Praise the name of the Lord both from now and forever, amen. Today, I want to share a testimony to the glory and praise of the name of the Lord, Amen.
Have been through various challenges in my life, but I think the biggest of them all is the challenges that came on my Business and finances about 5years ago, I never knew I could come out of it, I never knew it can come to an end, but I give God the glory today, because it is a bygone, Jesus is indeed the Lord. It happened like this;
God gave me a Business idea and I was running it successfully and before you know it, God blessed my Business in a big way, then, I came up with an idea, which seems good actually, but at the end, I believe it was not God’s will for me to take that step, remember the bible says, there is a way that seems right to men but the end is the way of death, that was exactly the case here, but what idea was that?
I brought in investors into my Business; I had people who invested their money with me, into my Business and I was paying them a certain amount or % every 2 to 3months. Now, this was not difficult to run at first, so I didn’t consider it a big deal, many people actually invested big money, even in millions of naira with me and that made me very happy and seemingly rich also, but it was not a good idea on the longrun actually, because it affected my Business and finances at the end of the day.
The first challenge was that, it come to a point whereby the amount I was paying people monthly or 2 to 3monthly after our business return came in, was too much, it was like working like an elephant and eating like ant, I was using my skill and potential to work for people but I was not getting a good portion of the return to myself or to the Business. I was never under any obligation not to reduce the profits share, but I decided not to do so, because I don’t want to disappoint people, (painfully, the same set of people I did not want to disappoint them. Ended up disappointing me and getting me into serious trouble on the longrun).
We continued this way, until my business was under pressure, because we don’t even have enough to replenish the Business smooth running, as larger percentage of our income keep going back to the investors, all because we don’t want to disappoint them, this cost us a lot of issues and stress, financial pressure and challenges, we were not smiling but our investors were smiling, this was a point where we ought to put an end to the investment program, but yet, we continued and that was what led to serious destruction and attack on the BUSINESS.
The Business at a point failed because the account we were using to earn money got banned online, and this affected our only income source, both for the Business and for our investors, at this point, we told our investors we can no longer continue the program, then every investors want their capital back, this was a stormy time, because the business that can provide the fund as just been jeopardized, every effort to explain what happened to our investors was not yielding any good feedback, it was obvious nobody really care about you, your wellbeing what matters to people is their money in your hand or some money they are expecting from you, if I knew this was the case, I would have shutdown the investment program long ago or even reduce the % we pay to a ridiculous amount that will not cost us a fortune. When everybody started requesting for a refund, I had to pay about 3 people off with the money available, but we still have about 7 people on our neck, some were trying to be understanding, others were not, one of them was even someone whom I taught the same business and help him to set up everything and since he had no investors like mine, he was doing fine, guess what? He came to my house with SARs, and I was shocked, we went to their office, but I thank God, God took control that day, I was sick and taking drug, the SARS folks picked the drug, my pastor came to the SARs office that day, and told them he is aware of everything and he was even the one that bought the drug for me, eventually they agreed that we should go to the guy’s lawyer office and sort things, that was how I was able to return back home that day, but from that day, I was not able to sleep at night, I knew there is a serious fire on the mountain. Because this is just one of my creditors, what of others, what are they up to? I was in serious fear, and it got to a point, I had to flee to another city, when some folks came to my house another night, I thought it was police this time around, but it was not, they were even my church members whom I owe just 70k (I was perplexed because I have given people 100k, 150k and even more in the past, I have also help people to pay off their debts in the past), but now, things are not going well with me again and I know I am in serious trouble right now. I had to flee from where I was to another city, and start a new life there while seeking for a solution to my predicament.
One day, out of frustration, I was praying to God for a way out of this mess, and while I was praying the Lord showed me a picture of an animal, and I said what does this means? And God said to me, do you remember that when the widow went to the prophet elisah, the prophet said, what do you have in your house? She said nothing except a Jar of Oil, and that oil was deployed for her miracle, I said yes LORD! Then, he said to me, this animal is your own Oil, I said how come? I’m heavily indebted in Millions of Naira, how can this animal be my Oil of solution and way out? Then, the scriptures came to my spirit; “blessed is she that believe, for there shall be a performance of everything that is told her by the LORD”.
So that strengthens my faith, and I said, Lord I believe you; let it be unto me according to your word, this was in the afternoon that day, while I was praying o, I was scotting with a friend in his house, he was a keyboardist in a Dunamis Church then, he didn’t even know me from anywhere, except in that church, I asked him to please allow me move to his house since I joined the church choir, this kind hearted brother allowed me, even when he didn’t know what I was going through.
Now, I must also say, since I left the city where I was before, and most of my creditors are in that city, they don’t see me again and I don’t pick their calls either because I do not have the money to pay them back yet, I was just looking for what I can do to pay back the money, so that I can be free.
Many of them thought I had run away with their money, but this is not so, I am a person of integrity just that the predicament was making it look as though, I was running away with their money, but It wasn’t so, I really want to have peace of mind so as to be able to get out of the challenges.
