HAROLD MAWELA

 ## The Forge of Faith: Escaping the Bloodless Gospel’s Embrace **Akasia, Pretoria — July 2025**   The winter air bites sharp as a *mamba*’s tooth here in Akasia. I sip rooibos tea on my porch, watching the *veld* shimmer gold under a brittle sun. On my phone, headlines scream: *“59 White South Africans Granted US Refugee Status!”* . Elsewhere, a viral clip shows a prophet in sequinned robes demanding a congregant’s salary “for angelic investment.” My chest tightens. *This*, friends, is the fruit of a **bloodless gospel**—a faith anaemic, diluted, divorced from the Cross’s terrible furnace. It whispers, *“Just believe,”* ignoring Christ’s roar: *“If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me!”* (Luke 9:23).   ### I. The Lukewarm Swamp: Where Truth Drowns   *“So, because you are lukewarm... I will spit you out of My mouth.”* (Revelation 3:16).   **Picture this:** Laodicea’s aqueducts, stagnant with...

## The Forge of the Unseen: Why Your Wilderness is God’s Workshop   *(First-Person Reflection from Akasia)*   The drought here in Akasia cracks the earth like a parched prayer. My garden—once vibrant—now whispers brown and brittle. Last week, as I hauled greywater to save a struggling lemon tree, I recalled the words of an elder: *“Ubumanzi bomoya bunikwa ngumoya”* (The dew of the Spirit is given by the Spirit). We ache for rain, but God aches for roots that dig deeper. **Preparation is not passivity. It is the sweat of obedience in a season of scarcity.**   ### I. The Rhythm of Readiness: Divine Drills in Daily Disruption   Scripture thunders: *“The horse is made ready for battle, but victory rests with the Lord”* (Proverbs 21:31). Yet South Africans know disruption like a familiar neighbour. Loadshedding plunges us into darkness. Potholes fracture our commutes. Unemployment gnaws at hope—32.9% nationally, 45.1% among youth . We groan, *“LORD, wh...

 ## The Basin Revolution: Where True Greatness Kneels   *(A Reflection on Mark 10:44 from the Soil of Mzansi)*   **Akasia, Pretoria**—Last Tuesday, I stood in a snaking queue at the Soshanguve mall. Pensioners clutched empty water containers. A toddler wailed as his mother counted rands for maize meal. On my phone, a notification flashed: *"Emperors Palace unveils R200 million VIP gaming suite with gold-leaf ceilings"* . Two South Africas. One grasping for crowns, the other begging for crumbs. And in this tension, Jesus whispers: *"Whoever wants to be first must be slave of all"* (Mark 10:44).   ### I. The Lie We’ve Laundered: Servanthood as Surrender   We’ve been poisoned by Pharaoh’s playbook. From colonial *baases* to post-democracy tenderpreneurs, our land confuses *dominance* with *greatness*. We praise presidents who ride in blue-light brigades, pastors demanding private jets, and CEOs hoarding millions while farmworkers sleep in tin sh...

 ## The Unshakeable Currency: When Faith Confronts Africa’s Mountains   **Akasia, Pretoria.** This morning, I watched mist cling to the Magaliesberg like a prayer shawl. My neighbour, Mama Ndlovu, met me at the gate—her son’s mining job vanished in a corporate downsizing. "They say *recession*," she spat the English word like a pip. "But God says *provider*." She marched to her shack singing *"Nkosi yam, ungadeli!"* (My Lord, don’t abandon me!). In her defiance, I saw it: **faith is the only currency that cashes Heaven’s checks when earthly banks collapse.**   ### I. The Anatomy of Faith: More Than Wishful Thinking   Scripture defines faith as "*confidence in what we hope for, assurance about what we do not see*" (Hebrews 11:1). Yet in our townships, faith is often reduced to *"name it, claim it"* theatrics or fatalistic resignation. Let’s dismantle both deceptions:   **A. Biblical Faith vs. Cultural Counterfeits**   - **Faith ≠ Pos...

