I am 60 years old but have
never ever bought a car for
myself. It was not for lack
of money. Before God
made me close down all my businesses in one day in
2005, I made a lot of
money. However, the Lord
controlled the purse-strings
and spent all the money for
me. I did not get any permission to buy a car or
even build a house for
myself. Nevertheless, I was
allowed to buy cars for
others no less than six
times. This January 2013, I went
on bended knee to the
Lord. “Daddy, you know I
don’t ask you for carnal
things as a rule, but I need
a car. I know the exercise is good for me, but I am
tired of walking to work.” Our Father The Lord answered my
prayer in a most amazing
manner. Within three days,
my in-law went to Cotonou,
bought a Toyota Highlander
Jeep, and gave it to me. I pleaded with her that I
could not receive the gift. I
don’t like Jeeps. They are
just way too big for me. I
also did not want to
increase my financial burden by having to pay too
much for petrol. So I
respectfully declined her
offer. I thought that was the end
of the matter until I got a
phone-call from a long-lost
friend in Port Harcourt
some eight days later. He
left Lagos for Port Harcourt exactly six years ago. He
said the Lord told him:
“Femi Aribisala needs your
car in Lagos. I want you to
send it to him.” He told me
he resisted the directive for eight days, until the Lord
reminded him of it again
during the Sunday service
in church. “Sir,” he said, “I
have no choice in the
matter. I will get a driver to bring the car to you by
the week-end.” The next day, I got a
phone-call from his wife.
“Did my husband tell you
God said he should give you
his car?” she asked. “Yes,”
I replied, sensing some trouble in the air. “Well,”
she said, “it serves him
right. He must give you
that car.” “What is going
on?” I asked the Lord. The
woman continued: “My husband likes that car too
much. Do you know that
since he bought it, he has
never allowed me to drive
it? When he is travelling
out of the country, he parks the car in his office, so I
will not be able to reach it.
Doctor, he must give that
his car to you. It is the will
of God.” Imagine my surprise when
I discovered the car in
question is also a Toyota
Jeep. But significantly, this
one is a Toyota RAV4; a
much smaller Jeep than the Toyota Highlander my in-
law offered me. In short,
when I rejected the bigger
Jeep, God sent me a smaller
one. He then reminded me
that the RAV4 was the same size as the Land
Rover Freelander I had
wanted to buy several years
earlier, which he had then
vetoed. The next Sunday, by 4 p.m.,
my new car arrived with a
note from the sender which
reads as follows: “Dear
Pastor, On Sunday, January
13, 2013, God spoke to me clearly. Pastor Femi
Aribisala has need for your
one and only vehicle (2007
RAV4, Toyota SUV.) In
obedience to God’s word
after eight days of struggle, I hereby deliver this car to
you for the use and to the
Glory of God. To God be the
Glory.” Hearing ears I am the confirmation that
God indeed spoke to this
man because I told no one
but God that I wanted a car
this year. How was this
man able to hear God speak? Why is it that so
many Christians cannot
hear God? Those who
cannot hear God often
persecute those who can
and try to make us believe it is the devil speaking to
us. That is kingdom
dynamics. The Ishmaels
persecute the Isaacs. Jesus
says: “He who is of God
hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear,
because you are not of
God.” (John 8:47). A dubious Christian
gentleman berated me
because I don’t believe in
Paul. He reminded me that
I don’t believe Jesus is a
sacrifice for sins. He highlighted the fact that I
maintain the bible is not
the word of God. Then he
reached this wonderful
conclusion: “How can you
be a Christian if you don’t believe the fundamentals
of Christianity?” If those are the
fundamentals of
Christianity, then
Christianity is a dead
religion. I am not trying to
be a Christian. I claim to be a son of God. The
fundamentals of my faith
lie in my daily relationship
with God. It is not in
reading the bible or in
going to church, or in fooling myself that Jesus
has taken away my sins. It
is in walking before God,
hearing his voice and
obeying him. It is in doing
the will of God and not in reading Paul and quoting
him. It is in knowing God
and in God knowing me by
name. It is in loving God
and in trusting him. To those Christians who
continue to berate those of
us grounded enough to
know that Jesus and not
the bible is the word of
God, Jesus says: “You search the Scriptures, for
you believe they give you
eternal life. And the
Scriptures point to me! Yet
you won’t come to me so
that I can give you this life eternal! Your approval or
disapproval means nothing
to me, for as I know so
well, you don’t have God’s
love within you.” (John
5:39-41). Friends of God True Christianity is not a
religion. True Christianity
is a relationship. It is a
relationship with God. The
bible is important because
it details some relationships that God had
with men of old. But we
are not meant to live
vicariously by their
experience. The bible
confirms it is possible to walk with God, talk with
God and obey his voice. It
is then up to us to insist on
establishing similar
relationships with God. There is little point in
spending a lifetime
boasting about what God
said in private to
Abraham. The question is
what is God saying to you? Eternal life is the
knowledge of God. The
fundamental question,
therefore, is not whether
Jesus was born of a virgin
or not. The fundamental question is does God know
you by name? Does he talk
to you? Is he your friend?
Is Jesus your Good
Shepherd? Do you hear his
voice and follow him? Jesus says: “My sheep hear
my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me.” (John
10:27). On Sunday, 31st March,
2013, I got a phone-call
from the man who sent me
his Jeep. “I am in Lagos,”
he declared. “I have a
testimony to give you.” He drove to my house in a
virtually brand-new Toyota
4Runner, a much bigger
Jeep than the one he had
given me. “My former boss
in Lagos sent for me. He got a better job in Canada
and is leaving the country.
Look! He gave me his new
Jeep. Can you see how God
works?”...culled from vanguardngr