CONVERSION
Being born into a Christian household bestowed upon Pastor Richard a valuable advantage, courtesy of divine providence. From his childhood, he received scriptural instructions through the Sunday school teachings of the local church his family attended. Consequently, he embraced the Word of God within his heart, which nurtured his conscience.
However, despite this foundation, his connection with God didn’t truly manifest in a father-son relationship until the transformative period of April 1984. This significant year marked his entry into High School.
Shortly after admission into High School, he was beset by a prolonged bout of chickenpox that confined him to a challenging state for two months. Unlike his peers who experienced similar circumstances, his ordeal persisted well beyond the typical recovery time, encompassing March to April of that year. The affliction was agonizing, with the pox covering every inch of his body, infiltrating even his tongue and the soles of his feet.
Enduring this ordeal, as his health showed little improvement, his thoughts turned towards matters of eternity, particularly the impending reckoning before the Almighty to account for his journey on Earth. This contemplation both overwhelmed him and spurred him to consider making peace with God.
This period of introspection continued until a crucial turning point on April 23, 1984, when the undeniable conviction of the Holy Spirit grew insistent. Succumbing to this internal prompting, as the clock struck midnight on April 23rd transitioning into the 24th, he emerged from his bed and genuflected beside it, humbling himself in the presence of God. In that hallowed moment, he asked God for His mercy and forgiveness, and thus invited Jesus Christ into his heart as Savior and Lord.
Following this profound encounter, an immense sense of peace and joy enveloped him. God’s benevolence became immediately evident as his ailing body started to heal.
The following day, a Saturday, carried a significant weight of meaning. During that era, there was a weekly Gospel Television broadcast captioned the ‘Hour of Deliverance,’ hosted by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.
This program was aired at 4 pm on the local television network. On this particular day, Pastor Oritsejafor’s sermon centered on ‘How Adam departed from the glory of God.’ Pastor Richard was truly captivated by his message, listening with unwavering attention.
When Pastor Oritsejafor made an altar call, he instinctively raised his hands toward the television screen and declared his faith in the Lord, Jesus.
Fueled by an intense thirst to deepen his relationship with God, he found himself engaging in practices that no one had taught him. He began to immerse himself in daily Bible reading, eventually progressing to the point where he would read through the New Testament each month.
This marked the inception of his annual tradition of covering the entire Bible once a year.
Parallel to his engagement with the Word, an insatiable hunger for daily prayer emerged. The sacred hunger to be alone with Jesus took hold of his soul. He began to relish this experience, gradually extending his prayer sessions to span two uninterrupted hours initially.
Then, on a remarkable evening, while praying around 4 pm, a truly extraordinary event unfolded. As he kneeled beside his habitual place of prayer, singing praises to the Lord for approximately twenty minutes, a mysterious and holy presence enveloped the entire room. In an instant, he felt as though God, akin to a tender and caring mother, enveloped him in the warm embrace of His presence. Wrapped in the loving shelter of His arms, a torrent of His joy surged through the core of his being, rejuvenating and refreshing his very soul.
Words fail to capture the indescribable encounter with divinity that he experienced—the Holy Spirit attending to a hungry mortal whose heart yearns to plumb the depths of the divine glory. It was a splendidly resplendent moment, almost reminiscent of being transported to another realm. It was a foretaste of the rapture, an awe-inspiring and ecstatic encounter.
The magnificence of that instance could have constituted a sublime passage to glory, to be with Him. It felt as though he had already transcended to heaven, basking in the radiant presence of the Lord Jesus. Such profound wonder it held.
The tranquility that enveloped his soul was entirely unknown, beyond any prior conception.
The Holy Spirit manifested Himself to him in a regal manner, an encounter so potent that he was rendered speechless, his voice replaced by inexplicable currents coursing throughout his spirit. These currents, akin to effervescent bubbles of water, flowed from the depths of his inner man to his lips. Their intensity defies adequate expression.
At a certain juncture, he found himself opening his mouth, and in a remarkable turn of events, he spoke in tongues previously unknown and untaught.
This was his encounter with the Holy Spirit, an experience forever etched into his memory.
Through this profound encounter, the Holy Spirit summoned him to the ministry of intercession. Since that tender age, he commenced an ardent daily communion with God, a practice that has since blossomed into a habit of extended prayer sessions.
The Lord has graciously empowered him to surrender fully in this realm, leading him to engage in unbroken prayer stretches of at least five hours daily. This transformation is not a product of personal strength or effort but a manifestation of the Spirit of the Lord.
Hallelujah!