Proverbs 27:17 (TLB)
A friendly discussion is as stimulating as the sparks that fly when iron strikes iron.
Proverbs 27:17 (CEV)
Just as iron sharpens iron, friends sharpen the minds of each other.
Proverbs 27:17 (ERV)
As one piece of iron sharpens another, so friends keep each other sharp.
I am amongst the many youths who still ask their parents why they decided to make a covenant with God on their behalf without their permission. And like most of them out there, the answer always has these words, "It was for your good. God needed men, so I made a covenant like Hannah to offer you to Him. I almost died, so I made that covenant to save your life and mine." I didn't take my mum's stories seriously until I met ordinary people asking me to hold onto God because His hand was upon my life. To some of these people, I would try to mock their statement by raising my head to look into the sky as if looking for the hand of God. Then I started meeting Men of God who would just smile and say when the time is right, nothing but God will satisfy you.
Well, at 12, I gave my life to Christ at Winners Chapel International, Avenor (now Winners Chapel Ghana). I wish I could find the words to describe the fire and zeal I had then to know God. Time would not allow me to speak about my desire to evangelise anybody as long as I had the urge. As for service, I doubt I have given so much time and energy to things of God at any church as I did there. I can boldly state today that my desire then was to stay in the house of the Lord for the rest of my life. I didn't mind spending my whole day at church working and fellowshiping with fellow brothers and sisters in the faith. The house of God was home, and my spirit was always peaceful in His presence. Because we usually work during services on Sunday, some team of workers took time off every Saturday after preparing the place for service to study the word, pray, worship and sometimes break bread. Our unit leader was more like our shepherd. He ensured that our social status or educational background meant nothing to our team. We were all one in the sight of God. I was always eager for our Saturday fellowship because we all had to share what we had learned during the week through our daily devotion aside from the bible discussions on the topic our Teens Church Pastor preached. It was always refreshing.
Some years later, the family had to stop Winners Chapel International and move to another church. Although I enjoyed that church, I couldn't find the fire and zeal I found at Winners Chapel International. The message was powerful and had a great atmosphere, but I couldn't be as zealous there as I was at Winners. The once zealous Christian who would spend hours at church was now finding comfort in activities that had nothing to do with the Christian faith. Attending Sunday Services was now a chore that needed to be completed for others to know I was still in the faith. After eventually leaving that church to settle for another, I noticed a strange cycle in my life. I would find myself doing everything against the Word of God, and then, by God's mercy, I would meet someone or hear a message, and I would suddenly decide to go all out for Jesus. That cycle continued until I accepted the nudge to go to Bible school in 2017 to study the Bible and know God for myself. I knew I had to find a solution to that cycle quickly; otherwise, my lukewarm nature would kill me one way or the other.
God being so good, I met fellow brothers in the faith who were not only hungry for more of God but were far into the things of God than I was. Although I could pray, see one or two visions, study, and teach the word of God, my interaction with these anointed people caused a deeper hunger for God. I had read books and heard messages from several men of God about how they met God, but my desire to go deeper came from those godly interactions. My spiritual father had taught me about midnight prayers and having a consistent prayer life. He even tried to introduce it into my lifestyle by waking me up at dawn to pray. But, my interaction with James during night security at the Prayer Garden on campus quickly made that a lifestyle. I remember how James and I were discussing our prayer life one day, and I spoke about how I would spend an hour or, at most, two or three praying; James smiled and talked about the periods he would spend six, eight, twelve or twenty-four hours praying. I stared at him in astonishment, like I had heard the most absurd story. I thought only specially gifted people could do that, and here is this young man confidently telling me this. "My goodness, how am I not seeking God enough now that I am a youth like him?" I would ask myself. That is how James started writing our names for night security at the prayer garden every day. I would pray, dose off and wake up to hear James still praying. Who was I to come and kill myself? But that was how I birthed my desire for long prayers and went on to encourage others to do so. If, by association, a man can pick up harmful practices from a friend, then I believe the Christian can pick up several "special gifts" by associating with those with them.
I later met Emmanuel and Solomon. I thought I knew seasoned men of God who stood for the truth till Emmanuel and Solomon opened my eyes. These two would share specific experiences in the faith as if they were meant to be expected of all Christians. If not till I started experiencing some of these things and advocating for other Christians to make them a lifestyle, I always thought they were crazy to make such "special graces" look normal. I remember some of the random bible discussions we would have during our walks on campus. In my mind, I would think I am sharing some "wild revelation" from the Bible, and like a joke, they would pick the same scripture and begin to break it down from different angles. I may have brought up the topic, but I would start to open my mouth in shock because I never saw it from those angles if not for that sharing opportunity. It was always the humility they had to listen and encourage me to speak before they added; otherwise, I would have always been silent. That hunger always led me to spend hours reading and studying the Bible. Time wouldn't allow me to share more of these stories, so let me go straight to my point.
Looking back at those days in Bible school, I realised I never had a "spiritual relapse." I thought it was because I was on a religious campus, but that couldn't be the case because I could have fallen quickly. I realised it was the spiritual community I had at my church back home and the community I had on campus. Every Monday to Friday afternoon, you would find me in the company of some of these anointed people on campus, discussing scriptures or a particular message, church history, or sharing encounters. Then, every Friday evening to Sunday evening, I would go home either to help with teachings and prayers during the main church all night or that of the youth ministry on Fridays, Saturday prayers and church cleaning and Sunday morning teachings and evening prayers. These discussions had no immoral topics to draw one's thoughts to such things, so the desire for the things of God was always strong. We were always discussing scriptures and talking about spiritual experiences. We could easily discuss issues and get spirit-led directions before the end of those discussions.
So, when I started foreseeing the cycle coming back a year or two ago, I asked the Lord, whose response was Proverbs 27, verse 17. He added, "You have chosen to walk alone, and those who walk alone easily get tired and fed up." Immediately, the following scriptures began to flood my mind: Jesus sending His disciples out two by two (Mark 6:7), Peter and John (Acts 8:14-15), Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:14-15), and Priscilla and Aquila (Romans 16:3-4). Those scriptures paint a unique picture of the importance of having a partner in our faith walk and the need to maintain such association at all costs. "If you remember the story of Elijah, DON'T WALK ALONE!" He stated lastly.
Fellow Christian brothers and sisters, don't be deceived; spiritual peer pressure is a thing. It is a God-given strategy to keep Christians rooted in the faith while encouraging simultaneous growth. I haven't lived for long, but in my over fifteen years as a Christian, I have enough knowledge to stress the importance of every Christian taking the faith walk in pairs or a group. This may sound far-fetched, but your current lukewarmness was birthed the minute you decided to be on your own…(to be continued)
Remain in the blessings of God as you remain in Christ.
MD.
