GIRLS, GUYS AND GOD – Q+A SESSION (TRANSCRIPTION)
AN ONLINE MEETING WITH FGC ODOGBOLU CHAPEL STUDENTS
GUEST: DR. OMOLOLA OMOTESO
Salutation:
For those in Nigeria, good afternoon, for those in all other places, say America, good morning. Good day to you all. My name is Dr. Omolola Omoteso. I refer to myself as a Transformational Strategist but I do so many other things to the glory of God. I'll go right to the first question.
1. How can I balance my spiritual life and academic life?
How can I balance my spiritual and academic life? The question is already starting from a faulty premise because you don't have two lives, you have just one life. So, it should be "How do I balance my life?" . "How may I balance my life?" So, “how do you balance your life?" You have to go to your schedule. We all have 24 hours in a day. What do you want to achieve? Being a spiritual person is the core of who you are, and that is why if you are not getting enough sleep, you may not be getting messages, heaven may not be speaking to you. So you need to sit down and analyse your time. Sometimes, part of your schedule or part of your day is already taken up by things you can't change. If you are in class, if you have to go work, your employer is paying you to use your time, that's it. If you are going to school, you are investing time. So you need to now look at the remaining hours, sleep time is essential. I am still struggling with that… You need to sleep because it is during sleep you get messages, you get divine messages. So, you need to split what is left of your time. Give or take you give 6 to 8 hours to your sleep, if 8 hours is already taken up by work, there's still 8 more hours. Now, you need to pay a tithe of time, a lot of people struggle with that. A tithe of your time is either 2 hours, 40 minutes or if you are mathematician you count it to the last minute, so you know that you have to go to the basic of how many minutes are there in 24 hours. So to balance, you have to be a little bit partial and give more time to what you need more from. For instance, if you have a relationship, you need to invest time in that relationship; you have to. You alone can balance it, BUT you need the help of God and you need the help of the Holy Spirit. We can ask more questions on this later but this is my answer to that. God bless you.
2. Since God knows what is best for me, in what areas of my life do I need to trust him most?
I did say that I’m a Transformational Strategist, and that means I heal people's minds, you know. I do whatever God directs to change people's mindset. If you say that God knows what is best for you, then you need to trust him in all ways, everything; even what you put in your mouth. And that is where prayer over food comes from. You know, I go as far as asking God about what to wear when I'm going to occasions. There was a particular occasion I went to, which was an anniversary of a women's group for which I was the secretary many years ago. Those there now don't know my role or the position I held, I was actually the secretary to the Pastor-in-charge. So I was going to go to this church after so many years and I had to ask God-what do I wear? And he pointed to what I should wear and I wore it. Guess what? When I got to the event… most events have two colours when they are doing colour coding and all that in Nigeria. But this event, they had three colours. What I had on, had the three colours. People were asking me - did anybody show you what we were going to wear? Were you told the colours? God did! So, you need to trust him; it is challenging. I'm still working at it because there are times you feel - I can see it, I know it! But the fact that God asked you to drive in your car yesterday to go to a particular place does not mean God would want you to drive today. Baba Adeboye of RCCG told a story of how when he was going somewhere, God said - take this route. And he said - ah ahn.. but where I'm going is just this place, why should I take, I mean, that long place. So, he had it his own way and of course God would not force you. Guess what? The place he thought was very close had an accident or something had happened, he did not get to where he was going until hours later, he had to ask God for forgiveness. So, in what areas of your life do you need to trust God? Excuse me? Seriously? You need to trust him in all areas! You need to trust Him for your daily bread, your academics. You could be very intelligent and on the day you're supposed to "sweep" your exams as they call it, you know, pass in flying colours; you have a headache that stops you from leaving bed or you don't even wake up. We have a mate that died after he got into the university. Brilliant. But he had a stomach ache; stomach ache! And he did not make it alive. You need need to trust God in all areas.