Now, in obedience to what God told me, I started the animal farm in a very small way, and at that time, I was praying both at night, midnight and day time, I was really looking for a way out desperately, I needed a solution by all means, the first time God did for me was that, he brought me in contact with a prophet of God, I shared my challenges with him and he decided that we should meet together at a place called “Youth Camp” where we can pray together, so during the week we pick a day and on Sunday in the evening too, we meet and pray together. From there, God began to show up, the first sign I remember is that, God gave me customers, they were just willing to buy those animals from me, the income from there was not much, but it was something that could take care of my food need, transport and wellbeing. Another major breakthrough was that, someone from Kogi state came to the state where I was, and she came for a wedding; I was owing her some money too, about 200k. When she requested to see me, I brought her to my house and she meet me for the very first time, she asked me, what are you doing now? I told her, I am into livestock farming, and she saw the animals inside the cage, she love them and she said, she will like to buy some of them (and I was already thinking, she will buy them for free). But she actually paid for them, but she said to me, why don’t you do this thing in large scale? I said, ma… I will like to do so too, but I don’t have money right now to do large scale, she said OKAY, she has spent 2million on the wedding she came for, but when she return to Kogi state, she will see what she can do to help me raise some money by then. I said Okay ma.
She left, two weeks afterwards, she called and requested for my bank account details, I sent it to her, lo and behold, she sent me 100k and said, I should go and expand my Business, when I am making good profits I can pay back her money… I was like, what!!! Is this how God work? That was the beginning of my breakthrough; quickly I ordered for more animals from Ibadan and expanded my farm.
Let me tell you something here, God is real, God is powerful, even when you are down, God is still working things out, just believe him, no matter what you are going through, God can still make a way out for you even when you think there is no way, God is indeed a way maker, that was how things began to change for me for good, after her own, someone also paid me 50k to buy some animals, I started paying the debts gradually, but the one that blow my mind the most is that, while I was thinking this animal business God told me to venture into is not like poultry farming, is not a lucrative Business or a common one, well… God knows what he is doing. By the following year, the Business became a booming venture in Nigeria and many people began to venture into it, that was how I ran into serious money through the Business, paid a debt of over 4.5 Million Naira conveniently, people began to look from other states, far and near, God prospered my ways and brought me out of debt, I return the glory to God.
Some of the lessons I learn along the way;
- Believe God, no matter what you may be going through; trust God enough that he is able and capable to turn things around. God is not limited like we are, he is the almighty, and he can bring you out of any pit of life.
- Follow God’s leading, most times our escape and rescue is inside divine direction, if you despise it, you will blame yourself at the end of the day, God is always speaking, but how much do we listen and obey him? Remember, his foolishness is wiser than the wisdom of Men.
- Before you venture into a Business, go to God, pray and ask for direction, be sure he is leading you into it, not just that you heard about it and felt it’s nice and you jump into it, you may sink your destiny in a hurry. Don’t just go to God when everything as crashed, immediately you notice something is not going right, go to God early, it will save you from falling completely.
- Have this understanding: The BUSINESS WORLD IS A VERY SPIRITUAL WORLD! I can tell you this with all confidence, it is a very spiritual world, you cannot afford to be spiritual dry, otherwise, you will have yourself to blame, the Business is a spiritual world, so make sure you have a covenant with God, make sure that you belong to God, this is what will save you when challenges of Life comes, the bible says in Deut 8:18, Thou shall remember the Lord thy God for it is he that giveth thee, the power to get Wealth.
- Pay your Tithe: I noticed something, when the debt came in, I stopped tithing, I started paying the debt, instead of it to reduce, it was just increasing and increasing, and I realize what happened is that, tithe is what shutdown the operation of the devourer in your Business and finances but when you don’t pay tithe, the devourer is at liberty to afflict you, and also tithe is what open the windows of heaven upon your life, if you are not a tither, the windows of heaven will remain shut over you, your Business and everything, so provoke an open heaven via tithing.
- Don’t borrow Money, try as much as possible to take away borrowing from your life, the reason is because, the business world is a spiritual world, some people’s involvement in your business with their money is enough to destroy your business, because they are not meant to have hand in your Business, also I personally discourage the idea of investors, trust God to provide money for you to run your idea and business, God as provision with him, if you ask him, he will give you in a way that it will come with peace and not with destruction.
- Don’t look down on yourself, no matter what you have been though in life, you can still succeed you can make it, your challenges is never the end of you, believe God always and believe in yourself, also if you make mistake, go to God and ask for mercy, God will forgive you but much more, forgive yourself, don’t hold your own past mistakes against yourself, you are a man who failed, but you are not a failure, you are a man who made mistake, you are not a mistake yourself, let this understanding sink into you, so that the enemy will not be able to use anything against you.
So this is my testimony, I decide to share it publicly with the world today, because I believe that it will bless and edify thousands of people across the world, especially those who are going through, one affliction or the other that as to do with debt, God can help you, he can pay it, believe him.