Happy Easter

          By Maureen Mennor Nwaezeigwe

 

Happy Easter guys, as we celebrate the memorable and awesome resurrection of my incredible Master, this year, may peace fill your hearts.

Perhaps I should talk about Him. I got to know Him as a teenager, Deeper life preachers used to come to my compound weekends to preach about Him, and I listened to them out of respect for who they were talking about because I already believed in my little heart that He was real, in fact we had a neighbor then whose bible was torn and scattered all over the compound and whenever I saw any page;  I would pick it up and keep somewhere because  I thought it was disrespectful for that to happen to the holy book. Although now I carry a very old bible which I have been lazy to replace with a new one!

At age seventeen, a sweet lady by name Evelyn sat me down and spoke about being born again and I officially gave my life to Jesus Christ. I had some special encounters because after making that prayer, when I got home, I told God that if He had indeed become my Father He should do a certain thing and He did. I later asked Him for another special thing and He did it. So I continued. But as I got older, I was not steadfast, was going cold and hot at different times...don't know if I should use lukewarm because whenever I felt like I was not living right, I avoided church, to me church was a hallowed place for serious spiritual gathering...still see it as such, perhaps am old fashioned but I like me like that. I hated to pretend to be what was not, still do. And I know people are advised to just keep coming to church even if you don't feel like you are living right and that is correct...a work in progress! But I know also that He said that we are the light of the world and the salt, so if we are worldly like the " people of the world" what then is the big deal about us? how different are you really? That was my thinking and still is. I have never really been a "big sinner" lol, whatever that means right?, but somehow in our minds we sort of categorize sins. But sin is sin.

I hate "sin talk and consciousness" especially as ascribed to a certain group of brethren, you know, because we are under grace and not law. And I would rather focus on love, righteousness, eschatology and the   manifestation and demonstration of power,  ( I actually stopped going to church at two different points of my life as a believer. First was a time in my twenties after reading the Bible so much, my goodness, have you read Acts? Luke, Mathew, John? and seen the kind of power we are told is available to the church? I started looking for it? I wanted to see it. As an individual Christian, the Lord has mercifully given me personal encounters so much so!!!! and I was also looking for the kind of meetings I saw in the Bible, I am grateful for Pastor Sunday Yacim and the small but spiritual church he pastored because when I actually attended that church after a long time of staying away; I remained and continued until I became cold again and then later became hot again- what a bad pikin I have been, I thank God for mercy and grace. The second time I stopped was decades later, when it seemed to me that idolatry was becoming a serious issue almost everywhere, I saw something that seemed like a competition with the Lord Jesus Christ for glory, the servants wanting to be treated and seen as the Master, that got me to stay home for a very long time - about a year). I love the Lord too much to accept that from anyone, I see the suffering He went through on the cross, and that is just the little we know of what He suffered, I find it so hard to watch Mel Gibson's Passions of the Christ because of how he successfully brought closer home the physical agony the Lord endured for us, and it is torture to watch. I mean He is the One that died, it is through His name that we pray to the Father, He is the One we are expecting to take us to eternal glory, so when I notice what appears to me like some brother or sister wanting or acting with so much airs on the pulpit, fear go catch me!. This is one of the reasons I love Pastor Chris Okotie, he tears himself to pieces when he preaches, as he exalts the Lord Jesus Christ, he rubbishes all his accomplishments, he calls himself all sorts of degrading names and then enthrones the King who should be enthroned. Okotie dances like a drunkard when worshiping, totally sold out to the Lord when he mounts the pulpit. He has been my pastor for three years now, and the day he changes; I will leave the  Household of God church where he pastors.

So, I don't really like dwelling on sin, sin, sin...but, when I read the Lord's letters to the seven churches, where He warned about spitting some out of His mouth...He was writing to church members here guys. Also Hebrews 10.26 and Romans 6:1; I realize  the need to be conscious of all aspects of the scripture. But I'd like to think that the reason I hate sin is because of my love for my incredible Master.

IT IS AN ENDLESS LOVE STORY WE HAVE GOING ON! Thank God am no longer a baby Christian.

Maureen Mennor Nwaezeigwe