TT 179

TIMES TODAY

Family confict to family purpose

My Pulpit Message Notes

Family confict to family purpose

Anyone who has been married longer than fve minutes knows that the worst conficts take place in families. Te fact is the closer we are the harder it is to get along.

- Confict is part and fact of our lives and it is a propellant/fuel for our relation ships.

- Confict does not have to leave a trail of destruction.

- Tere is always a greater purpose or service as we go through various conficts in life. I use the word propel / propellant in a very careful way because all of us are familiar with what propellants do for us. We use them all the time. We use them to come to church. We put fuel in our vehicles to get us where we want to be. Tat fuel had to allow a certain number of very well controlled explosions to take place in your engine. Tere are a number of explosions that go on every time you switch on your car and every time you drive, tiny explosions go on to allow the car to be propelled.

As long as they are controlled, everything is fne. You get from point a to b. But the moment an issue of uncontrolled / unmanaged propellants begin to mix, or they fnd themselves in the wrong part of your vehicle, that vehicle has a potential to become a bomb. And this is where most of us sufer because we don’t know how to handle confict. We don’t know how to handle this propellant. It could be used to help us, It could be used to heal us.

We don’t need to look very far to see what the bombs of confict have done in our society, especially since the global pandemic of the past two years.

Psychologists are now telling us that there are higher rates of suicides taking place, and these are mostly among young people/teens. Regardless of so cial economic status, we are looking at murder suicides reported in our media. Te majority of these are taking place in families. Siblings and parents are fght ing about property in and out of court and people are fghting over trivial and even traumatic matters. Some people are fghting just for the sake of fghting because that is all they know.

I heard a very sad story a few days ago reported in the news in Uganda. A family that has gone through separation, with the parents fghting over what is not very clear. And they decided to separate and the children were spending time with mom sometimes and with dad on other weeks. Te father decided to go and pick up his daughter from school a couple of days ago and found a boda boda that normally brings the child to school, ready to pick her up and take her home. And he meets the father of the child who says, you don’t need to be here, I’ve come to pick up my daughter to spend some time with me. Te boda boda guy because he doesn’t want to get in trouble with the mother, says, ‘let me call her and fnd out if this is okay.’ Te father of course gets very upset and says that is no business of yours,I am telling you that I am taking my daughter to spend some time with me. Te boda boda guy insists that ‘I don’t want to get in trouble with your wife, the mother of this child, so allow me to call her so this can be straightened out.’ Te next thing that happened is absolutely unbelievable. Tis man took a revolver, shot and killed the boda boda guy in front of everyone who was watch ing at the school. Tis is a bomb that has been in the making and perhaps is seating ready to explode in so many families across our world.

Sadly we are not providing steps in our churches to try to address this.

Tis says to us, the closer our relationships are, the higher the stakes are to try to resolve confict. Te problem is

we will probably fnd ourselves undergoing, or undertaking even more difcult levels of reaction and explosion in our society simply because we do not deal with confict.

I believe that the degree to which godly marriage and family really mat ter is the degree to which we will address conficts in our families.

Four ways God wants us to address conficts in our marriage

1. Establish the truth (Genesis 30)

Engage the players (Genesis 42)

Establish the truth (Genesis 30)

a. Identify the historic impacts have led to current conficts b. Have children become pawns in the confict?

c. The truth may hurt, but it’s necessary to help you.

Tis is a continuation of Genesis 29 where we read of two women / sis ters who are in confict. Tey lived in the same house, now they married the same man, Jacob, not because this is what Jacob wanted. He was tricked into marrying the older sister, Leah, and he really wanted to marry Rachael, the girl he had fallen in love with, and this was the one person that was closest to him. - Leah, the Bible says she was weaker, meaning not as good looking as her sister was. Because Jacob preferred Rachael, Leah knew that she had to do something to win the love and afection of her husband Jacob. She thought the only way she could do this, because she was the one who was having children before her sister, was to have as many children as possible.

- Unfortunately because of these tensions / conficts between husband and wife, between sister and sister, later on between mother and child, many seeds of sus picion and hatred were sown into this family and the generations that followed.

It was interesting that every time there was a fareup of this commotion /confict when a child was born, the child was given a name that had to do with what was going on at that particular time.

Most of us are used to the idea, know friends of ours from diferent eth nicities in this country who would name a child according to a time of year, a season, time of day etc. In this particular case Leah and Rachael, would name their children, especially their sons based on what was going on, based on the nature of the confict. Tis led to the children becom ing pawns in the relationship between mother and father.