3. Does my level of involvement in my church demonstrate that I love God and his purposes?
I welcome all those joining us, for me, this is big, the big! This is the first WhatsApp Conference for FGCO that I'm attending. We've done a lot of groups, you know, the alumni, the umbrella body, which is FGCO Old Students Association and I've been telling them, we need to do a conference and this is a conference. So, thank you so much for having me. The question is does my level of involvement in my church demonstrate that I love God and His purposes? Of course! If you put in a lot of work, everybody can see that you love God. But then, does it really demonstrate genuine love, sincere love; only God can award you marks! For loving him, and for doing things according to his purpose and I will explain. When I was in FGC Odogbolu last year to have a counselling project; one or two of you may have joined us. One of the students I counselled said to me, "I had spiritual gifts. I could prophesy, I could see things but I lost it." And she left it there. Then the Holy Spirit immediately said to ask her, “What did you do, as it relates to your involvement in church - you did something?" And she bowed her head in shame and she said me, "I stole money from the offering bag." She said but, “the Lord convicted me of it, I reported to my parents I asked for forgiveness and restituted".. or maybe she didn't restitute, I can't remember the full details because I try not to note down their names so I don't go sharing their names or anything like that. Anyway, I said to her - that's it right there. That's why you lost your gift. According to her, well I've done everything I need to do why is the gift not back. You cannot hurry God to bring back your gift! It would take time, it would take conviction that you are repentant. Some of you sing so well in church, you are committed to rehearsals and everything and everybody can see. It shows that you love God and you are working according to His purpose. But guess what? If you just left a woman who is not married to you, you just left her house after sex to go and hold the microphone, God is not happy with you. Your involvement is not demonstrating to God that you love Him. Also, the Bible says; that you should commit that he would bless the work of your hands. Have you ever asked - what work will He bless? What work will He bless.
4. What is the fastest means to growing up spiritually, prior my initial belief, keeping my spiritual life seems very hard especially in this world of temptations.
The fourth question seems to asking for shortcuts (smiles). I wish I know some that I can quickly take in order to win God's heart more! What is the fastest way to grow up spiritually prior my initial belief, keeping my spiritual life seems very hard especially in this world of temptation. That question is lumped together but I will try and unravel it. Shortcuts, none. To growing up spiritually, zero. Ko si shortcuts. Ba shortcuts. There is no shortcut to growing up spiritually. There are shortcuts to growing up physically; not really growing up physically but to be successful or to be seen as being successful by the world, there are shortcuts. But with God there is no shortcut. The way to grow, is for you to invest time. I already spoke about time. I already spoke about being partial with your time for what you really want to draw more from. So, the fastest means of growing spiritually is for you to invest time in prayers. And it's not selfish prayers ...seeking God's face. For me, there were times that I had to go the mountains. Recently, I spent 10 days with a Spiritual Leader, just having a team pray with me. In fact, when I got to the room I was supposed to be lodged in, I almost ran back. I was like ..what is this! (laughs). I won't even put, you know... (grins)… Anyway, let me leave it there (laughs). So, investing. That's the word. You have to invest time in studying the Bible. You have to invest time in listening to men and women of God, because God shares his heart through them. You have to invest time in conferences, you have to invest time in friendship with people of God. You have to invest time in reading your Bible! There are hidden truths in the Bible. Before, for me to receive spiritual messages concerning somebody I'm counselling, it would take quite some time, I have to pray. But now, you sit in front of me and God is already giving me messages about you because I would have prayed ahead! And so when you come for counsel, my spiritual eyes of understanding are opened and I can immediately tell you. There was somebody that came to me, you know, he was having challenges - money, everything. And he wanted to like – “Omolola I need to talk to you, I need to talk to you” - because we were colleagues. And I said no, you need to schedule. Normally, I would have asked you to pay but I know you so don't worry about payment but you need to schedule. I ask people to schedule because I need to spend time to pray about it. And when it was time - my prayer just before we started was, “Holy Spirit reveal, Holy Spirit reveal” - and I said to him, “You pray.” And as he was praying God revealed to me that he did business with somebody and he cheated the person out of profit. Now, I wouldn't have known that if I tried to do shortcuts. So, for you to gain more, for you to be a spiritual giant, you need to invest time, especially in this world of temptation. Thank you. Let me add to that, you don't have a spiritual life separate from your secular life. You have just one life! So, if you want to grow spiritually, yes, you can grow spiritually because you have your social, spiritual, environmental, physical you know. Thats why we talk about your physical health, you have your mental, your psychological... If you want to grow spiritually, you need to invest time, invest time sincerely. Thank you. Let me quickly correct question four. . There is nothing like prior my initial belief. If you say prior my initial belief - then you are saying before your initial belief. If you are saying at your initial belief - at your initial belief you just know that you believe in God, that's it. You just believe in God. So, you are really empty spiritually, you're just at a point where you may have grown up as a Christian, yes. You may have something in you already but you need to build. You need to now build on whatever you know or whatever you have or whatever level you are on.
