FED UP!

(…continued…)

She called pastor and asked if she could come and see him. He asked her to come. She hung up, excused herself and left the office.

  “She is very simple and direct o,” Mabel said when she left.

  “Yes,” her mother said.

  “If I had known she was like this, I would have been coming closer to her since.”

  “When you look at her from afar,” Cynthia said. “You will think she is this kind of person with a lot of protocols and who doesn’t have time for anybody.”

  “She is nice.”

  “Her counsel has helped very well.”

  “What do we do now?”

  “Let’s wait till she comes back.”

                They waited for a while. About 8 minutes later, pastor’s wife came back into her office.

  ‘I told him,” she said to them. “He said you should come,”

  “Ok.”

                She led the way and they followed. They got to the pastor’s office. He was sitting on his chair with his bible and writing pad open in front of him. They greeted him and stood.

  “Deaconess how are you?” he asked their mother.

  “Daddy, I have not reached deaconess o”

  “How are you first?” he asked again smiling.

  “I am fine daddy.”

                He turned to Mabel and Cynthia.

  “Ada how are you?” he asked Mabel.

  “I am fine daddy,” Mabel replied.

  “This one you came, did you bring venison?”

  “Another time daddy,” Mabel said, laughing.

  “Cynthia, you are growing by the day.”

  “Thank you daddy.”

  “If I don’t marry you as second wife, you will wait for my son o.”

  “You marry second wife, I marry second husband,” his wife said.

                They laughed. 

  “You are welcome.”

  “Thank you daddy.”

  “I would have offered you seat but I am preparing for service and I will not take much time with you.”

  “No problem sir.”

  “Mummy told me some things. I know your family and have always been praying for you, but this sense of urgency needs urgent attention. So we will embark on prayers. We will fast for the next seven days. I will join you in it. Then next week, you will come much earlier, and then I will break the fast with you in the company of some of my prayer warriors and pastors. This yoke must be broken. The death of Jesus will not be in vain in your life.”

  “Amen sir.”

  “Can you do it?”

  “My daughters are not feeling well,” their mother said. “Should they stop the drugs they are taking? Can I fast on their behalf?”

  “No. Everyone must be involved. They can do 6 to 12. Then when they are done with the drugs and feel better, they can increase their fast time.”

  “Ok sir.”

  “While you fast, believe that all power belongs to Jesus and so the yoke is breakable. What we are doing is to enforce the victory that Jesus already got for us on the cross.”

  “Daddy, let me add something,” his wife said.

  “Feel free to.”

  “Fasting is not hunger strike.”

  “Yes,” pastor concurred.

  “You must make sure you make out quality time to pray and study. That is the only way it can qualify as a fast. If you keep watching the clock and just pray summarized prayer, then you are not fasting. Now that you have declared a fast is when the appetite for food will triple. That is the trick of the enemy. Don’t let it get to you. Stay away from impurities. Control yourself and you will see what the Lord will do for us.”

  “Ok,” they replied.

  “Later, I will give mummy some scriptures you will study and declare during the fast,” pastor said. “Let me pray for you before you go.”

                They bowed their heads and he said a word of prayer over their lives. They thanked him when he was done and turned to leave.

“Make sure you do all mummy has already told you to do,” he said when they were at the door. “Prayer doesn’t cancel out wisdom; faith doesn’t overrule common sense ok.”

  “Ok sir.”

                They left the office.

  “We will wait and collect the scriptures from mama,” Mabel said.

  “Are we waiting here, her office or in church?” their mother asked.

  “Let’s hang around here so she will not forget.”

  “This fasting sef,” Cynthia said.

  “What happened to it?”

  “You can fast on my behalf.”

  “Why?”

  “That thing mama said is true. Whenever I decide to fast, hunger will start from early morning.”

  “Just take your mind away from that.”

                Pastor’s office door opened and pastor’s wife came out with a piece of paper in her hand.

  “These are the scriptures,” she said, handing the paper over to their mother. “He said he hopes you are staying for the service?”

  “Yes we are.”

  “It’s ok. Let me go and get ready.”

                They went through the scriptures. Each of the days had a prayer focus and scriptures attached.

  “Will I read everything?” Cynthia asked. “It is too much na.”

  “You have to o,” her mother answered her. “Infact, I will monitor it myself.”

                She folded the paper well and put inside her hand bag and they moved out. Outside, they saw people they knew in groups chatting and getting set for the service. Others were going into the church hall. They exchanged pleasantries with those they knew and went into the church hall, set for the service.

(…to be continued…)

-©2015.Chinedu Isaac