Olaniyi Olanrewaju

I wondered what gave birth to this wide smile that has invaded her entire beautiful face. My mind really wanted to wander, but I had to cage it and focus on the cause of the smile rather than the charming smile. The last expression I saw from her face was that of a very bewildered and disappointed person. I could even say that she was angry. Here she is, in front of my desk in less than 24 hours smiling from east to west. Did her cheeks increase over night? 'Please, I want to know your God'. The statement excited me completely because I now understand why she was smiling. It means the prayer was answered and as much as I wasn't surprised, I was very grateful to God for showing up even after a disappointing prayer. I could remember how she sat in front of my desk a day before and waited for me to finish my day's work before we moved to a restaurant where she insisted that she buy the drink. She bought two bottles of cold Mirinda, but she was too busy talking tha...

Have you listened to Myles Munroe talk about the kingdom before? I want to use this third part of this topic to prove to you that there is a work that Christians are meant to do on the earth and this work is what will bring our Lord Jesus back to the earth. For a while now, we have believed that the reason why God left us here on earth after we got saved is so that we can preach to others to get saved. That is quite true, but it's not complete. We are also meant to preach what Jesus called the gospel of the kingdom. There is this story that is very fascinating in the bible. It's the story of how a King had a dream and forgot the dream, but he wanted to know the meaning. I wondered how cruel he must have been to call for the head of his counselors who told him that his wish was impossible. The king was definitely uncomfortable with the fact that he had forgotten his dream and he knew that the dream was very important. But there was no one to tell him. In fact, they said...

It is still like a dream to me. How would God disturb another person so much just to make sure that he is in place to help another person. The events of the previous day keep puzzling me on how much goodness lies in God. I remembered as I watched the pregnant clouds covered the entire sky, it sent some very cold chills down my spine. I really wished I could follow the Akintundes home to escape the wrath that will soon hit the place around my church, but the Holy Spirit didn't allow me. For some days, He has been giving me some instructions that are weird. From arranging the spare room in my apartment in the settings of a hotel to buying new towels and a female cloth that I'm not permitted to remove from the pack. It seemed I was going to have a visitor and He wanted me to be prepared, but I wasn't expecting anyone. The thought of having a female cloth in my closet wasn't palatable for my church mind. I just hope my friends would not come and start making all thos...

In part 1 of this series, I wrote about a program I attended in 300L and how, even though I didn't understand what was said at that time, it started a series of reactions in me that led to several studies. During the practicals of my final year project, I came across a message and the title was exactly what I was looking for. I listened to the message over and over to really understand what the man of God was saying. The message corroborated the message I heard at the Brothers' meeting the previous year. Somehow, there was a transition in what I knew to be Christianity. My thought pattern about the end time began to take another shape. I stopped seeing rapture as an escape route, but as the end of an age and the beginning of another. I became interested in the meaning of some phrases I have heard from some members of my fellowship. Phrases like "Day of the Lord" and "Army of the Lord" became my favorites. It was definitely a "new thing" ...

When I was in 300L, the Brothers' Unit of my fellowship organized a program and the theme for the meeting was "Building According to Pattern". It was the president of our fellowship that ministered at the program. The attendance was quite low, but what we learnt that day never left me. The president talked about the seven nations that the Lord told Joshua and the Israelites to drive out of the promised land. These seven nations were already established in the land, but the Lord gave the Israelites the task to completely wipe them out and establish the nation of Israel. He said that these 7 nations signified what he referred to as 'The Seven Gates of Influence' and they signify the seven areas that God is raising up men in this days from the church. These men are meant to 'take over' the established nations just like the days of Joshua. The Brothers' Unit was known as a route through which the brothers of the fellowship learn more about God...

Recently, I changed my profile picture on social media from a lion to the picture above. There is actually a story behind the picture I will like to share. I took the picture on OAU campus after I preached a message on the 'Light of the World'. It was few days after my 25th birthday and the first time I would be traveling back to my alma Mata since I finished NYSC. I saw a lot of friends I had missed so much; many of them jumped on me and really made me laugh. It was a very good time and I took several pictures with them. About the time I changed my profile picture which is almost a year now, I felt like taking a picture again, but this time, there are no friends around. I checked my phone and my very last picture is this image of myself smiling. I wondered what I was smiling about. I probably was smiling at the photographer and not the camera because my friends accuse me that I hardly smile. I really may not be able to defend myself there, but here is a smile for yo...

It was after a morning devotion in NCCF family house that the brother called me and began to give me the news that I needed the least. The discussion with this brother created a massive plot of land for fear within me. I thought the end had come. My room during the service year was a small place that served as an office, a store and also a room. The room is like the reception of the house as it is the first place you would enter in the house. This made the room always full of visitors from within and without. Loads that were unwanted in the rooms of other corps members has a ready slot in the store part of the room, so this created a suitable place for rats to jump around. My bed was just by a side, separated by a wall. It can only accommodate one person. Those that visited spoke against the rats, but I would jokingly tell them that they are my roommates and I would forbid them from killing the rats. It was a weird thing to those that heard. "How can you say that rats are...