Many children in these days are carrying the burden of internal sufering because of how their parents have treated or even named them.

My Pulpit Message Notes are extracted from the sermon preached at the Nairobi Baptist Church (NBC) Ngong Road on Sunday 27th November, 2022 Preacher: Reverend Kwame Rubadiri. Scripture: Genesis 30:1-14. Topic: Family confict to family purpose.

My Pulpit Message Notes

One of the things that was particularly painful about this experience es pecially about these two sisters is that nothing is said about this confict or dif fculty that was faced in the time before they got married. It was in this family setting, of this new relationships that suddenly pain got into the family.

Te rest of the book of Genesis to the end to the book have to deal with what goes on in this family and how confict was eventually resolved.

We are told seven chapters later that Israel i.e Jacob, loved Joseph more than his other sons because he had been born to him of his old age and he made an ornate robe for him and when the brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

Jacob got into the mix of adding to the pain of this confict by showing favouritism to one of his children. It led to an extreme and unimaginable conse quences, strife in the family.

Message to fathers

I think the greatest damage that any father can do, is not to recognise, or to af frm their children however many they have. I know that there are fathers who have had, or sired children before they got married and they are doing their best to take care of them, amen. Tere are those who have many children doing their best to take care of them, but only seem to support the ones who are doing well and neglect the ones who are struggling in life. One of the worst things a father can do to their children, sons, or daughters is to fail to be present in their lives and to fail to praise them when it is necessary.

Jacob failed to do all of these things except for one of his sons and he did it publicly. He showed that Joseph was not only his favourite son, his admired, desired son, he made sure that everyone else in the family knew it, sowing a deeper seed of pain and sufering. What he was doing, sadly, for his own family and sadly what many other families are doing today is that, he weaponised child hood.

Too many of our children grow up in a situation feeling as if, I am not quite appreciated/loved in this context. So they do their best, work their hardest to try and impress their parents.

Most parents don’t realise that the one person that really matters in a child’s life, even more than their parents and this is true for teenagers as well, is the opinion and the approval of their parents.

I know of teenagers especially in my line of work, would give up an hour, two days, a week with their friends to simply have the approval of their parents.

And if there are parents who feel that giving their children freedom and everything that they ask for, gadgets, being their friends, the best you can do and if you don’t take time to be present in their lives, you don’t take time to honour them, to praise them in some way, you are going to fnd yourself in the same boat that Jacob found himself.

Tis problem grew in the lives of the sons of Jacob. Te Bible re cords of how afer he had been given this robe, Joseph is sent by his father to go and check on his brothers and they see him, but because of this ingrown hatred that has been a part of their lives from the time that they were small children, they look at him and see him coming from a distance, and the thing that comes straight to their minds, his how to take this young man out.

Something has to have really broken in the life of an individual for you to decide that there is so much hatred to get to the point that you can conceive and actually decide that it would be a good idea to re move this person from the face of the earth is a serious problem of confict in this family.

Tese young men, decided, they didn’t carry out their initial plan, because big brother Reuben stepped in saying, let’s not kill him, Reuben’s idea was to rescue him and take him back to his father because he knew his father had a great and deep sense of afection for Joseph. But the brothers did something that I think is even worse, and they did this to their father. Te Bible says, that they took Joseph’s robe afer they had sold him into slav ery, they slaughtered and goat and dipped the robe in the blood and took the robe back to their father and said, “We found this,

examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.” Does this belong to your son? Tey don’t even call him brother. And he recognised it and said, yet it is my son’s. Some ferocious animal had devoured him and Joseph is surely torn to pieces, and Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.

Te relationship between Jacob, dad, and the rest of his sons, the ones who were ignored / not appreciated had eroded so much that they thought ab solutely nothing about fnding a way to deceive their father in the most painful way.

We never conceive or decide to ourselves that we are going to do some thing particularly painful, or cruel to someone who is a part of our families. Te sad part and I’m so glad that the Bible has this story in the Word of God is that this is where many of us live, especially if you come from big families, or what we now call extended family. Where it seems that certain children from certain backgrounds get a better attention, or maybe the parents have grown up or even lef the scene, the ones from this particular side of the family are the ones that are going to a better portion of the inheritance. We need to do something to stop it from happening.