 ## The Unhurried Harvest: Why Patience is the Soil Where God Grows Greatness   *(A Reflection from Akasia, Pretoria)* Brothers and sisters, let me confess: I pace my gate as Eskom’s load-shedding plunges Akasia into darkness—*again*. My phone battery bleeds out while a municipal billing queue snakes down Solomon Mahlangu Drive. We know waiting in bones weary with delay. Yet Scripture thunders: *"Let patience have her perfect work"* (James 1:4) . Not a passive pause, but an active incubation—a divine agriculture where God grows nations in the unseen. ### I. The Cultivation of the Unseen: When God’s Clock Confounds Our Calendars   South Africa understands sowing without quick reaping. My grandfather buried maize seeds in drought-cracked Limpopo soil, praying over empty fields. Abraham did the same—*"having patiently endured, he obtained the promise"* (Hebrews 6:15) . Twenty-five years Abraham waited for Isaac! Yet that delay birthed nations. Modern prophets promi...

 ## The Unbreakable Pickaxe: Mining Eternal Wisdom in a Land of Fool's Gold   *(A Reflection from Akasia’s Dusty Streets)*   The July unrest still haunts us. I stood at the Mall of Africa, smelling acrid smoke as shattered glass rained like grotesque confetti. A young man, eyes hollow with hunger, clutched a stolen microwave. *"For my mother’s porridge,"* he rasped. In that moment, I didn’t see a looter—I saw Solomon’s ghost. A king who traded divine wisdom for Egyptian gold, until his kingdom splintered like our nation today . Scripture thunders: *"Wisdom is more precious than rubies"* (Proverbs 8:11) . Yet we’ve bartered her for the fool’s gold of political expediency, prosperity gospels, and TikTok theology.   ### I. The Weight of Wisdom: Solomon’s Lesson for Load-Shed Souls   Solomon’s request wasn’t pious ambition—it was desperation. *"I am but a little child,"* he confessed (1 Kings 3:7). In our context? Imagine a township mayor admitti...

 ## The Unbreakable Paradox: How Surrender Forges True Authority   *(A Reflection from Akasia)*   The morning sun paints the Magaliesberg in hues of burnt orange as I navigate the N1 highway’s symphony of minibus taxis and impatient SUVs. My knuckles whiten on the steering wheel—another day, another battle for control. *Control.* We South Africans understand this dance: scrambling for stability amid rolling blackouts, potholes deep enough to swallow hope, and political promises evaporating like morning mist over Hartbeespoort Dam. Yet, in this relentless grasp for dominion, Scripture whispers a scandalous truth: **"Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee" (James 4:7, AMP)** . True authority isn’t seized; it’s *received* through surrender.   ### I. The Illusion of Control & the African Soul   We wear independence like a badge of honor. "*Ubuntu*," we proclaim—"I am because we are"—yet our post-apartheid narrative champions indivi...

## The Forge of Faith: How Pressure Shapes Kingdom Warriors   *By Harold Mawela*   The predawn air bites my cheeks as I lace up my running shoes near Wonderpark Mall. Beyond my window, Akasia’s silhouette pulses with load-shedding darkness. My Bible lies open to James 1:3: "*...the testing of your faith produces perseverance*." This truth anchors me as I recall last month’s Wonderpark Road Race . At kilometer 30, my muscles screamed betrayal. Yet when I embraced the burn, something shifted—the agony became fuel. This is the paradox of pressure: **God uses what feels like destruction to forge unbreakable warriors.**   ### I. The Theology of the Anvil   **Divine pressure is never purposeless pain.** When Corlia, that third-grade teacher reeling from the minibus tragedy that killed 19 children, stood trembling before her grieving class, she asked the raw question: "*Is God wasting our pain?*" . Yet in her decision to teach Precept Bible studies, she ...

 ## The Unlocked Storehouse: How Generosity Breaks the Chains of Scarcity in a Land of Longing Here in Akasia, Pretoria, where the Highveld sun bakes the earth crimson and the smell of pap cooking over fire blends with the distant hum of the N1 highway, I’ve learned a truth etched deep into the soul of our land: **scarcity is a story we tell ourselves, but generosity is the song heaven sings over us.** Just last week, my neighbour, Thabo – a man whose hands bear the callouses of construction work and whose eyes hold the weariness of perpetual *"not enough"* – faced eviction. Rent unpaid, hope dwindling. The community WhatsApp group buzzed not with gossip, but with grace: *"R50 from me, brother." "I have maize meal, Thabo." "Bring the children, we eat tonight."* It wasn’t a grand solution, but a groundswell of *giving*. And you know what? By Friday, Thabo wasn’t just housed; he was standing taller, the crushing weight of isolation lifted by the co...

