Bøger af Festus Ndukwe

God has used various people at different times to make this book possible. Rev. Mike Oye deferred his trip and shut himself indoors, reading and making useful corrections. I was greatly humbled and unworthy of such honor. Gbile Akanni remains an inspiration. His brief counsels dropped here and there, any time we met, were very helpful. For my pastor, Rev. Clement Anegbe, I remain grateful. His rugged faith was contagious during the times of my numerous afflictions. Rev. Anegbe has since gone to his reward. Jacob Tsado and Isaiah IIo edited the book. Timothy Olonade, once my team leader, was a motivator. For the ten years I worked under him, he con- tributed to my growth in my writing ministry. Augusta Otukoya (Nee Obaso- han) did the layout and cover design of the first edition. Again, Augusta has since joined the saints triumphant. My brethren in CAPRO Media, Jos, creat- ed the right atmosphere for my growth. My dear wife, Felicia, supported me during those hours of labor and prayer. My father, Louis Emeh of blessed memory, like Hannah of the Bible, in spite of the grumbling of the world, released me unconditionally to the Lord to serve Him in a terrain with no trace of earthly gain. I must not fail to mention my numerous friends, elders and fathers in the faith. The Lord has, at various times, used them to wash my feet and refresh my spirit. This second edition could not have come out at the time it did if not the role Taiwo Oladejo played to make it possible. First of all, after reading the only copy with me, the book having been out of print since year 2004 or thereabout, Taiwo impressed it on me to work on a second edition. He picked the book and re-typed it. I remain grateful to him. Finally, I must acknowledge my Lord Jesus who is daily working in me to fashion out a tested and tried vessel. This book is His.

What first led me to write a book on discipleship is the compelling force to pass on something to this generation, things the Lord has taught and exposed me to over the years, things that are not of doctrine but of life. The second is that people from various churches go through discipleship and mission training in CAPRO offices in different cities and we do not have materi- als to give them that are concise and written in the context of our environment. The third reason is closely related to the second. We teach these things, espe- cially, the course, 'Call to Discipleship' as churches invite us to run training on discipleship and missions, and we have no materials to leave behind for them to read. This demand provoked me to work on this book. The fourth reason stems from a commission we received from a Christian leader, to publish the truth and scatter it everywhere as certain men are spreading a message that is not really the Gospel. One effective way to 'contend for the faith, which was once delivered to the saints' is to keep publishing the truth. What we speak may be forgotten soon after we had left a meeting but what is published will last several generations. I have faith that several years after I might have gone, if the Lord tarries, someone will find this little book, may be, covered with dust, and republish it to contend the violence that will be unleashed against the Church. Except the Lord does something speedily, the coming years will be one of the worst for the Church. I am praying within me that this book will be part of God's reserved army to resist the force of evil in days ahead. It is my prayer that through this book, this purpose will be accomplished, as well as meet the need of our Lord today in raising instruments of war out of His many children who have seen it fit to walk this path. It is for these reasons that this book is written. May God bless it and turn it into 'a live coal in his hand' and burn it into the hearts of our readers! Amen!

Prayer, especially, mission praying has never been sustained through merely or- ganizing mission programmes. Some Christians out of emotion would shout and jump during such meetings but at the end, they never pray again for the un- reached until, may be, another year when they gather for another programme. We must trust God to catch the spirit of prayer. This however, is a personal thing. The reason is because a programme may kindle a prayerful spirit, but can- not sustain a prayerful spirit. Catching the spirit of prayer is what sustains a prayerful spirit. The will to spend time with God alone and to pray for the na- tions on a consistent basis often leads men to catch the spirit of prayer, and ulti- mately the spirit of missions. My prayer is that you catch this spirit as you read through this little book, and pray, pray and pray! The copies of the first edition, titled, "Prayer, A Christian Response to the Missions Challenge" had exhausted. A Christian brother who read the book vis- ited and told me how he took a copy of the book to his church and read some excerpts to the audience as he challenged the church on the matter of prayer. And he requested for more copies. I told him we did not have them again, except a few. He asked what it would cost to do a re-print. This revised edition with some excerpts from two previous editions of Occu- py, centering on the theme Prayer & Missions has been reproduced, courtesy of the generosity of this brother. It is my prayer that through this book our eyes will be further opened to see the incredible power prayer has in throwing wide open, the gates of hell when His Church takes mission praying as business. Painfully today, prayer, a great weapon for revival, national rebirth and turn- ing nations to Christ is being misused and abused. When a church, which is sup- posed to be a house of prayer for all nations, is turned to a house of prayer for self and personal vendetta against perceived enemies, it jeopardizes the purpose for which God has established the Church. Prayer, the Christian's Airpower, is a call for Christians to go back to selfless intercessory prayer for church revival and the evangelization of the nations.