We need to establish the fact that this is the world that we live in.

Tis is the issue that we must face. Tese are the problems and the sad fact of the matter is that when we go to church we look our best, or we do our best to look our best and we argue and have a huge blowout fght on our way to church even as a family and walk in smiling. Walk in looking like nothing is wrong. And if we don’t establish the truth we are not going to get very far on this matter.

Engage the players (Genesis 42)

a. The “parties” in a confict are real people b. Joseph’s pain and his brothers’ guilt had to meet head-on and each one had to take responsibility.

Now we fnd that Joseph has been sold into slavery in Egypt and far as Jacob is concerned, he is dead. Te brothers know that there is all likelihood that perhaps Joseph had died in Egypt, they have no idea where he had ended up and they don’t care up to this point.

It is important especially for those of us who are going through a difcult time of clashing to recognise and sadly and this is what our courts do, simply call them parties instead of recognising that they are human beings. I guess part of it is simply to put a distance between how people feel and not to deal with the pain that people are going through.

Tese young men in Genesis 42 recognised that Joseph had not died. Tey didn’t know this a that particular point. Te only person who rec ognised them when they came to Egypt to fnd bread was the brothers them selves and because they were being treated by this leader / governor of Egypt, they thought to themselves, we must have done something wrong. Tere must be something that we did in the past, something we did to our brother that has brought us to this point. And they said to one another, the Bible records, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. You saw how distressed he was and how he pleaded for his life, but we would not list and this is why distress has come upon us.

Now they move from the point of complete disinterest to what may have happened to their brother. To the point where now they begin to real ise that something is happening to them because of what they did to their brother.

Tey recognise that the experiences of their lives then had something to do with their behaviour many years before.

Tere may be some experiences that you and I are going through now that we think to ourselves, that maybe this would be diferent if I hadn’t treated so and so they way that I did. Or this would be very diferent if they hadn’t said what they did to injure my life.

My Pulpit Message Notes

Express the pain

a. What is your story? Have you told it to anyone?

b. What are the wounds that have never been healed?

As the players begin to engage and discuss what’s going on, it’s important when we are dealing with confict to be vulnerable, to be open and to say, this is ac tually what is happening and to say this is why I feel the way I do about you, or about this situation.

Too many of our families are trapped to being silent to one an other because they failed to trust one another.

Te one place to be completely free to ourselves, completely free to be open and safe is in our families. But when we begin to injure one another, to hold things against each other, when we begin to take action in hurtful way against one another we fnd ourselves losing our ability to work together?

So ask yourself, what is your story with respect to the confict that you may be dealing with? Why is it that you have never been healed? Why is it that there is still this nagging pain? And maybe it came from childhood, or from a more recent experience. Why does it still hurt?

Embracing purpose

a. Healing can only be secured if someone is prepared to forgive. b. Joseph went further than forgiveness by assuring his brothers and re minding them of God’s purpose.

Tere is a possibility of getting out of this situation.

We establish purpose because of what Joseph did afer his broth ers had hurt him / injured him so painfully.

Joseph pleaded with his brothers not to do anything to him. Te brothers confrmed that, yet they sold him. And he went into slavery, never thinking, or never expecting that someone from home will come to rescue him, that maybe his brothers will come to their senses and they will come to look for him. He ends up in Egypt all by himself with a foreigner, in a foreign space and he is a slave and through the wonderful acts of God in his life he rises to the position of second most powerful person in Egypt. And having reached out to his brothers, having asked for their forgiveness and indeed having forgiven them, and they recognising that this is indeed their brother Joseph, Joseph says something to them that put’s all of this into perspective. Something that you and I should discover. He says to them, Hurry back to my father and tell him this is what his son has said, “God has made me lord over all of Egypt. Come down to me, don’t delay. And he kissed his brothers and wept over them.”

Joseph had it in his power to imprison his brothers for the rest of their lives and never know that it was their brother. And yet he decided to take the direction of forgiveness.

He decided that what had happened to him was not as important as what God wanted to happen to the whole family.

Too many of us would probably put ourselves in the position of wanting to be vindicated, wanting everyone of us to pay for that hurt, desiring that they should know why they are sufering because of the way they caused us to sufer.

