“I Will Guide Thee with Mine Eye”

For a long time, I have been acting just according to my understanding of the Word of God as written in the Bible, telling myself that there was no need of extra leadings from God, over something that is directly written in the Scriptures. I thought it was fanatical to claim that God speaks in any other way extra over what we would read as His Word in the Bible. I would take the Word of God just literally as it says in the Bible. For instance, in relation to doing some acts of mercy, the Bible says, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”* (Matthew 25:40) I would take this as directing me into doing acts of mercy to everyone in need I possibly would come across—even to the extent of using all the monies I would have for myself and my family, leaving us in need too. I would appeal to a congregation to lift an offering to help some in need as often as the need would be voiced.

I have recently found out that we need to seek God some more for extra directions when it comes to some of our actions. I would like to relate how the Lord has taught me these lessons recently.

In recent years, I came across some brethren in the Lord who have been trying to share these things with me in writing; but the lessons were never made clearer to me as they were made directly by the Lord in my experiences in the months of April, May, and June, 2007.

In the middle of April this year, I was burdened to go up country from the coast to attend to some spiritual and social duties that were mine to attend to. The Lord supplied the funds needed and cleared me to go up there. There is a joy that settles over me whenever the Lord would have me do something that was not directly written in the Bible. At times, the Lord would impress on me to do the thing and at times, He would speak to me directly and tell me to do it. This time, I was directly instructed by the Lord to go. So I went up there and I remained some time, ministering around the area I used to pastor before I came to the coast. When I had finished what I thought were my duties to do over there, I made a move to return to the coast to my family and my new congregation. This was on Monday, May 21st. But when I got to the capital, I got stuck there. My money was used up and I could not move from there. I fasted, prayed, and waited upon the Lord for some time, but the Lord did not supply the needed funds. I was puzzled and wondered what was wrong with my relationship with the Lord. But all the time, I felt clear in the conscience that there was no sin in my life, so I prayed on and waited.

On one morning I woke up feeling the joy that the Lord fills me with many times when He wants to reveal something to me. The Lord brought up very vividly to my mind the scripture from Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” I opened the Bible, read the scriptures several times over, meditated and prayed more expectantly, but nothing new seemed to come to me as I read and prayed. The conditions where I was sleeping were so bad that I was not able to write my notes, but I was able to read alright. So I prayed and felt that I should go to check for email letters in a Cyber Cafe.

On my way to the Cafe, the Lord’s voice came directly to me so clearly: “Go back to E—— and M——.” (This is the congregation I was ministering to before I left them for the coast.) Well, I must say this surprised me. I did not have the money at that very moment. But more to the surprise was the fact that I thought I had done all that I was supposed to do in the area. There were to be the ordinances services of feet washing and the Lord’s supper the following Saturday (the next day), but I had excused myself from the saints there since I wanted to get back to my family and the congregation. So at that very time, I truly did not feel the need for me to get back to M—— again.

When I got to the Cyber Cafe, and opened my mail box, I found that a Brother had advised me that He had sent me $50. Immediately, I thought it was not money for the coast saints but it was for my fares back to E—— and M——. But again, I was wrong. Immediately I got the money, the Lord’s voice again came to me saying: “Send most of the money to your family.” Whenever the Lord speaks, there is a finality and so joyous a conviction that it cannot be easily mistaken. So I obeyed, sent $40 to the saints at the coast and waited. Again He said: “Call your brother in the flesh and tell him you are getting back to E——.” So I called my brother and the first thing he told me was, “Come for money to use there.” He carefully gave me directions to his place as I had not been there before; and so I went. He had $31 ready for me! Praise the dear, caring, and benevolent Lord!

By Saturday morning, May 26th, I was at M—— long before the local saints got to the church building. Several testified that they had prayed the Lord to get me back there for the ordinance services. In fact one said that the Lord had already shown them that I would be there. We finished the services late in the evening. However, I felt that the Lord wanted me away from M—— that evening. So I rode a bus to E—— where I spent the night. In the morning, the Lord spoke to me and said: “Go to —— church.” Again it was a surprise as I naturally thought that I would be more useful that Sunday morning at M—— congregation, where the saints had been praying for me to be. But I gladly obeyed the Lord and went to ——. It was around 12:30 pm when I got there, but late as it was, the saints had been late for the services. We began as soon as a good number had arrived and the Lord had me preaching. By the time we finished, it was near to 4:00 pm. We had a good time there as each testified how the Lord had delivered them from man rule and had set them free to only look to the Lord. It was such a joy to me as we had been praying for this congregation for more than three years. Praise the Lord.

I got back to E—— late in the evening that Sunday. In the morning of Monday the 28th, as I was praying (as is my usual habit in the early morning) at 4:00 am, the Lord brought up to my mind the scriptures in Galatians 5:16: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” It was a blessed time for me again and I was so filled with unspeakable joy. As I sat for my breakfast tea (it was all I could afford), the Lord told me He had work for me to do at a place near M——. So I went there and, again, the Lord had gathered together a number of the preachers of the several divisions of the “Two Works of Grace Church of God” groups around E——. We had a good meeting at an hotel place and had a good discussion of the topic of “unity” and how we could be blessed if we obeyed the Lord in this. This was the first time so many of the ministers had met since the divisions in 1999. Only two groups were not represented in the meeting. It was particularly a special occasion, as the meeting was not called by anyone, but purely ordered of the Lord; each just came to the hotel meeting place by inspiration of the Lord. There were no debates, arguments, or any feeling of antagonism towards one another, as used to be in the time of the divisions. It is amazing what the Lord would do if we allowed Him to work. It was wonderful how the Holy Ghost worked. Please, pray that each one of the ministers humbles himself and obeys the Lord. Usually, it is the ministers who cause divisions as they fight for positions of leadership and money, each campaigning for and drawing whatever following he would get.

For a good number of the days that followed, the Lord had me ministering around E—— where a new congregation is being established. No one had particularly called me to the place and only the Holy Ghost led and organized the meetings. The host in particular had been prepared of the Lord, and had come looking for me at M—— some time after I had left to the coast, missing me. He said he had spent several months praying and had prepared his unfinished shop for the church meeting place. Oh, how the Lord works to answer the cry of some hungry soul in an unknown corner of the world. It reminds me of Cornelius, who prayed until an angel came down telling him to send for Peter. In the course of that time, a lot of blessings fell upon me as I saw the hand of the Lord at work in the provision of my needs and also for the needs of a good number of people. We saw the Lord deliver a person from demons and heal others there. Glory to God for all His goodness.

Finally, the Lord released me to get to the coast to attend to the needs there and continue in my normal place of duty.