## The Focused Forge: How Laser Vision in Christ Multiplies Your Spiritual Force   **Akasia’s Awakening**   Eish, brothers and sisters! Just last Tuesday, I sat in my Pretoria study—load-shedding pitch-black outside—battling to finish this essay. My phone buzzed: *another* protest update from Braamfontein. My laptop flashed: *50% off* *Lottostar Powerball*. My mind whispered: *Check the rugby scores*. Distractions swarmed like mopani bees! Then, in that chaos, the Spirit thundered Proverbs 4:25: **"Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze straight before you."** . Instantly, I snapped my laptop shut. No more scattered sparks. Only laser fire.   ### Why Focus is Spiritual Warfare   South Africa’s soul is fractured—load-shedding blackouts, political *skandale*, economic *babelaas* (hangover). We scroll endlessly while Gaza burns and our Archbishop Thabo Makgoba pleads, *"Speak out!"* . Yet Christ didn’t say *"Glance at Me occasionally."* He ...

 ## The Fist in the Fog: When Prayer Becomes Power in Pretoria The thunder cracked over Akasia like God clearing His throat. Rain lashed my window, mimicking the drumbeat of worry many of us feel walking these Tshwane streets. Just yesterday, news broke – another brazen cash-in-transit heist on the N1, sirens wailing like wounded beasts. Corruption scandals flicker across our screens like persistent power surges during Eskom’s finest load-shedding hour. Sometimes, the spiritual fog over this city feels as thick as the winter mist clinging to the Magaliesberg. You feel it, don't you? That subtle pressure, that whispered lie: *"What difference can you possibly make?"* My friend, let me tell you about the difference forged on your knees. James 5:16 isn't just pretty poetry; it's a divine declaration of war. **"The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."** Powerful – *dunamis* in Greek. The raw, explosive power that raised Lazarus and shook ...

 ## THE RELENTLESS TIDE: How Obedience Unleashes Heaven’s Chase   > *"No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly."*   > **— Psalm 84:11 (ESV)**    ### I. RAIN-SOAKED AKASIA: A MODERN ARK   Last Tuesday, as Gauteng’s skies bruised purple and the *June floods* raged in the Eastern Cape—killing 88 and displacing thousands —I stood at my window in The Orchards, Akasia. Rain lashed the jacarandas. Wonderpark Shopping Centre’s neon sign flickered like a distress signal. My mind replayed the news: *Minister Thembi Simelane assessing flood damage; Premier Ntuli touring collapsed bridges* . And I wondered: *When the waters rise, what floats a soul?*   I remembered Noah—not the cartoon version with smiling giraffes, but the man who *"walked uprightly"* when the world mocked. His ark wasn’t built in a day. It was hammered together by decades of *"yes, Lord"* while cynics scoffed. Today, our arks are built through: ...

 ## From Ashes to Anointing: How God Forges Platforms in the Fires of Our Pain The relentless Highveld sun beat down on the N1 highway as I white-knuckled the steering wheel, crawling past the Hammanskraal junction. Brake lights shimmered like a demonic necklace ahead—another crash? Load-shedding-induced traffic chaos? Or just the eternal Tshwane roadworks? My knuckles tightened. I’d left Akasia at dawn for a crucial ministry meeting in Midrand, yet here I sat, imprisoned in steel and frustration. An SMS buzzed: *"Stage 6 until midnight. Venue has no generator. Reschedule?"* My spirit sank. The platform I’d prepared for collapsed before I’d even spoken a word. In that sweltering metal coffin, 2 Corinthians 4:17 thundered in my spirit: *"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all"* . Light? Momentary? This felt like lead and eternity. Yet God whispered: *"This gridlock is your anvil, Harold. Your pain i...

 ## Resurrection Power for a Nation of Dry Bones: Breathing Life into South Africa’s Broken Dreams The dust of Akasia sticks to my sandals as I walk past the skeletal remains of another abandoned township project—corrugated iron curling like dead leaves, concrete foundations cracking into arid earth. It mirrors the dryness in my spirit last Tuesday, standing in Mamelodi beside Pastor Thando, gazing at his church’s half-built walls. "The funding dried up, bra Harold," he sighed, sweat mingling with dust on his forehead. "Just like our hope." Across our nation, I see valleys of dry bones: dreams deferred, justice buried, promises ossified. But I hear the Whisper: *"Son of man, can these bones live?"* . ### I. The Anatomy of Our Valley: South Africa’s Modern Graveyards We need no prophetic vision to see Ezekiel’s valley mirrored in our land. The statistics scream like a police siren in Mabopane: - **Political Graveyards:** Our 2024 elections birthed a fragile...