What Joseph did is a huge invitation to us to em brace purpose. Because Joseph saw the big picture - he said to

his brothers, “You intended this for harm, but God intended this for good.” You intended to kill me, but God took all of that sufering, confict, strife and He has put us on the trajectory not just of surviving, not just to overcome the pain of this famine that we are going through and not just so that we can go back and say that everything is all right now, we are healed, but so that through this family the purpose of God can be fulflled. Trough this family the Lord Jesus Christ could come, the line of Judah, one of Joseph’s brothers. Trough this line, Jesus of Nazareth, the Saviour of the world would come to this earth, pay for our sins and that Jesus gives us reason to live today.

If Joseph had decided, I am not going to forgive these wicked brothers of mine and deservedly so, could we safely say, maybe God could have found another say that we defnitely would have had the Lord Jesus Christ come through, this dysfunctional, hateful family?

All this is to say that no matter how bad your circumstances are in your relationships in your families, God has a better and bigger plan.

Despite all the pain that you may have gone through in this life, the pain that your own relatives inficted upon you, maybe your own parents, your own siblings, and despite how that pain is a part of your life today, God has a plan that will far outdo any of the problems and the pain that you have experi enced if you would allow him to take over.

Joseph is a powerful reminder to us of the signifcance of taking the frst step to forgive.

Joseph went further than forgiveness - as far as assuring his brothers. He said this is quite okay. God did this because He wanted to save all of us because He wanted all of us to experience His favour.

Challenge

Whatever confict your families have dealt with, or faced, would you be the frst one to forgive. Would you be the frst one to make a step to say we need to face this problem. We can’t allow this to move from our generation to our children.

Too many of us are raising children who have gone through a weaponised child hood and is not fair to them. It is not right that your burden becomes their burden and they live it for the generations to follow.

Purpose transcends pain. It is bigger than all the players involved and it gives the truth at the centre of every relationship because purpose will always shed light on confict and force us to deal with it.

Questions

1. Could you be the one to take the frst step to forgive in the area of con fict in your family?

2. Could it be that you are in this place today to hear the Holy Spirit say to you, enough is enough? It’s time for you and your family to heal and connect to the purpose of God?

My Life

How to get saved and spend eternity with God

His Love

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:16 (NASB)

My response

that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Romans 10:9-10 (NASB)

My prayer

Lord God Almighty, thank You for Your love for me. Tank You that You sent Your Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins. Please forgive me for all the sins I have committed against You. I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He died on the cross and You raised Him from the dead on the third day. Please write my name in the Lamb’s book of life. Help me to live a life that is holy and pleasing unto You. In Jesus’ Name I pray and believe. Amen

My Devotional

The New Believer

By — Fleceia Comeaux, Houston Dash chaplain| www.sportsspectrum.com|

“Ten Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ Philip asked. ‘How can I,’ he said, ‘unless someone explains it to me?’ So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.” — Acts 8:30-31

In the Book of Acts, as the Church was being persecuted and scattered, Philip was sent to Samaria to proclaim the Good News. While there, an angel of the Lord told him to go south to the desert road. Tere he saw an Ethiopian man rid ing in a chariot, and soon the Spirit came with another message: “Go to that chariot and stay near it” (Acts 8:29). So Philip ran over and listened as the man inside read from the prophet Isaiah.

“’Do you understand what you are reading?’ Philip asked. ‘How can I,’ he said, ‘unless someone explains it to me?’ So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. … Te eunuch asked Phil ip, ‘Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’ Ten Philip began with that very passage of Scrip ture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said,

‘Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?’” — Acts 8:30-31, 34-36

God will position you so that you can position others. Like Philip and the Ethi opian, as soon as we turn our hearts to receive God’s truth, He sends someone to help us recognize it.

Are you following the signs to help others receive the truth they are seeking? I pray you are like Philip: walking in simple obedience, waiting as God uses you to lead others to Him.

— Fleceia Comeaux, Houston Dash chaplain

King’s Inspiration

Dont miss out on the joy

By William King | Email: kingwilliam189@gmail.com | image courtesy: iStock

Too ofen we say we’re going to enjoy life when we accomplish a goal, the chil dren are raised, get the promotion. Our joy is always in the future when we cross another fnish line. Te problem is, there’s always some reason we can’t be happy, something that upsets us.

Te key is to fnd joy in the journey. You’re not there yet, still waiting for things to improve, believing for that promise, but in the meantime you’re enjoying where you are while you’re on the way to where you’re going. If you’re so fo cused on the fnish line, what’s not working out, you’ll miss the beauty of this day.