From history, the goal of the Gospel has always been to raise men and women that will rule for God anywhere they are found- in the Media, Judiciary, Leg- islature, Executive, Civil Service, Colleges and Universities, Non-governmental agencies and the private sector. The goal is to raise rods- people who will rule with a rod of iron, and dash Satan and unrighteousness to pieces as the vessels of a potter, Rev.2:27.

It was never in my plan to write a book like this, having published some recent- ly. Writing this book was never my conception. In His usual dealings with me, and without any prior discussion, God impressed upon me to get another book out to the church. For days God's hand was strong. Apart from speaking in meetings, God never let me do any other thing but to get this work done. I understood the heart of God. I could sense the urgency of the Spirit. God has given so much in Christ but we are manifesting so little of Christ. God was saying, "Many of my children do not know what they have. I want to reveal Myself once again so that they know the limitless power that I have released to the church, hence this book." This book may not be like other books many readers are used to. The reader may not get the best if he reads only once and drops it. If he reads once or twice he may not fully understand it. It is a book he must read, not just thrice, but as many times as possible. The reason is because some of the things the Lord is saying are deep. The reader needs to go very deep to call it forth. There is the need to sound this alarm because the book is not a novel or sto- ry or fiction. It is not a book you read in a hurry. It is a book that takes you on a spiritual journey where you will become bonded with Christ and practically rule with Him. It is a book that as you read, you will pause, meditate, pray, and continue reading. If you are a person whose heart is right, and not seeking for any other thing in church apart from God, you will not want to drop it until you are through. If you read this book without the mindset of drawing out all the riches God has stored in it, please do not bother to read. If only one person understands the heart of God as revealed in this book and pursues it, and becomes the kind of instrument God is looking for in our generation, then the purpose of this book is achieved; this book may have been written for just that one man. That one man can be you! Do not let the opportunity to become great for God pass you by. God is waiting for you! Blessed reading!

Every day, I move about with a sense of indebtedness (and sometimes guilt) to my generation, especially the younger ones. In the past few years, there has been a compelling force to leave something behind for my generation. My heart bleeds to see the systematic erosion of the foundational truths of the Gospel. Liberal Gospel, comedy and all forms of en- tertainment are taking over some church services. This is done in a bid to keep the youth in Church. The Church seems to have been brought to the state of that widow in 2 kings whose two sons the creditors threatened to take. Like this widow, the Church seems not to have sufficient 'oil' to meet the demands of modernization while on the other hand there is more than enough in the 'New Creation' to not only meet the demands posed by the world system but to conquer it and make it our slave. Again, the 'New Creation' is one course I have taught in our Discipleship and Mission Exposure programs without any solid material for follow-up. Students will find in this book a rich store to nourish their souls and to relive what they had been taught in the class. For Christians and ministers of the Gospel, this book exposes and explores the manual of the new creation man which will help them live victoriously and equip them to disciple today's generation for Christ. Festus U. Ndukwe Lagos, December 2013

Over time my cry has been how to encourage and guide the sincere Christian to experience Christ in power. I noticed that many Christians are still struggling to live the Christian life, not to talk of becoming a strong testimony for the Lord. They may be many years in the Lord yet there is no much difference in their spiritual lives. There is no power. This has given me concern. God's way to usefulness and effectiveness is not complicated but why is it dif- ficult for many Christians to realize this? This is the purpose of this book. It is a simple but graphical illustration of the route the Christian takes to come into full realization of God's thought for him. May the Christian find this a guide to honestly evaluate his walk with the Lord and respond appropriately to Him! Amen! Festus U. Ndukwe Lagos, January, 2014.