Ilumination
Paying the Price of Faith
Sometimes I mumble words as I teach my class
Sometimes I slur my words
Sometimes I sleep off outrightly
The weight of the work is massive
For three days every week, I barely sleep
When I sleep, it is only for a few hours
I pray, I meditate, and navigate realms
I wish there was an easier way
I heard of ministers who do hours of prayer walk every day when I was still a Nepios and I felt they were just exaggerating these things
I didn’t know that the bigger the workload, the more hours you have to spend to keep it from crashing
A minister of the gospel must be a man or woman of prayer
There are many who just pray for the sake of praying
You can barely see the result of their labours in Christ because their prayers are not backed by any action of faith
They pray for hours and then go begging for bread
They lack knowledge and as such do not produce fruits because they didn’t mix their prayers with faith.
Faith is the action that produces the manifestation of whatever we ask for in the place of prayer
You can pray all you want, if you don’t have faith, it is all noise.
When I learned this some years ago, I asked God for a project that only faith can execute
Miracles, signs and wonders are the norm for us
The test of faith is greater works
The Lord said to me, “Build me a city”
I said, “Yes sir”
I knew it would be costly in many ways but the gains are worth it
I went into the project with my head first
My eyes were firmly shut
I was expecting to hear a din and a crash
Faith held me from crashing last year
We built in record time
It was awesome!
This year we continued…
We didn’t pick a small building
We picked a huge project
We started building in February
Resources were pouring out daily
I wonder till tomorrow where the resources were coming from but we never lacked resources to pay and we never owed anyone a penny
I prayed more, slept less
I prayed more, slept little
I prayed more and disregarded a lot of things happening all around me that ought to take my time and energy
I disregarded the distractions
I waded through the stormy waters
I cried when I ought to and yet I prayed
I prayed one morning until it felt as if I had stepped into a deep freezer
My knees buckled and my bones felt the chills all over
I wore all the winter jackets I could and as many jeans as I could
The cold was pouring forth from my core
It was neither sickness nor psychological
It lasted for two hours
Then everything became normal again
The weight I took into that realm dissolved
I was also being taught many things by the Lord at that same period
I took well to learning
Some of the lessons were tough
I lost some good friends over nothing
I gained some good insight into human behaviour and nature
I grew and yes, I made mistakes but I learned fromh them
Then a family friend called me and said, “Bro, what is the secret of the wonders I see you doing?”
I said, “The Holy Spirit”
He said “Hmmmm, that is not what I heard”
I said l, “What did you hear?”
He said, “Someone said your mother took you somewhere to do something for you, while you were still struggling and that was what led to this”
I said, “How many years have you known me sir?”
The friend said l, “Since 2008”
I said, “Where had my mother been since then?”
He said, “America”
I said, “When did she come to Nigeria?”
He said, “Last year”
I said l, “And you still brought this kind of story to me as something you heard?”
He said, “Ha, I just felt like making you know some of the things I have heard”
I said, “You are not my friend then, because you know the claim is impossible and yet you came asking me questions as if you wanted me to defend myself”
The friend kept quiet
It is only in this side of the world that people try to attribute spiritual success to “dark” powers
The Light of the Holy Spirit is not powerful enough in their imagination to bring about the manifestations of the sons of God
There has to be an underhanded deal going on somewhere…
No wonder Jesus said he hoped he would meet faith in the world
Even those who witnessed and ought to defend the truth willfully are entertaining thoughts that lies could be making sense
Jesus said, Blessed am I, if I am persecuted for the sake of the gospel
I have received the blessings please, I grow the more and shine the more in it
It is just a bit disappointing to see foolishness riding the horse of the wise
May God bless and keep my mother
She had laboured over me for years in the place of prayer
She is an inspiration to me when I go on my knees before the Lord
She prayed for 27 years nonstop over me until I became a born-again Christian
Several times her prayers made the difference for me between life and death and I knew it
She is still praying for me daily
Blessed indeed am I.
This Friday, we will resume Night of Glory (Physical meeting at Pneuma Assembly)
This will give every one of us an opportunity to worship together and grow in the things of the Spirit in practical terms
Our Global Night of Glory for GSWMI will still hold online every last Friday of the month
I am inviting you, especially to this meeting
I will be there with all the ministers and minstrels of GSWMI
We will do Christ in all His Glory
Hallelujah