You’ll be too busy to play, be unhappy with other people’s faws, hate putting up with a cranky coworker, miss much of your life rushing to the next thing. Te enemy would love to deceive us into enduring life but not enjoying life. Having a house, job, but always having some reason we’re not happy.

Try a diferent approach. If you have the right perspective, you’ll fnd joy in the journey. Look at all the good things in your life

right now. Don’t take for granted the people God has given you to love. Tey may not be perfect but neither are you. Some people would love to have a work place.

What we ofen see as common is really uncommon. What we think is ordinary is really extraordinary. Te apostle Paul says, “Whatever things are wholesome, pure, of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think contin ually on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

It’s signifcant he used the word “if”. “If there be any virtue.” He was saying you have to look for the good in your friends, workplace, home, in that difculty. How many times on your journey are we not recognizing what God is doing and what He has given to us.

We’re so caught up in the stress of the day that we don’t see how God is sustaining us. You have to look past all the wrongs and see all the rights. My prayer is, “God, open our eyes to see the uncommon in today’s journey. Help us to appreciate the people You’ve given to us.”

Deliverance through assignment Wambui’s Refections

By Wambui | image courtesy: ark of greatness

1st Kings 16 : 29 - 34

A curse that came upon Israel that lead them into great bondage. Te people of God were ravaged and could not be delivered. Tis Curse could only be deliv ered through an assignment.

Certain revelations if adhered to and followed bring deliverance by themselves.

One can receive deliverance by either:..

1.) Trough someone rebuking the spirit.

2.) Another by learning the Truth which is the Word of God.

3.) Another by doing your assignment.

1st Kings 16 : 29 - 34_

Tis is the story of Ahab and Jezebel the then King of Israel.

AHAB

- - walked in the sins of Jereboham .

- - took Jezebel as his wife, she was the daughter of Eth - Baal... meaning they were idol worshippers of Baal

- - Rebelled against God by marrying out of Israel.

- - Jezebel killed Prophets of God and had even threatened Elijah with death.

- - Ahab worshipped Baal.

- - Ahab set up an Altar for Baal, he made a wooden image and did more to provoke God. Tis made God angry and in return the Lord cursed Israel as a Nation!

GIDEON

- - had to demolish the altars his father built.

- - he built the Lord an altar.

- - then only did God deliver them from a curse.

THE CONSEQUENCES

1st Kings 17

1.) Elijah was sent by God and he pronounced the Curse that was on Israel. He said there would be no rain until he Elijah says. Tis provoked great Famine in the land of Israel.

2.) When you are in a place where a Leader, a parent, a pastor, a company etc who sins against God..it will afect us even though

we did not commit the sin!

It is because of those in authority over us and they commit sin that makes us sufer the consequences....

Example : Kenya as a nation is under the curse of corruption that is why we are sufering the hight cost of living.

3.) Whether you are born again or not, there is a past you and I need to deal with. And there are signs that we are shown. For example you have money and are beautiful, but you are still single.

4.) Te whole nation of Israel became under the curse of famine. Meaning it afected everyone even those who were not related to Jezebel.

5.) Gideon was told until he destroys the evil altars of his father deliverance will not take place.

6.) We too need to demolish the evil Altars in our lives so that God can step in and set us totally free.

7.) Until Kenya deals with the altar of corruption and totally destroys it then Kenya cannot be totally set free and delivered as a nation.

8.) My family, my past, my country has something to do with what you and I are going through now. All this is as a result of faulty foundations.

Even the way you and I were born has something to do with what we are going through today.

Tree (3) major factors:..

1.) Efective casting out

2.) Being taught the Word of God and using it.

3.) By assignment

Conclusion:

May the Lord open our eyes to see and give us courage to obey His Word ...

Entrepreneur

Take a personal inventory: Where in life are you invested?

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave fve bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Ten he went on his journey” (Matthew 25:14-15).

What do you do better than 10,000 others? Where in life do you excel? How do you invest those assets to enrich the lives of others?

A simple acrostic guides my prayer for family and friends. It also reminds me of where I need continuing personal development. Te acrostic is SPIRE$. S

discipline you need to gain strength and to choose the right kinds of meals in the right measure.

God has blessed each of us with a measure of wealth in each of these areas. How well are we honoring him and serving others with what he has provided?

Tis is not an efort to impose guilt. You do not need to report your evaluation to anyone except those you ask for help or instruction. How can you move from where you are in each of these areas toward your personal highest and best? Who can help you get there?

