"Therefore if you bring your gift to the
altar, and there remember that your brother has something against
you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be
reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift"-. Matthew 5:23-24
Today is
the 11th July, 2015. At about 7am in the morning, my mother called Justina. She
had tried reaching my phone but I have a habit of switching off my phones
before going to bed. Justina had told her about the swab test she was supposed
to do and my mother needed to confirm if it had been done. The test had not
been done. Justina and I were low on cash and as such, we couldn't afford the
test at this time.
Daddy
came to the rescue…
Now daddy
told me that he would provide the funds we required for the swab test as well
as Prof’s consultation fees at our next appointment. (See Episode 2 of season
2) so he needed Justina and I to ensure that the swab test was done early so
that we could see the doctor on the 19th, July, 2015. (It takes about two days
to have a swab test result ready and the Prof consults mostly on Sundays).
Now I
told Justina to call the diagnostic centre (Echo Scan Services Limited) to
inquire about the cost and procedure for the swab test so we could plan
accordingly for it.
WE HAD
DECIDED THAT Justina would call the diagnostic centre today the 11th July, 2015.
WE HAD DECIDED!
On the
night of the 11th July, 2015, I snapped!
You
remember Justina and I decided that she was going to call the diagnostic
centre? Well she didn't!
Her
excuse for this lapse was that she didn't think she would have time to do the
swab test the following week (That’s from the 13th July up until the 16th since
it takes two days to have the result ready and we needed it before the 19th)
She explained that she had an audit exercise on Monday the 13th and a training
program from Tuesday to Thursday(15th-16th).
I was
having none of that. I believed that even if the world would cease spinning,
anything aimed at the fulfilment of the June 7 covenant must be priority! In annoyance,
Justina tried to defend herself and then she angrily said she had other things
on her mind and that made me even more irritated….what could be more important for
us at this stage than having children???
Now I am
not a woman beater. Never laid hands on my wife and by his grace, I never
shall. But I had my way of dealing with such issues; I switch off. My demeanour
becomes cold and I avoid conversations except when it is very important.
My
attitude continued till the next day…my own brand of emotional abuse (such a
shame right?)
On the
12th July, 2015, in church, (The Latter Rain Assembly) Pastor Uche was taking
the SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES segment (It runs from 9am to 10am and it is a bible
study session) Guess what the topic was? The essence of forgiveness.
The first
bombshell hit me… “Forgiveness is important for the answering of prayers.
Without us letting go of hurt, it is difficult to pray in agreement”
“For where two or three are gathered together
in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20
How can
Uzoma and Justina then offer acceptable sacrifice of praise to God when they do
not agree?
The
second bombshell: “YOU CANNOT BE OFFENDED AND ANOINTED AT THE SAME TIME!”
“Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry,
For anger rests in the bosom of fools”. Ecclesiastes 7:9
The third bombshell hit: “When we pray, we say
“forgive us our trespasses even as we forgive those who trespass against us”
this is a direct directive to Christians, you have to carry on the nature of
Christ by forgiving others so that you can become a bonafide recipient for forgiveness”.
And yet
another bombshell: “Manasseh precedes Ephraim…one must forget past hurts and
toils before one can be fruitful”.
“Joseph
called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my
toil and all my father’s house.” And the name of the second he called
Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.” Genesis
41: 51
Since we
are Christians and we are expected to be Christlike, what does it mean when we
pray “Give us this day, our daily bread…”
When we
ask for our daily bread, God expects us to likewise be in a position to give
daily bread to those he has entrusted in our care. Bread represents more than
just food or material needs…bread is everything necessary for life.
In Mark
7:27, we read about Christ’s conversation with the Syro-Phoenician woman…in
that situation, bread represented divine healing.
“But Jesus said to her, “Let the
children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and
throw it to the little dogs.” Mark 7:27
In
Numbers 14:9, Bread represented victory against enemies.
“Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor
fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has
departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”
Numbers 14:9
Daily,
your spouse requires love, care, kindness, protection and attention from you…
And then
the final bombshell landed on my head in church that day: “There is a place for
discipline but do not punish anyone with their daily bread”.
OUCH!
The Holy
Spirit directed me to make peace with my wife. All through the drive home, I
fought within my spirit concerning how I was to go about the peace making
process. The Holy Spirit directed me to call my wife when we got home,
apologise to her, forgive her and then join hands in prayer; the Devil told me
to punish her a little longer so that next time, she will know better than to
challenge my authority…
And so I
hardened my heart.
“And they said, “That is hopeless! So we will
walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the dictates of his
evil heart.” Jeremiah 18:12
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