SHAME to HONOR: A Journey Into The Father's Heart

By Charles Lambalika

"Shame to Honor is a very inspiring book that embodies Isaiah 61. This book will teach and show you in a real and simple way the path to salvation, freedom, restoration, redemption, faithfulness, joy, hope, faith, healing, deliverance, fulfilment of promises, destiny, love, and much more.  I have seen first hand the fruit of it in acti

• Language: English
• Publisher: THR3E 3RED AUSTRALIA
• Release date: Nov 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9780987361929

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

MY JOURNEY HOME

IINVITE you to journey with me through my walk of self-discovery in God. I hope my experience with God will encourage, inspire and bring healing to your heart.

I would like to say that an angel of the LORD appeared when I was born. This was not the case; in fact, the moment I was born I was stolen by the doctor, I was taken away from Mom! It wasn’t until my grandmother came to visit my mother at the hospital after my birth that it was discovered I was missing. My mother was not given the baby to hold after delivering. Consequently, mom assumed she had given birth to a stillborn baby. The following morning when my grandmother came to the hospital, she asked to see the newly born baby. But the baby was nowhere to be found.

Fearing the worst, grandmother asked for the baby’s remains so that the family could grieve and have a funeral ceremony. However, the hospital staff could not produce the remains either. No baby and no remains! What on earth was going on? My grandmother caused such a commotion in the hospital demanding that at least the body of the baby be given to the family. The entire hospital night staff was not permitted to leave by security as enquiries into the missing baby were being made.

After many hours of searching while grandmother was screaming at the hospital staff, baby Charles was found hidden in a basket under the doctor’s desk in her office. Apparently, at the period of my birth in Zambia, it was not uncommon for healthy, good looking babies to be stolen by doctors. The stolen babies would be sold off to rich couples struggling to have a baby of their own. My destiny could have been averted and sold into a purpose I was not born for.

The enemy is after God’s destiny on your life. If he cannot stop you, he will try to derail your path. He is a thief.

A thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, kill, and destroy. But my desire is to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—life in its fullness until you overflow! " ∼ John 10:10 (TPT).

This reminds me of Pharaoh the Egyptian king. He commanded that all Hebrew male babies be killed by the midwives. Had Pharaoh succeeded, baby Moses would have been killed at birth along with God’s purpose and destiny to lead Israel out of captivity (Exodus 1:22). The greatness within you is a threat to the enemy. The manifestation of Jesus in you destroys the works of the devil.

Remember when Herod demanded that all male children under the age of two years in the vicinity of Bethlehem be killed? ∼ Matthew 2:16. When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. The enemy was desperately trying to kill baby Jesus in a bid to hinder God’s purposes.

The enemy wanted to steal my destiny. I believe that in spite of all the challenges of my upbringing, I was right where God’s purposes for my life could be fostered. I could have been raised by a rich family that could afford to buy a stolen baby. Then I would not have the wife I have, the kids I have, the life I have and would certainly not be writing this book.

From one man, Adam, he made every man and woman and every race of humanity, and he spread us over all the earth. He sets the boundaries of people and nations, determining their appointed times in history. ∼ Acts 17:26 TPT

Thank God for my grandmother! Little did she know that this same baby about seventeen years later would lead her to salvation. Grandmother was the first family member I ever led to the Lord. I look forward to seeing her in heaven someday.

My story is the story of all of us. It is the story of stolen-but-recovered, lost-and-found. It is the story of Jesus and His redeeming love at work in you and me. In a way, we are all on a journey where the Father is transitioning us from pain to healing, brokenness to wholeness. The ultimate journey is from shame to honor and slavery to sonship.

We have all been invited to experience and encounter our heavenly Father in a much deeper and personal way. The Father’s love for you is deeper than the deepest of the oceans and higher than the highest of the heavens. This was Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:17-19 (TPT)

Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life, providing you with a secure foundation that grows and grows. Then, as your spiritual strength increases, you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement, beyond academic knowledge—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!

Come stroll with me as I walk to the Father’s house, into God’s own heart which is full of love and immeasurable grace. As we go I will share with you some foundational scriptures so that your hope will be anchored in the goodness and faithfulness of God.