Each of us has room to grow. Let’s grow in the right direction. Let’s live the kinds of lives where God will one day say to us what he says to the fve and two gold bag servants:

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faith ful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” (verse 23)

Take a moment and ponder your strongest strength and consider how you will build on it.

Take a few moments now and more time later to consider your personal asset map. On a scale of 1 - 5, with 5 representing the highest and best, rate yourself in each of these areas. For example, Spiritual: How up close and personal is your walk with God? How clearly do you hear his voice? How immedi ately do you obey what he tells you to do?

Let’s try one more. Financial: Do you earn all you can? Give all you can? Save all you can? Make wise fnancial decisions?

How can you use your stronger areas to serve your weaker areas? Again, an example is helpful. If you are strong relationally, how can you use that strength to connect with others who are strong in one of your weaker areas so that you can learn from them?

If you are strong fnancially, how can you use your resources to help you gain physical strength? One example would be to join a gym and hire a coach who can help you develop the physical

Take another moment and consider your most signifcant weakness. Is it a crit ical weakness that could sink your battleship? If so, get the help you need im mediately. If not, add self-discipline and wise instruction in this area while also strengthening your greatest strengths.

Do more of what you do best without allowing anything you do not excel in to hinder you. Tis is how you position yourself day by day to honor God and serve others. Tis is how you can pray for yourself and others.

Our Father, thank you for blessing me more abundantly than I deserve. Empower me to use the strengths you have given me to accomplish your purpose. Strengthen my strengths. Give me in creasing vitality in those areas where I am not as strong as I can be by your grace and in my self-discipline. Empower me to live the kind of life that helps people see how good you are and experience it for themselves. Amen.

www.biblicalleadership.com | ByDavid Bowman | image credit: istock

My Health

High amounts of salty, processed foods could double stress levels, study fnds

While the physical efects of excess salt intake are well documented, scientists have yet to understand how high salt consumption impacts emotional well-being.

A recent European study showed that a salt-rich diet can double the peak stress response in mice. Researchers are also looking into how high salt intake may induce anxiety and aggression.

Tey hope to see governments and food manufacturers collaborate to reduce salt in processed foods.

Salt is known to improve the taste of many foods, which may tempt consumers to buy more processed, salt-laden products. Common processed foods include commercially packaged bread, cereals, deli meats, soups, cheese, and instant noodles.

Increasing evidence shows that too much salt in the diet can wreak havoc on the body’s cardiovascular and renal systems.

Recently, scientists at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland theorized that high salt consumption might also impose stress on the brain. Te results from the experiment showed that high salt intake could elevate stress hormone production.

Te study linked the consumption of large amounts of salt-rich food to the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the body’s stress response system. Te researchers also noticed a high-salt diet led to increases in glucocorticoids, naturally occurring hormones that help regulate stress response

and cardiovascular, cognitive, immune, and metabolic functions. Matthew Bailey, Ph.D., lead author of the study and professor of renal physi ology at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Cardiovascular Science, told Medical News Today:

“We are what we eat, and understanding how high-salt food changes our mental health is an important step to improving well-being. We know that eating too much salt damages our heart, blood vessels, and kidneys. Tis study now tells us that high salt in our food also changes the way our brain handles stress.”

Te research team hopes that their work will encourage more public health pol icies that promote the reduction of salt in processed foods.

Te fndings appear in Cardiovascular Research.

Salt consumption is above healthy levels

Sodium is an essential element that helps regulate the movement of nutrients in and out of cells. Te human body requires only a small amount of sodium, which combines with chloride to make up common table salt.

www.medicalnewstloday.com | By Jeanna D. Smiley on November 22, 2022 — Fact checked by Anna Guildford, Ph.D.

My Health

Evangeline Mantzioris, a dietitian and program director of nutrition and food sciences at the University of South Australia, discussed the epidemic of high salt in an April 2022 podcast. She was not involved in the present study.

When we eat too much salt, Mantzioris explained: “It gets absorbed into our intestine and our blood […] It draws fuid into the blood vessels [and] increases the blood pressure against the blood vessel wall — and this is what we call high blood pressure.”

She added that aging and certain health conditions, including preeclampsia, low birth weight, and chronic kidney disease, can increase salt sensitivity. In turn, “our body is less able to deal with all the processes that it needs to keep healthy,” she noted.

