Olaniyi Olanrewaju

When I was serving in Plateau state, I had to travel to Borno state for an official NCCF assignment. It was a long trip plagued with different parts of the car breaking down. The trip that was meant to take about a day took almost 3 days. Due to the breakdown, we had to stop at Bauchi and Damaturu. We were just 3 that embarked on the trip. I remembered the journey of Bauchi to Damaturu. It was all dark and sort of scary. The National president, who knew the road, slept for a long while because he was feeling feverish and the assistant transport secretary, who was driving on a new road in the dark had to concentrate. It was Fast and Furious practical class. So, I was left to myself to do whatever I wanted to do apart from looking out into the dark road. My mind has proved to be able to give me good company at times like this. I thought about the church in Nigeria and how many people are beginning to lose hope in the efficacy of the scriptures and the availability of genuine Pasto...

I have some friends who are always busy whenever they are called up to do something in the church. Something was always more important than the assignment on ground in the church. The excuses are always so genuine that I, at a point began to wonder if something is wrong with me. I mean, why am I always available? Since part 1 in the university, I have always been available so, I began to wonder if there was something I ought to be doing so that I would be busy like my friends. A basic prerequisite to being used by God is to be available. Your availability gives God the right to make you into a usable vessel for great things that are beyond what the mind can capture. The first choice of leadership in my fellowship on campus happened when I was in part 1. Some days to the date, I prayed a prayer in the third compartment of a place we call 'The Net (or Den)' in OAU. I told God that I am available. Some things are just odd. What would make a two month old believer tell ...

I was lucky to get a taxi easily this evening. I aimed at getting home early and I was grateful for leaving the junction that is mostly crowded. I settled in to enjoy the ride and relax my aching legs. As we were leaving the bus stop, the driver abused some people in the most creative manner I have ever seen. Ibadan folks are known to be creative with words whenever they want to use this one's body as a metaphor. But this man's skills was different. He crafted the words in a manner that everyone in the taxi marveled at how he is able to combine words within split seconds and dish it out with a very creative attitude. I have seen some men with such prowess too. Many of them are teachers. Such persons seem like they run on talking and not food. Paul is a classic example. After saying finally in his letters, he would still write 2 more chapters! Then, I thought of myself. A quiet one. With time, I am learning to appreciate quietness as a virtue that can be as loud as t...

I kept on wondering what the Holy Spirit has in mind with this last card of mine. Now is not the kind of time that I won't be permitted to spend my money. Wait, did I just say my money? How many times I have preached and told people that when money comes into your hand, you must allow God to decide how to spend it. It's my turn to obey. Talk is so cheap. The Holy Spirit said He has a special assignment for the last 5,000 naira in my account. Isn't that a lovely and sweet statement? Okay o. Now, I am on the road to spend the money on this special assignment. It's so hard. If I let go of this money, that means no food tonight. While I was meditating on how God's instructions can at times be hard to carry out, I saw a woman standing on the walk way in front of me. I knew the money is meant for her. She looked hopeful. I tapped her and stretched my hand towards her. She grabbed the money and began to run into the street behind her. I became very curious, so I ...

I remembered how Tongues flowed from my mouth like an automated machine when I woke up. I had spent about 15 minutes praying before I realized that the prayer was coming from a fearful heart. All my thoughts was that some people got to know of my plans of getting a land and they want to use some sort of divination to scatter all my plans. For the past four years, I have been saving so that I can get a land. Now, the Money is complete and a man appeared to me in my dream, gave me an account number and told me to send the money into the account immediately I wake up. All I could do when I woke up was pray in tongues until a word came from the Lord. 'Do not be weary in well doing...' Hot sweat manifested from my body when I realized that the instruction is real. Why does God like to so this? I checked the time- 3am. The previous night, I kept on singing about how much I am willing to follow God. Okay. I will do this. I wrote out the account number I got from the dream, p...

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...