5. Is it a must I speak in tongues, I have been doing so but it's as if I am saying rubbish?
Speaking in tongues - this is a full course on its own but I'll make it simple. Is it a must I speak in tongues, I have been doing so but it's as if I am saying rubbish? First, do you understand what it means to speak in tongues. It's also called GLOSSOLALIA. What does it mean to speak in tongues? Because if you understand the meaning, then, you would not feel like you're speaking rubbish. It is the language of the spirit, it's a language that somebody somewhere understands. It's a language of the spirit. It's suppose to strengthen you spiritually, confuse Satan because one of the ways Satan and his messengers get to us is that we say a lot of things in understanding and they too can understand. If transmitters can pick waves, then they can pick up these things. But when you speak in spiritual language, then you confuse Satan. But guess what, the Bible says there should be people who can decode. So at times when we're speaking in tongues, if it's not in worship or not directly to God, we really shouldn't be speaking! We're supposed to speak in tongues in context of other people, decoding what we've said - for the edifying of the church. So, if it's for you or yourself, then it's private. If it's in public, then it should be in worship or direct prayer to God. Now, He understands, so because he understands you're not speaking rubbish. God understands the heart of children. God understands the babble of children. My mum used to understand when a child is babbling. She'll tell you what the child is saying and I learned it from her - I'm able to tell parents this is what your child is saying and they look at me weird (laughs). So, it is not rubbish. It may be rubbish to people who are hearing you because they do not understand. Just the same way if I start speaking French now, some of you will say, "Kilonso, s’alaye e fun mi. Kilonso, decode e fun, mi” (Yoruba for - What is she saying, please explain to me). You know, I once spoke at an event and a young man came to meet me and he just started fumbling in French and I responded to him and he said, "Ah mo gbe, mo da’ran, mummy gbo French... Meaning, for those who don't speak Yoruba - "Ah, I'm in trouble, mummy understands French. I don't understand more than what I just said". So you see, speaking in tongues is not rubbish. There are times you can’t even put in words, at those times, you can speak in the spirit and the spirit will hear you because you're not speaking to humans. But in the context of the church, that's why you have prophetic churches like 'Aladura' churches where somebody would "enter into the [realm of the] spirit" as they say, and another Elemi, another spiritual person who can decode would begin to decode. Of course, some of it are lies but some of it are very very true. God bless you. Crosswalk.com/faith/spirituall-life/10-things-to-know-about-speaking-in-tongues.html.
6. Is there a real hell and why would a loving God send anyone there?
Question 6 is a question that comes up in Philosophy and generally in the world. Is there a real hell and why would a loving God send anyone there? That's a very technical question. Is there a real hell? The Bible says, yes. There is heaven, there is hell. But whether it is a particular location here on Earth, no, it's not a particular location here on Earth otherwise we would point to it and we would find a way to just, you know, protest against it (grins) and whatever we need to do. The Bible says there is Hell and there is Heaven. So I'm going to leave it at that, I'm not going to question what has become unimaginable to a lot of human minds. A loving God, yes, a loving God; He wouldn't want to send anybody there and that's why he went as far as putting Himself forward as a propitiation. We talk about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. This is the Triune God. A God who is actually one but as three persons; it's mystery to our ears, right? It’s three in one. So when we say Jesus came, that's part of the God-Head. So, technically He sent Himself, He sent a version of Himself. He sent His son, but who is actually a version of Himself, to the world. So he already made the sacrifice just so that we don't perish. If you have a child, and you correct the child all the time and the child does the same thing, some parents have gone as far as saying I am going to disinherit you. I am going to make sure that my will, my Living Will does not contain anything for you because you're grieving my soul. That is how God must feel. He created us. He is loving. And that is why I say there is God in every human. Even the rapist, the terrorist, the killers and my sermon has been locate that God in them; minister to that love that they carry. No human being was born to destroy, no human being was born to cheat in exams - let's bring it home or cheat at work, present other people's work as yours. No human being was born with that mind. We were birthed into the world and we picked it up from here because the nature of our parents was already sinful. But God did not fashion human beings that way. So, if you can minister to their hearts, if you can get to the core of their minds, then you are able to transform them. So, yes, God is loving, He doesn't want to send people to hell and he's done everything and He's still doing everything. What did he do to Saul, He had to go and confront him... He had done everything to try and change Saul, He had to go and confront him; making him blind! That was the God of love putting in tough love. So God doesn't want to send anybody there, He had given us everything we need to prevent you from going there but when you say - 'I gotta go, I must go' this God let's you have your way and so you send yourself right into hell. God forbid that any of those on this timeline would end up in that kind of eternity where all you do is gnash your teeth and beat a fire that you cannot stop, God forbid. But it's not just about, 'God forbid', you need to work at it to make sure you don't become a candidate for hell, God bless you.
