A Childhood Shaped By Discipline
Every believer has a story that explains how God prepared them for His purpose. My own journey was not one of comfort, but one of discipline, hardship, tears, and divine encounters.
Looking back today, I can clearly see that every painful season was part of God's preparation for the assignment He had destined for my life.
I was raised in Lagos State, Nigeria.
Lagos state was where I spent my childhood, received my education, built my business, and began my Christian walk. As the first child of my parents, I carried responsibilities from an early age.
My mother was a devoted Christian woman who sincerely feared God. She believed that raising her first son in the fear of the Lord was a sacred assignment. Because of this conviction, she disciplined me more than my younger siblings.
At the time, I often wondered why I received stricter correction than everyone else. I was naturally stubborn, and my mother was determined not to allow that stubbornness to destroy my future.
Although I did not appreciate her discipline while growing up, I now understand that God was using her to prepare me for the ministry He had already planned for my life.
▪️FALLING INTO SECRET BONDAGE
Despite my Christian upbringing, I fell into sexual immorality during my secondary school years. In the early 2000s, before mobile phones became common in Nigeria, some students circulated pornographic magazines. Out of curiosity, I began reading them.
What started as curiosity gradually became addiction.
For more than ten years, I struggled with pornography and masturbation in complete secrecy. No one knew, not even my mother.
Outwardly, I appeared to be a young Christian, but inwardly I was fighting a battle that seemed impossible to overcome.
It was one of the darkest seasons of my life until the Lord Jesus Christ finally delivered me completely.
That experience later became one of the reasons God gave me compassion for those struggling with sexual sin.
▪️A REVELATION THAT CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER
After completing my education, I worked briefly in different factories while searching for a better future. During this period, something happened that completely redirected my life.
In 2011, I came across the testimony and divine revelation of heaven and hell given to Sister Angelica Zambrano of Ecuador. As I listened to her experience, the fear of God overwhelmed my heart.
The message deeply transformed my spiritual life.
I realised that eternity was real, heaven was real, hell was real, and millions of people were heading toward destruction without knowing it.
From that moment, I could no longer live an ordinary Christian life...
▪️THE BEGINNING OF MY EVANGELISM MINISTRY
In 2012, I answered God's call into evangelism...
I began preaching to childhood friends, neighbours, strangers, and anyone willing to listen. My message was simple,
- Jesus Christ is coming soon.
- Repent,
- Turn away from sin, and prepare for eternity.
My passion for souls became overwhelming.
I was willing to do anything to ensure people heard the Gospel.
During this period, God inspired me to establish an online ministry. Although I had no formal training in website design, I taught myself through personal research and countless hours of practice.
Eventually, I created my
ministry webblog , believing that through the internet, God would enable me to reach people across the world.
▪️WHEN EVERYTHING COLLAPSED
In 2016, tragedy struck.
After collecting payments from customers, I boarded a public bus on my way home from the market...Somewhere during the journey, I lost my entire business capital.
- Everything disappeared.
- My savings account was empty.
- My business collapsed overnight.
When I arrived home, I sat in silence with a broken heart. Hunger soon became my daily companion.
Around that period, my mother had relocated to another city close to Lagos. She repeatedly invited me to come and stay with her because she knew I was struggling.
However, I refused.
I did not want to become a burden to the woman who had already sacrificed so much for me.
She believed in my calling, even when others did not.
▪️STANDING ALONE
While my mother supported my ministry, many members of my family viewed my evangelistic work differently.
Some believed street evangelists and online preachers were simply unemployed people looking for attention.
They could not understand why I spent countless hours preaching instead of pursuing financial success.
Only my mother continued encouraging me...
Her confidence strengthened my determination to continue serving God despite every criticism..
▪️THE BATTLE TO KEEP THE MINISTRY ALIVE
By 2017, I entered one of the most difficult periods of my entire life..
One morning, while checking my email, I discovered that my ministry website domain was about to expire.
Only a short grace period remained before I permanently lost the domain name.
I checked my bank account.
The balance was zero.
Searching around my room, I gathered my last few coins and rushed to the bank before heading to a nearby cyber café.
By God's mercy, after communicating with customer support and applying a special discount code, the website was saved.
When I returned home, however, I had nothing left to eat..
Still, I opened my laptop and continued updating the ministry website..
▪️CHOOSING GOD'S WORK ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE
After much prayer, I made one of the biggest decisions of my life.
I told God...
"Father, what is the benefit of running a business if I cannot fulfil Your purpose? I surrender everything to You. I want my life to be completely devoted to Your work."
That prayer marked the beginning of my wilderness training.
Unknown to me, heaven had accepted my sacrifice.
▪️THE WILDERNESS SCHOOL
The months that followed were filled with severe hardship...
Many days my breakfast and dinner consisted only of gari mixed with water...Buying internet data became almost impossible.
Sometimes I worked continuously for 48 hours without sleeping while transcribing sermons, updating articles, counselling people online, and designing ministry materials.
