Preordained Pathways

I remember the first time my Dad saw
me ministering at a crusade
I was holding a Bible in one hand and a
microphone in the other
The location was at Ojota motor park
Someone took pictures and posted them
on Facebook
My dad almost had a heart attack
He knew some of his folks and friends
in Nigeria are on Facebook
He had told all of them I was a successful
journalist (I was and that I sometimes
write movie scripts and also direct
movies)
The last time he was in Nigeria before
this time, he saw one of the movies
I produced and even took some copies
of the DVD to the USA to show off to
his friends
He felt something had gone terribly wrong
with me
He wrote me a message on Facebook
and on Whatsapp
He said “What is this that I am seeing?
Is this what you are now doing with
your life?
After millions worth of investment
including a private university education?
You want to end up waiting for people to
collect their salaries so that they can
send you tithe and offering like a beggar?
You want to live from hands to mouth in
the name of Jesus?
Look at your siblings, can you see how
they are living their lives and making me
proud?
I don’t even know what to say to you but
don’t assume that I am not dissappointed
You are an adult, you have a wife and
two boys, how do you propose to feed
them and cater to their needs?
Are you one of those men whose wife
would feed while grumbling and
complaining until they find a better
option and move on?
How can you resort to this?
If you need any help you ought to have
reached out to me or your siblings
We would have helped
I watch your wife on TV every day and
I am very proud of her but this…
Junior, I beg you to please
reconsider and get your life back on track”
I didn’t even know how to reply to him
My parents are highly educated people
My Father is a PhD holder
Everyone expected me to at least turn
out to be a professor
I was on track for that
It was my life ambition to win the
Nobel Prize for literature but God had
other plans
My mother had made a vow before I was
born and God took that vow very seriously
The more I tried to do other things, the
more frustrated and unproductive my life
was
My mother didn’t share my Father’s
opinion
She would always say “Do God’s
will, that is the only path that has been
laid before you
The tithe and offering thing was a bit
funny to me, at that time I wished my
father was right, that I was called to
be a pastor and that I was enabled to
collect tithes, offerings, seed, firstfruits,
and whatever else from people, but i
was not!
My walk with the Holy Spirit is unique,
he said “You must do this as I have
sent you.
Imitate no one, copy no one, walk with me
and I will give you all things as your
inheritance”
That particular crusade that my dad saw
me ministering at was not planned
The church invited a speaker who canceled
at the last minute
The pastor sent for me and said
“You will be the one ministering at this
crusade, go and prepare”
That was it
I was a worker under him (Not even a
minister) and I couldn’t argue
That was how I found myself on the
podium
The feedback from the crusade was
so mighty that I was made a minister in
the church the day after the crusade.
Not only that, people from everywhere
began to come for meetings where
I was invited or named the minister
Our local parish had a youth Sunday
that would be filled to overflow anytime
they put my name on the flyer
My wandering soul found rest
I was a goldfish thrown from an aquarium
into an ocean
This was my preordained path, of that
I had no doubt
My dad made calls, several calls to those
who could dissuade me from this path
He did it out of
love and i understood
He felt i was throwing away my potential
He reminded me of all the letters I wrote
to him as a teenager in which I promised
to achieve mighty feats in his lifetime
I was a big disappointment to him at
the time
This was 2017
Yesterday the Lord whispered to
me while i was studying the scriptures
He said, “Do you remember how you
got here?”
I began to cry
“Here” had many meanings but the
most profound to me was the number
of lives and destinies that the Holy Spirit
has touched within that time
Strangers who are now my brothers and
sisters in the faith
It wasn’t a church but it has birthed many
churches and ministries
It has changed the reality of thousands
and my siblings are all walking in power
and glory fearlessly
There had been no need that I ever slept
on or asked to be met in prayer ever!
The stone that was not cut by hand had
continued to grow and his reality is alive
in me
I am one of the beneficiaries of the
increase of His kingdom and the growth
has been endless and glorious
Today, my father is my best fan
Whenever he calls me, he will bless me
for hours, reminding me
the days of yore and how in his lifetime
I had fulfilled all the potentials he saw
in me as a teenager
He said “One of these days you will get
an honorary doctorate degree
I said, “I have turned down the offer of
one already!”
He said you will soon be driving cars
with your name on the number plate with
sirens etc and i said “I had turned that
down too”
Then he said “You are the first man of
God who I truly believe knows God and
is walking in his true power.
Do you know that when I pray I ask God
for grace to love and walk with Him as
you do?”
I just kept quiet
My father is no flatterer and I basked in
the euphoria of that moment joyfully.
Ministry is not for the fickle or the lazy, it
is not the easy way out for the unemployed
and those with the gift of the garb
They may deceive a few but their light
soon flickers out
Someone once told me that he can name
the sponsors of the ministry I have been
asked by the Lord to lead and I laughed
at the person’s ignorance
Today, the same person came to me
saying “There is something you know
that you didn’t teach me and I will like
to learn it”
No man can sponsor the gospel
To do a work you have not been called
to do because you saw others doing it
will most likely lead you into frustration
The oil will not flow and the bread will
be stale
This vineyard is the Lords, we must all
be labourers in it and we will be rewarded
as He so desires
Let us, therefore, work while it is yet day,
for the night is coming when no man
can work.
Take your eyes away from the gains and
the affluence, young minister, the cloth
does not the man make!
Dig deep your wells of the living water
and find true expression in the Holy Spirit’s
plan for your life
Be apt to teach, not the doctrine of men
or of any church but the heart of the father
Spend time alone with him, let his love
be the driving force of your life
You were born to produce the supernatural,
ease into this reality by putting on Christ
confidently
Soon, men will be testifying of your deeds
in Christ while giving glory to God
Remember, the gospel is the seed of
eternal life, preach it on every platform
If this is your preordained path, you will
thrive without taking advantage of people
as many have done to their peril.

I love you