the second day of the New Year 2021, when many were worried about what the season had in its bosom after the exit of its deadly predecessor. His message was timely. For, as he dwelt on one of his sub-points, Seeking the lost, one soul at a time, Kumuyi declared that what gave Jesus Christ and His disciples resounding triumph in life and ministry was their philosophy of taking a day in its stride. They searched for a soul a day.

Kumuyi referred to the experience of one of Christ’s followers, Andrew. He said: ‘’Andrew sought and brought just one person to Christ. (Andrew didn’t) wait for a large crowd or a crusade, just reach out to one person at a time: a father, a mother, a friend, a relative, co-tenant etc.’’

Presenting this message so early in 2021, the pastor of Deeper Life Bible Church was simply saying that the key to unravelling the entrails of the year and profiting from them was to live a day at a time. And living that way simply means getting a firm grip on the day from its early hours. He advises, in effect, that we should start the year from the point of view days. Successes you record in a day lead you into weeks, which give you successful weeks that roll into successful months which come together to form a successful year.

But Kumuyi’s counsel isn’t void; it isn’t bereft of a practical compass. Yearly, for close to 30 years, he has released Daily Manna not only to strengthen his point that a good start earns you a prosperous end, but also to help you pick on what to meditate on as you set out into every new day.

In the 2021 edition, the assembly of articles is a mirror of society with instructions from the Bible that man can’t glide through the days of the year without hearing and taking notes from the Creator of the times and seasons.

You learn this from the first entry in the book on Friday, January 1, 2021.

It is aptly titled, Let Emmanuel Guide You. It proceeds from a United Nations report that our world welcomes 360000 newborns daily. Now, let’s see how the pastor extrapolates this information to relate it to what we make of 2021.

He says: “…As we begin a new year today, the same way some millions of newborns would be making it into a new world, we must remember that God sets the pace for new beginnings…He(God) went on to bring shape and comeliness into the planet. Vacuity and formlessness vanished. Desolation disappeared.”

Life sprang up…Nature sang songs to celebrate the great God Who brought them into being as His ‘Spirit… moved upon the face of the waters.’’

The Bible scholar’s conclusion is that marching into the New Year must be ‘’a walk with the Spirit of God Who can tide us over whatever the year holds in store.

The follower of Christ starts the first of the year with his Lord and stays with Him every moment all-year round and all his life.’’ Finally, there is a payoff Kumuyi suitably calls, Thought for the day: Begin the New Year with Emmanuel. It was Emmanuel Who spoke the universe and all the elements into creation. He orders their paths. He alone, therefore, can guide those who go to Him for deliverance from the consuming maelstrom and tumult of the times.

The entire piece is based on the Bible text of Genesis 1:1,2.

It’s the pattern for every passage for every day of the whole of 2021. A short excerpt from a book in the Holy Bible is offered to be read, followed by a key verse.

The pastor’s inspired comments, only a few hundreds of words, then come in tow. Still more: the man of God invites the reader to go through the whole Bible in a year. So he introduces a section, where if faithfully followed, one can peruse every word in the Book in 365 days.

Each write-up is a simple affair. The opening is usually profound. It is laden with contemporary, historical, scientific or cultural information which has a powerful bearing on the Bible text.

At other times, a quote, an anecdote or proverb is the connecting thread. Sometimes, the writer hits the ground running by turning to the Bible passage itself.

Either way, the reader never escapes the powerful message and fluidity of Kumuyi’s style, so well rendered in his sermons.

Some readers have spoken on how timely (prophetic) these writings have been. Written the previous year, the essays in the 2021 Daily Manna have ended up addressing events of the day, as if they were done after they were unfolded.

Pa Adesakin Olabode, an octogenarian living at Gbagada, is convinced that given this prognosticative feature of Kumuyi’s devotional, it should also read by those in government.

“Pastor Kumuyi and the publishers of Daily Manna,’’ Olabode says, ‘’should find a way of letting his book to be read by our rulers so they could benefit from its unassailable wisdom. I believe the society would be saved a lot of the heartache we’re experiencing as a nation if we all have access to the book.’’ Sister Omolara Odueke in Fagba, Iju, Lagos and Dr. Matthew Olajide Idowu of Omuaran, Kwara State, all agree with Olabode after years of reading Daily Manna.

Other commentators suggest that for wider readership and more positive impact on society, the book should be placed in hotel rooms and airport lobbies worldwide, starting with Nigeria.

I disagree that this is a farfetched idea. The publishers are encouraged to explore its feasibility.

These observers, like numerous others, are captivated by such titles as ‘’No longer a dark world’’, ‘’Knowing the Lord personally,’’ ‘’Why you should rejoice,’’ ‘’Vanity upon vanity,’’, ‘’Why evil occurs,’’ ‘’Sobriety in celebration,’’ God has something new for you’’ and ‘’Closing the last day of the year,’’ among others, all wearing the unimpeachable imprimatur of Pastor Kumuyi.

The book has a pleading cover asking you to come for a feast, a feast of the Word of God. The composite picture gives you physical food in the foreground. It leads you to the background where you have the real deal, the Bible, which is the Spiritual meal.

.Banji Ojewale is a writer in Ota, Ogun State.

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