When
I realized that the Lord wanted to use me to translate the Bible into
NPL, I particularly wasn’t interested in the call. This was because I
thought about my short comings which I thought would make me unable to
carry out what the Lord wanted me to do. I was neither a linguist nor a
theologian.
When
God called me, came, I was working with a reputable private company in
Kano, Nigeria. I was engaged in marketing various commodities for the
company and for myself. I was educated and trained in this field and it
was materially and emotionally satisfying for me. I liked the life I
was living.
I
didn’t even know what translating the Bible into NPL or any other
language entailed. I had never attended any Bible College. Though I was
happy that God had called me to serve Him, I was not prepared for a
call that required me to translate the Bible into NPL.
I
told the Lord to consider my vocation and experience in the business
world. I asked Him to allow me handle the aspect of the call that had
to do with material blessings, while He sought for someone else to
handle the spiritual blessings aspect.
I
told Him that I was ready to give, not only a tithe of my income, but
more than that to support those who would handle the Bible translation
work and other areas of the spiritual blessings aspect of the call. I
only asked Him to bless my business activities and I would do what I
had said.
The
Lord, however, repeatedly stated the wordings of the call to me and
said I should obey the call for the sake of His Kingdom’s work and for
my own good.
It wasn’t easy for me. I was, among other things, scared of dabbling into an area I didn’t know and didn’t understand.
Before
I knew what I was doing, I realized that I was actually disobeying God
by refusing to answer His call and do what He wanted me to do.
At
a stage, I started trying to run away from God’s presence. I turned
away from attending church services and fellowshipping with other
Christians. I was afraid. Yes I was afraid, because the Spirit of the
Lord followed me everywhere I went and He was always repeating the now
scary wordings of the call which says:
"I
have made you a spiritual and material power house where I will
generate and distribute my spiritual and material blessings and
distribute to my people all over the world.
If
you continue to do what I tell you, I will continue to look after you.
At every point in time you need anything to carry out what I have sent
you to do, I will provide all the resources you need to do them."
I
found it difficult to continue my relationship with the Lord so I
started running away from Him and moving from place to place.
These
movements lasted for a period of about 10 years. I was on the run, but
no human being was pursuing me, but anywhere I went, the Lord followed
me and continually reminded me of the call which He told me is a
covenant, and that I had to obey Him and keep my part of it by doing
what He had called me to do.
During
that period, my spiritual life started deteriorating and my material
gains started decreasing. I was in a backslidden state. I was afraid of
attending church services and only did so on irregular basis and hardly
on time.
Whenever
I stayed in a congregation of the Lord for sometime, someone in the
congregation would tell me that he/she had a revelation that I had a
job to do for the Lord but I was not doing it. The statements always
scared me striking terror to my conscience.
On
many occasions, the revelations led to my changing churches and
withdrawing from fellowship with Christian brothers and sisters whom
God used to remind me or “bother” me concerning the call.
Prosperity
in my life turned to both spiritual and material poverty. I knew why my
life was going down but I didn’t tell anyone.
Continue...
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