Studying the stress-inducing effects of salt

Dr. Bailey and his colleagues tested their hypothesis on commercially sourced male mice. Tey fed the mice with either a control, low sodium diet or a highsalt diet.

Te researchers measured stress hormone levels in the morning and evening for up to 8 weeks. Tey took blood samples to assess the HPA axis response to stress.

Further, the scientists collected and analyzed tissue samples for genetic informa tion about the hypothalamus, liver, kidney, and heart.

Te study’s authors concluded that their research showed “functional evidence of a novel, direct connection between dietary salt intake and HPA axis activa tion.”

High salt intake led to high salt levels in the blood, a condition called hyperna tremia, as well as fuid imbalance. Although the rodents had free access to water, they experienced an “activation of a water conservation response.”

Te researchers proposed that a “high-salt diet is emerging as an important be havioral modifer, at least in rodents.”

Limitations of animal research

Tis study focused on male mice, which may limit extending some of the fnd ings to humans.

Te COVID-19 pandemic restricted research capabilities, so the authors could not examine salt intake and HPA activity in female mice.

“In humans, the amount of the hormone that appears in the urine is higher in people that eat more salt, and this is true in women and men,” Dr. Bailey said.

“ Tere is also evidence that this stress system (hypothalamic-pi tuitary-adrenal axis) shows sex-diferent response[s] to stress. In females, the rapid response is ofen larger, and over time, females have a higher risk of developing some types of stress-related psy chiatric disorders. My hypothesis is that the efect of salt would be

larger in females.”

Areas for future study

Te researchers believe that their work “warrants systematic investigation be cause detrimental changes in brain health in response to high dietary salt intake may have important real-world consequences.”

Dr. Bailey shared his plans for future trials:

“We are planning a study in healthy volunteers where we provide meals to con trol the amount of salt and ask individuals to undertake tasks such as prob lem-solving against the clock. We know that these tasks activate the stress sys tem: we can measure the hormone in saliva and heart rate.”

Reducing hidden salt in processed foods

Since excess salt presents an urgent health concern, Dr. Bailey hopes that gov ernments will champion the cause of reducing salt in processed foods.

“For most governments, this needs to be working with food manufacturers to reduce sodium content in staple food products […] Te strategies that have worked best have been collaborative partnerships to establish agreed time-de pendent targets for reduction, independently monitored.”

– Matthew Bailey, Ph.D., lead author of the study

Dr. Bailey also recommended replacing table salt with low-salt alternatives such as sodium chloride or potassium chloride. He cited recent studiesTrusted Source attesting to their efectiveness.

Still, not all salt may be bad for you, according to Mantzioris. Te dietitian main tained that the amount of table salt we sprinkle on our food is generally fne. But she warned that the salt danger lies hidden in ultra-processed foods.

“Rather than being concerned about what you might add in the cooking or at the table, have a closer look at the amount of salt that’s in the processed foods you purchase,” Mantzioris said.

My Kitchen

Lamb biryani

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/lamb-biryani

Ingredients

400g lamb neck, cut into small cubes

4 garlic cloves, grated

1 tbsp fnely grated ginger

1 tbsp sunfower oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp nigella seeds

1 tbsp Madras spice paste

200g basmati rice, rinsed well

8 curry leaves

400ml good-quality lamb or chicken stock

100g paneer, chopped

200g spinach, cooked and water squeezed out

To serve chopped coriander sliced green chillies plain yogurt

Method

STEP 1

Toss the lamb in a bowl with the garlic, ginger and a large pinch of salt. Marinate in the fridge overnight or for at least a couple of

hours.

STEP 2

Heat the oil in a casserole. Fry the lamb for 5-10 mins until starting to brown. Add the onion, cumin seeds and nigella seeds, and cook for 5 mins until starting to sofen. Stir in the curry paste, then cook for 1 min more. Scatter in the rice and curry leaves, then pour over the stock and bring to the boil. Meanwhile, heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.

STEP 3

Stir in the paneer, spinach and some seasoning. Cover the dish with a tight lid of foil, then put the lid on to ensure it’s well sealed. Cook in the oven for 20 mins, then leave to stand, covered, for 10 mins. Bring the dish to the table, remove the lid and foil, scatter with the coriander and chillies and serve with yogurt on the side.

