Think about it, a stranger returning my phone, the phone he had switched off! Why was the phone switched off that Thursday, when my wife called the number?
Osondu Anyalechi
On October 25, 2018, I lost my official Church phone when I went to the hospital by public transport. That meant losing my contacts, especially, my counselees. These are people, after reading my column, seek my help in spiritual, domestic, and marital issues. Think about it, losing my phone, five days after writing in this column, ‘But there is a God in Heaven!’ Would unbelievers not be ridiculing, asking why that God in Heaven should allow my phone to be lost? What went wrong really? Was I not careful with the phone? Did I not obey God’s command by ministering His Word in the vehicle?
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My wife dialed the number and it rang and was switched off. She told Airtel to block the number, and they did. I sent a mail to my Church to block the Etisalat number. My wife, Oyin, [our new housemaid] and I, told God that whoever had it must be uncomfortable with it until it is returned to me. That night, my wife and I prayed my usual prayer at such desperate moments. If I lost or forgot something anywhere, I would remind God that since He is God, that I would not be surprised to find it in my room. It works for me, but the next morning, I did not see the phone. I did not bother, as God is still God. Our concern was on Oyin, we are building in faith. I led her to Jesus two days after we had employed her.
About 3pm, my wife’s phone rang with the Etisalat number of my phone. A man asked her if she knew the owner of the phone. “It is my husband’s phone, which he lost yesterday,” she replied joyfully. She and the caller agreed to meet by 7pm at a certain bus stop that evening, for him to give her the phone. When we met him, he told usthathesawitonthe ground at the other side of the bus stop, and when he was picking it, two men came for it but he did not allow them to take it. We had agreed to appreciate him with N3,000 or N5,000 and when we wanted to do that, he refused. We then prayed that our God would reward him bountifully.
God’s intervention in circumstances like this is not peculiar to me. He has been doing that all the time for His children. Two months ago, during our Christian fellowship in my house, a Pastor from Last Days Messengers gave a startling testimony. A thief sneaked into his Church and stole a lady’s handbag, containing a large amount of money and left. They prayed that her bag and money must be recovered. That night, guided by the Holy Ghost, a man traced her house, and returned it, confessing that he was the thief.
Many centuries before the Lord Jesus was born, Professor Elisha was with his Bible college students in River Jordan, when he heard the loud cry of one of his students that the head of the axe he had borrowed for the Lord’s work had fallen into River Jordan. Uncle put a stick inside the river and commanded the head of the axe to swim out. And it did! It was a demonstration of the power of God, our God of the miraculous, not for show, but to meet the need of the hour.
God uses such miracles to encourage us, His children. The ones I saw the day I was born again encouraged me greatly, as well as the healing of my abdominal ulcer three days after. God is still in that business and He will continue to be in it. In 1982, during Kenneth Hagin’s Tenth Camp meeting, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, US, I saw clearly, how God manifested His power. A cripple was among the people healed. He made someone to sit in his wheelchair, while he pushed it around to demonstrate that he was healed. At Enugu, when I was still a young convert, I attended a crusade, where Rev. Timothy Iyanda was ministering and miracles were falling on top of themselves, including a deaf youth, sitting by my side.
The miracle of my phone has made a great impact in the life of our housemaid. She was all eyes for two weeks after my phone was recovered. She confessed that, when we were praying to recover it, she did not believe it. She narrated how she lost hers and it was lost forever. The testimony about the phone confirmed to her what we have been teaching her about God and prayers. We have always insisted that God answers prayers, if we pray in faith and according to His will.
Think about it, a stranger returning my phone, the phone he had switched off! Why was the phone switched off that Thursday, when my wife called the number? That means that the man did not want to release it to us but when we prayed, God convicted him and he had no choice but to surrender it to us. Why did he refuse to accept our financial appreciation, since there was nothing sinful in it? Prayer! For sure, he will gain more through our prayers than what he would have received by selling it. Elisha also refused to accept the gifts, which Naaman gave him after his healing. There is great abundance of God’s blessing arising from making sacrifices.
The man returning my phone might seem foolish to some people, especially, those, who steal other people’s things. Whatever thing we do, we will receive the reward. We still pray for him. For those, who will not return such property, they will also receive their rewards. May we resolve from today to be returning such things and if we cannot trace the owners, then we can take them to the nearest Police station.
Why was it that the officer of our Church did not contact Etisalat Company to block my number? Prayer! She did not get my mail because I used her disused email address. Had I not made that ‘mistake’, the line would have been blocked and the man, who picked it, would not have been able to contact us, when the Holy Spirit convicted him. God left that window open for the contact. Roman 8:28 is ever correct: “All things work together for good to them that love God.”
Why did the man see the phone before the other two men, who wanted to grab it? God at work! Had they seen it first, they might not have returned it to us. God made them to see the phone after the man had seen it and was about to take it.
Returning my phone was a great miracle indeed and such testimonies help in building our faith. God’s Word, when delivered powerfully, helps also in faith building. While preaching God’s Word guides us to know what God will do if we believe Him and behave in a particular way, testimonies show us what He has done already. Seven years ago, my GO, after we had listened to testimonies on a Sunday, said that there was nothing more to preach. No preaching! Christian maturity, however, demands that our faith should not waiver if God does not answer us in the way we expect. “There is a God in Heaven”, whether or not my telephone was recovered.
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For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 08023002471; [email protected]