Blown Cover

I arrived at a season of my life when 
I was living on a street where I made 
a habit of watching football with some
 guys at a viewing center located at 
one of the densely populated buildings 
on the street
I didn't know these guys from Adam 
and I can never have any of them over 
at my house for lunch or dinner to meet 
with my family but we watch football 
and exchange football banter together
I was a believer at this time, I was the 
youth pastor of a church
I wanted to be able to banter and argue 
football with these guys freely, employing 
any language i want and meeting them 
as equals
From previous experiences, when you 
argue football with people, they tend 
to attack the man in order to gain 
undue advantage while
avoiding the pertinent points raised
One of the weak points most 
unsophisticated debaters have is the 
mindset that a Christian must behave 
or talk in a certain way while they are 
free to lower their standards and 
provoke the Christian mercilessly
I didn't want to fall victim to this mindset, 
so I hid my "Christianity"
I took a different road to the church and 
i often do not wear my tie or take my 
Bible to church in an obvious manner
Most of the guys were not born again 
even though they were born into 
Christian homes, some of them are 
equally uneducated and unskilled in 
any vocation, all we had in common 
was football
For almost two years, we watched 
football together on weekends and the 
evening of weekdays and we would 
argue together into the night saying all 
sorts to one another in the name of fun
Then my senior pastor decided to host
 a Christian Social Responsibility 
programme and I was named as the 
head of the publicity committee
I had to lead a band of musicians 
through the streets creating awareness 
for the programme
There was no way I could hide my 
Christianity
I did as I was required, I preached the 
gospel and invited many people to my 
church for the programme from one 
street corner to the other
All my football friends saw me and 
many were shocked
When we got to church after the publicity, 
people began to troop into the church 
for the programme
A young lady with a hole in the heart 
also came to church in company of her 
mother
She approached me to pray for her
She didn't say exactly what the health 
challenge was, she just said "Whenever i 
run with my friends i get tired and 
sometimes i will be coughing, i cannot 
help my mother with any work at home 
and i am always weak, please pray for me)
I was not one of the ministers designated 
to pray for people at this event, i had 
concluded my own assignment by 
creating awareness for the programme.
One of the designated ministers needed 
to use the bathroom and he called me to 
stand in for him)
I laid hands on her and the power of the 
Holy Spirit overtook her
She started trashing and screaming and 
doing all sorts, a lot of ushers had to assist 
in supporting her as she manifested
By the time she calmed down, she was 
completely healed
That was the first time I would pray for 
someone and get instant healing through 
the laying on of hands
I was as shocked as every other member 
of the church was
The crowd quickly came to line up before 
me, they have seen the person with the 
manifest power of God
Many others were healed that day of 
various diseases
Impaired hearing, short-sightedness, 
colour blindness, watery eyes, etc
My football friends who came to see an 
aspect of my life they had never seen 
before were befuddled, my brother-in-law 
who came visiting from Ibadan was 
shocked, it was an unveiling of sorts 
for me!
I could have dodged the assignment by 
giving several acceptable excuses or 
simply stayed away from church that 
day so that my cover will not be blown. 
I didnt! I always thanked God that I didn't
I did what was required for the gospel to 
thrive and my life changed
completely
I had seen miracles of many types 
happen in my ministry since my undergraduate 
days but none like that
The young lady was completely healed of 
the hole in her heart and it was caught on 
video too! (They came back to the church 
with the doctor's report and all)
On wow!
I cannot explain what that experience did 
for me in my spiritual growth
Was it the confidence boost or the air of 
wonder that i felt in my heart?
Was it my desire to walk more with the 
Holy Spirit and the supernatural encounters 
that followed?
My football friends started calling me pastor 
(what i didn't want to happen) but they 
said this with respect and not mockery
They started coming to me with their 
challenges and the door of ministry was 
open to them by the Holy Spirit
Of course, i stopped watching and arguing 
football with them soon after this time
I noticed that they no longer felt free to 
say unhealthy things around me or to me 
and many of them became believers
This was an unexpected dividend of 
knowing and walking with the Holy Spirit

GSW - My Season with the Holy Spirit at Ketu, 2014