Olaniyi Olanrewaju

My friend, I hope you have been able to pick up something from the lessons that I have shared concerning my experience in the last seven years. This is the last of the series before I move on to something quite interesting. This time I want to share with you how much books have helped me to chart my course in God. I became fully exposed to books when I became the librarian of my fellowship in 200L. I had to manage a lot of books and to be effective in the work, I needed to know something about the books in my care. I started reading books very much when I was in 200L, but I had read several books before that time. The first book I read after I became born again was a book written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye. I can't remember the title now. I also read a book written by an alumnus of OAU about the Holy Spirit. One afternoon, I wanted to buy a KJV bible when I saw a book that seemed to be the answer to my prayer. The title is "How to be led by the Spirit of God" by Kennet...

Giving testimony as a finalist (FYB) in my fellowship on campus- 2014 My life as a Christian has been a very exciting one. I started out without much physical guidance, but I somehow found mercy from God to start doing some things that I never knew were the right things to do. My religious mind perhaps, taught me to do some things consistently. After I gave my life to Christ, I made it a consistent thing to pray for 30 minutes everyday. It was a long hard thing to pray for 30 minutes. I would praise God for 15 minutes and ask for the things I wanted for 15 minutes, but it was always a long time for me. I was always checking the time to see if it was already 30 minutes. Whenever I check the time and discover that it wasn't 30 minutes yet, I would stay where I do pray till it's complete. If I haven't prayed in a day, I would feel very odd sleeping at night. I didn't know that it was a good thing that the Holy Spirit planted in me. Now, I still carry that odd feel...

After an official meeting with executives of tacsfonOAU When I resumed for the second year in college, I saw a result of the previous year and it was 39%. I couldn't believe what I saw because it was definitely not commensurate with my efforts. I wept quite bitterly and promised God that He wouldn't see me around any of His assignments again. I just joined a subgroup in my fellowship and I expected that my results will be better because of the several testimonies that I have heard from people. As I was weeping, God directed three friends to visit the spot where I was weeping. It was a miracle that I wouldn't forget. They consoled me and encouraged me to take a step of checking the result with the coordinator of the course. Eventually, my result was changed to 62%. This is one of the many times that the Lord has used brothers and sisters around me to stabilize me and keep me in line with His purpose. The role they have played in my last 7 years cannot be written in ...

Preaching in my fellowship in college (2014) I attended a program in my year three in college where one of the brothers that spoke said that he doesn't care what we think, but he is certain that he is the righteousness of God because the bible says so. I was offended by the statement because I felt no one can attain that level. At least, not in this life. The 'issue of righteousness' was one of the many issues that I battled with. I saw two kinds of Christians on campus and I was desperate to know who was right. One group were the conservative Christians while the other group were the Grace preachers. I was tossed to and fro on many matters, but at a point, I decided to get the truth myself. My decision led me to do many rounds of studying of the bible on several subjects. I wanted to see what the scriptures says about the doctrines. One profound study I did was a word study on righteousness in the new testament. I read every portion of the new testament where rig...

Obafemi Awolowo University is a place with a lot of tongue-talking Christians. I never had a strong issue against it because I had seen it in the bible. I longed for it quite earnestly. Second semester in the first year, I met a brother who was interested in helping me to lay hold on the promise of Jesus. That night was epic. He laid hands on me and I heard 'something' inside of me speaking something that sounded like a word I have heard in class or so I thought. I struggled to speak out the word, but eventually I did. I felt embarrassed at it and I asked myself many questions about the veracity of my tongues. Months later, I started doubting it and I stopped praying in tongues. It wasn't long before I was called to hold a 'bigger' or let me say a more conspicuous office in my fellowship and I needed to pray for the members of my unit. I had no choice, I must pray in tongues. To my utter most amazement, the same utterance I spoke that night that hand was l...

The Christian race is an individual marathon race. On the primary level, someone' s growth can not affect another person. When we are in church and we see brothers and sisters jumping up and squatting while sharing revs, we must also know that the real person is not the one holding the microphone. I was a fresh undergraduate when I became a Christian and before the first year was over, I had been made a leader in several Christian organizations. All through my stay on campus, I was always holding one or two leadership positions. People always assume that their leader is a strong person and this makes it easy for a pretender to remain a pretender. A leader can come up stage and share things he barely knows about. He may just be a head full of scriptures, but does not have the scriptures in his life. I have always found Grace to open up to God so that I can be helped. Several people may not know about the struggles of their leader, but the Lord knows. Every Christian must kn...

At times I consider what has been a great influence in my walk with God. One very great thing I have identified is service. Serving in a capacity in my local assembly and any fellowship gathering has helped me to stay fresh with God. Like I said, I became a Christian in my first year in College and I started holding leadership positions since then till I graduated. Being a leader to me is an opportunity to serve. A minister is a servant. We are all servants. Serving helped me in several ways and I will highlight some of them. Service brought me to know many brothers and sisters that helped me in my pursuit of God. My quiet self would not have been able to make so much friends, but serving with them gave me a platform to relate with them and learn about Jesus from them. They opened my eyes to books and several ministers that I could learn from. They were always there to pull me up whenever I seem down. Service propelled me to pray and intercede. When I was in the second year, I...

I was taking confessions while walking to my room one evening. There was no money in my pocket and there was nothing to cook either. My stomach was not in the mood to pity my condition. It was already aching and calling for food. I certainly needed a miracle. As I was taking the confessions, my heart was becoming stronger that I would get food to eat that night. Close to my room, I met the president of my fellowship and he said he just finished eating from a restaurant and he wants me to go and do the same. He reached out for his wallet, but I smiled and said "Don't worry sir. There is food waiting for me in the room." After some persuations, my president left. My confessions had made my conviction so certain. My president didn't know that I was in need of food when he offered me money to eat, but I was still making my faith declarations. In my mind, I will meet a big bowl of food in my room and I would eat smiling. That night, I slept after drinking a lot of t...

About 6 years ago, I just became an executive in my fellowship and we were having series of meetings to prepare the new set of leaders. In my subgroup, that I would be heading, some amount of money had been handed over to me and I kept it inside my bible. It was a secure place for me to keep it where it would be free from my eyes and the hands of theives. After one of the meetings, I carried my heavy bag and left for my room which was quite far from the meeting venue. Before sleeping, I decided to read some few verses of the bible. I checked my bag, but my bible was not there! The remembrance of the subgroup money in it made me gittery. I ran back to the meeting venue praying that nothing would have happened to the money inside the bible because the meeting venue was an open place. I picked up my bible immediately I saw it. It was in the exact place that I sat for the meeting, but it has been unzipped and the money gone! The world is an evil place full of vices aimed even at t...