You were born to walk through this life as Father God sees you. You were made in His image, God sees you as He sees Himself. Take a moment and think about this truth and let it sink in! You are a champion, victorious and the epitome of His creation. Consider this:

He raised us up with Christ the exalted One, and we ascended with him into the glorious perfection and authority of the heavenly realm, for we are now joined as one with Christ! ∼Ephesians 2:6 TPT

This should be your heart-truth; you need to synchronize your heart with God’s heart. Your mind needs to be renewed. Transformation begins by learning to see ourselves through the Father’s eyes. You cannot afford to see yourself any different to how God sees you. Let God’s truth be your heart truth. We have believed other people; I think it’s time to believe God for a change! Don’t you?

Most often we see ourselves through the lenses of our failures, mistakes and the voices of other people. In this life, your success is capped by the limitations you allow people to put on you and the lies you choose to believe. I say it is time to break free from every lie and limitation. Let’s pull down that unbreakable barrier which has kept us for so long from stepping into the fullness of the life God intended for us to have.

I can hear some of you saying, But you don’t know what I have been through. You are right! But I know the Father’s love and faithfulness. I am convinced that if He can mend my brokenness, He certainly can mend yours too. There is nothing the Father would not do for you. This means even giving up His one and only Son Jesus to give His life for yours. I am saying it this way because this is already a done-deal.

Now, if you may allow me to paint a practical illustration through my own life. The essence of a testimony is that whatever God has done before, He is able to do it again. Whatever He has done for someone else He can do for you.

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

∼ Deuteronomy 29:29 NIV

I mentioned earlier about my journey home, here it is! The word, home gives a sense of being and a feeling of belonging. Home is a place we all long for. This is a place we feel we belong. At home we are loved unconditionally and accepted without any reservations or pre-qualification. Home gives us a sense of who we are. Home gives us our identity and self-esteem. One can say that when we don’t have a place we call home, we have a limited sense of identity and security. Without home we have no roots. No matter how good the hospitality in a guest-house may be, we still look forward to going back home because home is where we belong. Anywhere else but home you will always feel like an outsider.

It is safe to say that you know who you are because you know where you come from. These are the age old questions: Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? In other words, where is home?

I thought I had this question figured out until one day when I was about thirteen-years old, my world came crashing down. It was the day I discovered that my father was actually my stepfather! My mother and my stepfather got married when I was about a year old. For some reason, they chose not to say anything to my brothers and I. Looking back now I respect my stepfather for being so honorable for my mother’s sake and playing his role quietly without ever saying anything.

At the time of this revelation my older brother was eighteen-years old. Because of our age difference, my brother and I lived very separate lives. Up until I was eight-years old, my older brother lived with my grandmother. That is not to say we did not have our own issues and moments. I guess it was some of these issues and moments which led me on a quest for answers. I didn’t know who I was or where I belonged. It was as though everything I knew about myself was suddenly a lie.

Growing up in our community my father was popularly known as the DDO (Daily Drinking Officer) as opposed to his official job title at the time, CAO or Civil Admin Officer at the Air Force base. I would be hard pressed to think of a day Dad wasn’t drunk. As a water technician, Dad’s job was to keep the base supplied with water, maintain and fix water pumps and make sure the water reservoir was full. This responsibility ensured households could cook, have showers and do their laundry. Most importantly, the mess hall had to have water to prepare food for all those hungry airmen and officers. The job required his constant attention and presence. What could possibly go wrong with the DDO in charge? The only exception to the rule was on pay-day when he would disappear and would not return home until every cent was spent. Sometimes, he would be gone for days. They called it Absent Without Official Leave, or AWOL.

As a young boy in primary school at the time, this meant I had to covertly step in and impeccably perform Dad’s duties without his superiors ever noticing he was AWOL for days. Once he had the machinery working it was over to me ∼ I did the job while Dad went drinking. When he returned home, the fights with Mom would begin. There were times he would come home on payday and give Mom money for food shopping. He would keep some money for the pub, after a few hours of drinking he would come back home and demand that Mom gives back the shopping money he gave her earlier.

The comical part about this is that at the end of his drinking day, Dad was unable to remember coming back home and forcefully taking back the money intended for our food. This would initiate another round of fights as he kicked and screamed, because his dinner plate only offered vegetables without any meat. He would be upset because all Mom could afford for the meal was vegetables.

The other kids would make fun of my dad ∼ the DDO who would get beaten up in the pub by their dads. To which my little heart responded with the need to vindicate myself. I trained avidly in martial arts and quickly earned a reputation as a kid not to be messed with. If my dad could not stand up for me then I would do it myself. It was not a very bad home but neither was it pleasant. Needless to say, we all developed our own unique survival skills and escape systems. My older brother left home at the age of eighteen and joined the army. He has made a career soldier of himself