And so it was, that right after the service, there was an announcement for a fellowship meeting to hold. Without thinking, I went to the section of the school hall arranged for the fellowship meeting. Till this day, I don’t know what was said or done, but I can recall that I found myself at the front, giving my heart to Christ alongside some other people. After that, it was like being the same person on the outside, but with the knowledge that something seemed to have changed but I couldn’t place a finger on it.
There was a feeling of contentment and satisfaction in me after this experience. I have always enjoyed having people around me but even with all that, I was never really close to anyone, as there was just some kind of fear that if you allow people too close, they would inevitably hurt you, so while having people around me, I kept them at arm’s length in my mind. It was therefore easy to observe after I gave my heart to Christ that I was no longer afraid of being hurt or betrayed. I just wanted to love everyone and to help everyone in all sincerity.
Of course, at home it was not so easy because I was the first to commit to Christ this way. My parents were, at the time, committed to the Anglican Church and although my siblings were not so interested in the Church, they nevertheless were hard on me for going the fanatic way. But I weathered the storms. In February of 1985, several of us (members of my dormitory) gathered together on the school field to pray during the siesta break.
We were led by one of the A’ level students who had just experienced something wonderful – the infilling of the Holy Spirit. We prayed and asked God to fill us with His Spirit and we received him and began to speak in other tongues. I remember that it was such an amazing experience that we did not want to stop. We went back to our dormitory and continued to pray; I remember that we prayed on and on till the housemistress came to drive us all out, to go for prep.
What a glorious day that was! From that time, the persecutions became so bearable that they almost did not exist. I spent more hours praying and enjoying fellowship with God that it was all I could do to get into other things in the day. This story can never be complete without talking about what this gospel has done for me: I remember reading so hard for my examinations and then by the time we were to start, I developed a fever, then it relapsed. I only suffered fevers like that every 4-5 years, as I had been an asthmatic patient and the attacks were incessant.
I had suffered over several years with migraine headaches, peptic ulcer and rheumatic pains but to have all these attack one’s body at the same time was almost unbearable. I sat for most of those examinations in the hall because I insisted, that I wanted to be with others, but I was always led to the sick bay afterwards. It was amazing how I insisted on writing the exams when, sometimes, i could not even see what I was writing; One of the teachers invigilating described then that I had written one line on another in a particular subject. It was so bad that the principal told my mum that, she should register me for the Nov/Dec GCE exams, as he was not sure about what I was able to write; I had even missed part of a practical exam and couldn’t really write one paper.
A glorious encounter was when my mum told me that I had to write the GCE exams, I felt like a complete failure; I recall feeling so sad one afternoon, like everything was over. I don’t recollect leaving the house or even locking the doors, I only recall that I was leaving a shop on the main street leading into the estate where we lived. It was a bookshop of some sort and I had picked up a book by the late Oral Roberts. It was a re-print and prior to that time, I had never been able to read a book that was a local re-print.
I found myself with the book in my hand, couldn’t even recollect paying for the book, I only realized where I was, when I was on the way back home. The book in my hand had an amazing title, “Don’t Give Up. ” I read the book as though my life depended on it and I was thoroughly blessed. But this beautiful encounter did not end like that.
The next day, I went back to the bookshop, because I wanted to get another book and I was shocked that it was not a bookshop; It was a spare parts shop. Nobody could even remember ever seeing a bookshop there. What a discovery. I had an encounter of the God kind!!! He ministered to me by himself, telling me not to give up.
So rather than give up, I prayed for some kind of miracle and I changed my expectation, to that of a miracle, and I got it. I passed my exams in an amazing way. After the encounter I had to ask God in prayer: “Lord, why did you really save me?” I recall hearing in my heart these words “I want you to show my love in a way that people have never known, so I have put within you the ability to love the most seemingly unlovable people in the world. ” And those words has shone a light in my heart, and it has been burning brighter, daily.
How true and important it is that, ‘knowing your calling is the first step to success. Knowing your assignment is the first step to accomplishing it. ’ I have found out that, with such great ease, I am able to love people, no matter who they are or where they are. It just flows and no matter what a person does, God’s love just overshadows and takes over.
As I went about sharing God’s love, the infirmities simply disappeared from my life. Today, it is still my joy to influence people with God’s love and to share that love with them and help them to understand him in a whole new dimension. Another glorious encounter, was my first encounter with Pastor Chris was in 1988 in Benin City, at a program, “Word Assembly. ” There we were, when Pastor ministered and at a particular time, the thoughts that came to me were in the exact words: ‘This just has to be Jesus.
’ At that same point in time, Pastor spoke of a recurring experience that the he’d had at many programs, when the people came to him afterwards to tell him that at some point during the program, they thought that it was Jesus ministering to them. At the end of the program, my friends and I gathered together to discuss the meeting and we asked ourselves to know what each person was thinking when Pastor said the thing about Jesus ministering and I was shocked! At that point, everyone was thinking the same thing: “It just has to be Jesus. ” For me, that was another encounter with Jesus, in that program in Benin City, Nigeria. I recall that, there was a particular ministration of the Spirit when Pastor made a call, for some people who just knew within them that they would be ministering to the sick etc.
to come out, to which I responded. One would have expected that he would have laid hands on us or something, but he didn’t. To my utter amazement, when I was in front of him, with my hands lifted up, he simply said to me, ‘Look into my eyes. ’ And there I was, looking into his eyes, but something was happening inside me, and the center of my palms were burning.
Pastor had called for the sick and they were standing out in front, then, Pastor said we should go to them and minister to them. It was awesome! The people fell under the power and got up, completely healed. There were testimonies all over the place. From that day till now, I have been winning souls and doing the things that the Lord wants me to do, through the power of his love.
I have so much more to say. Do visit this page often, because I will add more to my story. God bless you. .
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