My Sports

Clinical attack brings belief to Black Stars

It will go down as one of the most breathtaking contests of the Qatar 2022 group stage – a game of fuctuating fortunes, goals and near misses. A game that ended in a siege on Ghana’s goal and a series of gasps and shrieks from the Korean fans behind it as the close calls piled up.

Yet one of its most pertinent images was of a player, Ghana skipper Andre Ayew, calling for calm. Korea Republic had just cancelled out the Black Stars’ two-goal interval advantage through Cho Guesung’s quickfre double around the hour. Ghana defenders were in animated discussion. Yet Ayew picked up the ball and with his hand made that universal signal for calm.

A composed head with the belief that his team had the quality to still come out on top. “I believe in our ofensive potential,” he told FIFA+ aferwards. “When I see Jordan [Ayew], Inaki [Williams], [Mohammed] Kudus, myself, I know goals can come at any moment so I was very calm and very confdent.”

Ghana may be the lowest-ranked side at these fnals but the evidence of their opening two games is they know the way to goal.

Indeed, they have been impressively clinical. Against Korea Republic they scored from their frst two attempts. Each of their three attempts on target found the net. Where Korea had 21 attempts overall, Ghana had eight, just as in their frst game when they scored twice against Portugal.

It helps that, in matchwinner Kudus, they have a goalscorer with his eye in. Te attacking midfelder had struck Ghana’s second against Portugal. Here he got goals number two and three. His frst concluded a 31-pass move in which 10 players were involved.

In an interview with the Guardian before the tournament, Kudus gave a quote about Neymar which pointed to a player high on confdence. “He’s not better than me,” he was quoted as saying. “He’s just a higher profle play er, that’s all.”

Kudus scored four times for Ajax in this season’s UEFA Champi ons League group stage. Today he became the frst Ghanaian to score twice in a World Cup match, ensuring another frst – three goals from Ghana in a World Cup game for the frst time.

According to FIFA’s metrics, in Ghana’s game against Portugal only three players – Bernardo Silva, Daniel Amartey and Joao Cancelo – managed more ball progressions than Kudus’ four. Otto Addo, Ghana’s coach, said of Monday’s Player of the Match: “On and of the pitch he’s an extraordinary guy, a great character.

He’s fast and intelligent. He has to work more defensively but he’s on the right track to be a great player.”

At Education City Stadium, Kudus played with the Ayew brothers and, in front, the pacy Williams operating as the attacking spearhead. Williams, whose failure to connect with a cross inadvertently led to Kudus sweeping in the winner, mar velled aferwards at the spectacle both teams had produced.

He told FIFA+: “It was a constant to and fro. We didn’t stop, nor did they. We have players with a lot of quality up front. We’re very pleased as we are fnishing of our moves. Te coach asks us to get into the box and that makes everything easier.

“We have players with a lot of potential and we have to take advantage of our qualities and one of them is getting into the opposition box and fnishing of attacking moves.”

Yet if their attack is fring – and they have already scored as many goals as in their 2010 run to the quarter-fnals – Ghana also showed terrifc spirit in resist ing Korea’s late onslaught at the other end. Tey spent long spells defending deep against opponents who bombarded their box with crosses – 46 in all, 16 of them completed.

Centre-back Mohammed Salisu, scorer of the frst goal, made 15 clearances. Williams said: “ Te defenders were phenomenal. Tey cleared early every ball at the end there.” Skipper Ayew concurred: “It says there is a lot of team spirit, a lot of unity and we are ready to do anything to get these three points and we showed it.”

Ghana’s reward is that they are now frmly in contention for a place in the round of 16 entering their last Group H match against Uruguay, the nation who ended their run at South Africa 2010. Events on Monday ensured they will approach that game in buoyant mood.

Summing up a wonderful encounter, Ayew said: “It was great –great game, great feeling, great everything. I enjoyed it. We all en joyed it. We need to keep the spirit high, keep the devotion high and try to make things happen like we did today.

“It’s a hard tournament – you can see there are a lot of surprises, you can’t predict any game. It’s hard to predict. I am very happy and hopefully now we are in the race to get into the round of 16.”

The Times Today is a publication of Elizabeth Omondi Consultancy. P.O. Box 833-00100 GPO Nairobi. Tel: 0722 927792. www.elizabethomondiconsultancy.com

Christ is born

Times Today wishes all readers a joyous Christmas season.

May the good news of Jesus Chirst spread everywhere in our times today. The magazine will be on break throughout December 2022.