His Channels IV

Prov.20:³⁰ [GN] “Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways.”

Channel #5: God speaks to us through Pain. Sometimes, in order to get peoples attention and to get them to slow down and seek Him, God has to resort to letting them go through pain. I am not suggesting that all pain is from God, but sometimes for God to get our attention, He needs to whack us a little bit. If you miss the Word, you will not miss the rod. I can show you my scars as proof of this truth.

I have been wired to spot business opportunities very quickly. During my service year in the Northern part of Nigeria, I noticed that cows were dead cheap. But in the southern part of Nigeria, cows were expensive. So the plan was to buy from the north and sell in the south. I sorted out my supply chain. In fact, I could see the profit already. The next thing was to gather capital and God opened doors for me. People gave me money, not as investment or loan but they gave freely. It was a lot of money. And then came the unmistakable voice of the Holy Spirit, so soft but so stern. He said, “You have not paid your tithe”. I said, “Lord, be patient, when I turnover the money there will be a lot more for us”. He did not respond.

I was on a bus and the Holy Spirit said, “Give me one reason why this bus should not have an accident”. I knew I was in disobedience. Before I could respond, the crankshaft of the bus came off. Everyone was shouting, “Jesus” but I was quiet. They did not know I was the “Jonah” in the bus. I pray that you would not be in the same bus with a Jonah. God can sink a ship for one disobedient child and other people that do not even know Him would perish. So I asked for mercy and the bus stopped. I got off and walked the rest of the way.

I got a lot more money from my brother and I prevailed on him to put me on an aircraft to Lagos. Road trips are long and anything can happen but flights are shorter. The money was in my bag, placed in the overhead compartment right above me and I must have slept off for like five minutes. When I woke up, I checked and my bag was still in place. I got off the aircraft, into a taxi but when I opened my bag, the money was gone. Everything! Psalm 119:⁷¹ “The suffering You sent was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to Your principles.” That was one of the series of teachings God gave me on tithing. The child the Father loves, He chastises.

Prayer:  Lord, help me not to harden my heart when I hear Your voice, in Jesus Name.