The more I worked, the poorer I became...
Eventually,. my eyesight was affected.. Bright sunlight became painful..
I bought cheap sunglasses just to reduce the discomfort while continuing to work on my laptop.
One day my younger brother looked at me and said..
"Go and find a real job. Do you really think this work will put food on your table?"
I smiled quietly and continued typing.....
I knew God had called me.
▪️THE HIDDEN TEARS
As months passed, I became noticeably thinner... Church members asked why I was losing so much weight.
I simply replied that I was under stress...
The truth was different.
- I was starving.
- I never learned how to beg people for money.
Although many friends around me were financially comfortable, I kept my suffering to myself.
Every morning, I still led believers for early morning evangelism before returning home exhausted.
The people I encouraged spiritually never knew their encourager was fighting hunger.
▪️GOD'S STRANGE CLASSROOM
There were days when palm kernel became my breakfast.
Sometimes I secretly entered nearby bushes to gather palm kernels or unripe pawpaw fruits because I had nothing else to eat.
No one knew.
I protected my dignity while trusting GOD..
One Easter season, a neighbour brought a plate of rice to our house.
My younger brother collected it because I was busy working.
When he finally asked whether I wanted to eat, I quietly stretched out my hand.
That single plate of rice sustained me for almost two days.
Another time, I searched through my mother's belongings and found a crate of soft drinks...Selling those bottles provided enough money to survive for a few more days.
▪️CRYING BEFORE GOD
One unforgettable night, I stood outside my compound weeping before God.
I begged Him to send help... No miracle happened that night.
Instead, I went to bed hungry once again.
Yet every morning, despite my empty stomach, I still carried my Bible and went out for evangelism..
Something amazed me.
Whenever I ministered God's Word, supernatural strength filled my body.
The moment I returned home, the weakness returned... Only then would I realise how hungry I truly was.
▪️CHALLENGING GOD
The pressure eventually became unbearable..
In frustration, I cried:
"Father, I give You only three days to do something in my life. You say You are Almighty. Prove it."
The first day passed..
Nothing happened.
The second day passed...
Still nothing.
By the third day, disappointment overwhelmed me.
That afternoon, I suddenly became unusually sleepy.
As I lay down, I found myself travelling upward at incredible speed, as though I were being carried by a mighty force.
When I awoke, I foolishly questioned God again.. "Is that the Best you can do... By accelerating me in spiritual realm... Please I need real physical food and not revelations"
... Hours later, I realised how wrong I had been.
I fell on my knees, repented with tears, and asked for His forgiveness.
God was not ignoring me.
He was preparing me.
▪️WHY GOD ALLOWED THE WILDERNESS
During those difficult years, countless people online assumed I was financially successful because of the ministry articles I published.
Many even asked me for financial assistance...
Little did they know that those same articles were written while I battled hunger, exhaustion, sleepless nights, and uncertainty.
Looking back today, I understand why God allowed that season...
- The wilderness taught me the value of food,
- The importance of dependence upon God,
- The compassion required to minister to hurting people.
... Without those experiences, I would never have understood the pain carried by the poor, THE broken, and the forgotten.
MY FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS CHRIST
Eventually, I sensed the Lord directing me to relocate and stay with my mother.
During that period, I devoted myself to serious prayer and fasting.
Then one unforgettable night, everything changed.
... While lying on my bed after prayer, I suddenly became conscious that something extraordinary was happening.
I was not asleep, yet I was no longer fully aware of my physical surroundings.
I found myself travelling through the spiritual realm with tremendous speed.
Suddenly the movement stopped...
When I turned around, I saw an extraordinarily handsome Man with dark hair and a fair complexion.
Immediately, my spirit recognised Him.
It was my Lord and Saviour, JESUS CHRIST.
The vision continued as I saw myself lying on a long wooden bench.
The Lord instructed men dressed in white garments to perform an operation on me.
As they worked, I watched everything taking place.
Then I heard Him say:
"Be quick. His mother will soon call him in the physical world. This blessing that is coming—his mother will benefit greatly from it."
Moments later, I became fully conscious and sat up on my bed.
That was the very first time the Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself to me in a vision.
The appearance I saw was different from many artistic images commonly painted by people.
It was an experience I can never forget...
That encounter marked the beginning of many other supernatural EXPERIENCES and also the second visions about him that I will share in second part of this Article.
CONCLUSION
If you are passing through financial hardship, sickness, spiritual warfare, disappointment, delayed blessings, family problems, or any other challenge, do not lose hope.
The God who sustained me through hunger, loneliness, rejection, and years of wilderness is still the same today.
Sometimes God allows us to pass through difficult seasons not to destroy us, but to prepare us for greater assignments.
Never judge your future by your present condition.
- Continue praying.
- Continue trusting.
- Continue obeying God.
Your wilderness is not your final destination...
If you remain faithful, the same God who brought me out of darkness into His glorious purpose will surely bring you into your own season of testimony... 🙏
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