Encounters With Great People That Changed My Life Forever—pt. 3

LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE

Manifestations Of The Spirit And Power Of God

“And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” 

1 Corinthians 2:4 (New King James Version)

Bring me that young man

In August of 2004, I attended a church service where Rev. Eastwood Anaba preached from his book: The Quest for Supremacy. It was the first time I sat under his ministry. After preaching, he led the entire congregation into a time of worship and started “ministration”. During that time, I was so engulfed by the Holy Spirit and began to sob. I did my best to swallow down the sobs and wiped my eyes free of tears because I didn’t want the people around me to know I was sobbing. Also, I did this to maintain my composure under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, at a point, I couldn’t hold myself together anymore and began to sob uncontrollably. 

Rev. Eastwood, as he is usually called, entreated the church to be silent. But, I was still sobbing aloud on the floor like a baby. Although overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, I was so ashamed of myself. While on the floor, I thought to myself “how can you do this in church?”. After a while, Rev. Eastwood said to the ushers “bring me that young man”. The ushers lifted me from the floor and delivered me to him. I remember he said to me “young man, it’s well”. He then put his hands around me and continued ministering. At the time, I didn’t understand what it meant to stand right next to such a great man of God who was operating under opened heavens. Even if some of his anointing rubbed off on me that day, I couldn’t tell.

The untended tape

Fast forward to 2006 and I’m in my freshman year at Takoradi Polytechnic (now Takoradi Technical University). There, I had a friend in Nzema Mensah hall whom I visited frequently. On many occasions when I visited, I saw a preaching tape entitled Extra oil by Rev. Eastwood lying untended on the floor. Each time I went to visit him, I saw the tape on that floor, untouched or moved. One day, I went to visit this friend just as I used to do. However, this time around, I decided to pick the tape from the floor. I went on to listen to the tape and was astonished that such a treasure could be left on the floor unattended. I was blessed by the message. Honestly, I did not return the tape.

A few years later, I recounted this story of the untended tape to another friend. To my surprise, the tape was actually for him, but he had given it to our other friend. I explained to him that I just couldn’t resist the temptation of not returning the tape after some time. We both laughed it off.

Oversized shoes

Let’s move on. While I listened to Extra oil, I couldn’t immediately piece together the relevance of the speaker to me. It was after I had listened to many of Rev. Eastwood’s messages that I remembered that he was the same man of God I encountered in August of 2004. I had developed a fondness for him and his ministry without realizing it. My affection for him and his ministry was inexplicable. It was then that I realized God was up to something indeed.

One day, after that realization, I had a dream. In the dream, I saw myself walking in oversized shoes. I didn’t see him in the dream. But, somehow, I knew that the oversized shoes were actually for Rev. Eastwood Anaba.   

The second time

In July of 2008, a friend of mine told me that he had seen a flier by Faith Alive Chapel International  (Sekondi) with Rev. Eastwood as one of the speakers. The program was scheduled to cover six days and Rev. Eastwood was going to speak for two of those days. My friend knew that I was an avid listener of Rev. Eastwood so decided to inform me about it. I said to him that I had no money on me and therefore, I wouldn’t be able to attend the program. He then offered to pay for my transportation so we could go together. I accepted. 

After the first day’s meeting, I went to see Rev. Eastwood for prayers. This was the second time I was so close to the man of God. Indeed, it was not easy breaking through the barriers to see him especially after such a long and exhausting night of ministration. You’d remember from my previous post that in 2004, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills said to me in a dream “follow me let me teach you how to tap the anointing”. So, at this point, my appreciation of the anointing was much more. I managed to break through the challenges that I was faced with to reach the man of God.  In the end, I was able to see him and he prayed for me.

Genuine admiration

One thing I admire about the ministry of Rev. Eastwood is his knowledge of the word of God. I just love the passion and power with which he preaches the word of God. The boldness that he exhibits behind the pulpit is very astonishing. In fact, I desire to be able to preach the word of God with such strength and influence.

Another dimension of Rev. Eastwood’s ministry that excites me is the extent to which the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the power of God are manifested in his meetings. The testimonies in his ministry are uncommon. Sincerely, I also yearn to see the manifestation of gifts of the Holy Spirit and the power of God in my ministry to that same or greater degree. 

Demonstration of the Spirit and power of God

As believers, we must desire to hear the word and walk in it. Again, we must earnestly yearn and pray for the manifestations of the Spirit and power of God in our meetings. We cannot continue to have church meetings that are devoid of the demonstration of the Spirit and power of God. The word of God that we preach must be confirmed by the demonstration of the Spirit and power of God. Paul always preached his messages while demonstrating the Spirit and power of God. That is why in Mark we see that “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” (Mark 16:17-18, NKJV). We must bear in mind that there are people who will not believe until they see the demonstration of the Spirit and power of God. Which is why Jesus said “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” (John 4:48, NKJV)

Let’s keep the fire burning until the second coming of Jesus Christ!