06/06/2024
CITIZEN OF THE WORLD
It was mid 1999 and church was stagnant, the door of the USA which opened to me in 1998 closed again, my wife and I were struggling financially and I was confused. In desperation, I bought a carton of water and headed for the redemption camp to seek the Lord for a week. If I perish, I perish, seeking God, was my attitude. On the third day, having not heard from heaven, I rose up at 6am and began to pray. I was not going to stop from sun up to sun down unless I heard from heaven. I spent
several hours of praying in the Spirit at a time and I laid down on the bed in stillness. After such. Session, words welled from my innermost being. Forgive your earthly father and increase your honour of him. I didn’t know I held anything against him but wasn’t just happy he didn’t go an extra Mike I had hoped for about my educational challenges when I was young. Apparently, I was still hurting and it was blocking the flow of blessing. Then, go and reconcile with your spiritual father. There is a blessing in his mouth for you. I had left Ever Increase Word Ministries under the leadership of Rev George Adegboye impatiently, without his blessing. I had been convinced God wanted me to leave but he wasn’t convinced it was time and my 26 year old mind felt waiting for him would be tantamount to disobedience to God. I had been traumatized by the circumstances of it and had kept my distance.
I remember the joy of sitting together and sharing fellowship as father and son again after a five year gap. We both reminisced, and I apologized, we hugged and exchanged gifts. I had gone to honour him both in word, action and with my substance and in turn he gave me gifts, saying a father lays up an inheritance for the son. As I made to leave, I said, ‘Sir, you have not blessed me’. He paused, smiled and told me to leave as he would pray about it and send word to me. He later demanded that I attend a service at Rhema Chaoel, Oluyole, Ibadan, the church where I had served for five years as Pastor before my departure for the blessing. I ought to have been sent forth from there and now he laid his hands upon me and blessed wholeheartedly five years later. Months later, I hosted him at Global Harvest Church where he repeated the same. Of his many words, of note was, ‘I declare you a citizen of the world as God has called me..’. From that time to this, I have enjoyed tremendous favour with many churches and nations opening up to my ministry around the world. Called to be an evangelist and to take God’s healing power to the world, I needed that blessing and grace to be imparted by an Apostle to the nations like him. This is due to God’s order and His system of operation upon the earth.
The first thing that God did to the first man and woman after creating them was to bless them (Genesis 1.27-28). This first blessing was soon to be followed by human agents of blessing, conveying God’s blessing to others. The first was Melchizedek the King of Salem who blessed Abram on his way from victory over the Kings that had abducted his nephew (Lot) and the king of s***m in a war. With 318 armed men, he had gained victory in an apparent battle that was won not by human ability but by the help of God. This invocation by Melchizedek over Abram was to further empower him to succeed in his quest to obey God’s commandment and to fulfill God’s Agenda for the earth. The pronouncement is still taking effect till this very day (Genesis 14.18-20). Isaac, Abraham’s son would invoke God’s blessing over him on Jacob (who pretended to be Esau) in Genesis 28.28-29. Jacob himself would later bless all his children in Genesis 48. Several other references show Kings blessing their subjects and of course the priestly blessing ordained by God for the priests of Israel over the Jews in Numbers 6.22-27. The words are so powerful and significant that even today, many Christian ministers bless their congregations with it like I also do. While it is not mandatory, the words at too good to be left to the Old Testament saints alone to enjoy. New Testament benedictions are however common in the epistles. The most popular of them has been religiously adopted as a way to end church services in Nigeria and some other places and those are the words of Paul ending his second epistle (2 Corinthians 13.14).
The act of blessing when studied in scripture is the responsibility of authority figures and life sources. Biological and spiritual parents can bless(Hebrews 7.8). The ability of a king to bless as we see Solomon do in 1 Kings 8.55 is based on the fact that he was anointed with oil. It is characteristic of African kings to do the same. The act of blessing is seeing as an impartation of supernatural favour and an empowering influence for success and prosperity. The blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow to it according to proverbs 10.22. No doubt, based on this verse and several others, the effect of blessing is all rounded. It included spiritual, social, physical and financial wellbeing. I will encourage that parents, pastors and all authority figures should learn to bless their subjects and recipients of blessings should receive them with the right attitudes.
I believe our responsibility to enjoy blessing starts from our honour of the Lord the ultimate one who blesses. This is to be with our praise, acts of worship, giving of our substance and our loyalty to Him in a holy devotion to his Word. We are also to value our life sources. Parents, pastors and spiritual fathers should be revered not for who they are in person but for God who they represent in our lives. The commandment to honour parents is the first one with promise attached. The promise is one of general wellbeing and longevity (Ephesians 6.2). Honouring teachers not the Word of God is rewarded with reaping the life of God, meaning impartations of the Spirit is the result (Galatians 6.6-8). The measure of value determines the flow of virtue. Many believers and even ministers of the gospel do not realize the importance of submission and reverence to authority. I have learned over the years to treat my spiritual father with honour and so do I revere other mentors. The results and rewards are definitely obvious. I am a citizen of the world as blessed.
Victor Adeyemi