7. How can I stay focused on God's presence daily and have faith in him, especially when he feels distant and silent? How can I stay focused on God's presence daily and have faith in Him, especially when he feels distant and silent? God shouldn't feel distant, he shouldn't. If you know Him, if you understand Him. It's a loving relationship, you know. I wake up in the morning or whenever I wake up depending on when I go bed and I can immediately feel God. As I'm opening my eyes, I'm saying thank you Jesus for another beautiful day, because I see him even in my being alive. When I set my alarm for instance for 10.30AM on days that I go to bed maybe 6AM, having worked all night. If I set my alarm for 10.30AM, the Holy Spirit would always wake me at least 5 or 2 minutes before. That is God letting me know that He's present. I once received court papers over three hundred pages in a case of fraud; in a case steeped in fraud. And when I got it I almost bursted into tears, where am I going to start reading this from! And my heart, my mind said a word of prayer. And as I opened, believe it or not, I opened to the most important page in the document. A page where they put something that was against the Plaintiff. That is God. So you must understand the person of God, especially the person of the Holy Spirit, so you don't go looking for physical reasons to prove that God is present. You don't need air to blow in (makes sound of breeze), so you'll say 'Oh, God is here!’ No. You can just literally feel him. Somebody once said to me, your bedroom does not have a lock (laughs), you know, in my home in the US, and I smiled. If it has a lock, a gun can burst it open, right? So I'm protected by God. Some people went to check babalawo (Yoruba for traditional priest) and they came to me to say, "We saw you! "We saw you! We saw you moving around the house, you were holding candle, you were doing procession, you think that would save you" and I smiled. I was praying with my Prayer Partner and we were both trying to decode, “Was it in Google they saw me? Where did they... I didn't do candle... I didn't... and immediately the Holy Spirit dropped in our minds, they went to check mediums. Angels are surrounding your house with lights, but all they could see were humans, because they are limited. So to stay focused, immerse yourself into God and gradually God would become more evident to you. He is never distant, He is never silent. He may not speak directly to you all the time but He's speaking for us, His blood on the cross is making atonement for us daily, or should I say per second. God bless you.
8. It's really looking hard for me to be spiritual, it's as if am not just getting it, today am in Christ, tomorrow I'm in sin. I have fasted, prayed, done all I can, it makes me feel empty, sad, but I don't just know what to do. Thank you for this question. It's really looking hard for me to be spiritual, it's as if am not just getting it, today am in Christ, tomorrow I'm in sin. I have fasted, prayed, done all I can, it makes me feel empty, sad, but I don't just know what to do. There's one more thing you're yet to do if you're struggling this hard with Christianity. It's not like people don't fall into sin; people do - Spiritual Giants do; I do, I'm human but the Holy Spirit convicts you of what you've done wrong. But when you're talking about falling, as in, it has become a cycle. When people ask me, "Am I a sinner", no, I'm not a sinner! "But do you sin?" Oh yes, infrequently I do, but I'm not a sinner. But what you've described is somebody who is a sinner, who keeps falling and stumbling, you know, like the person is just learning to walk. Guess what? You're yet to yield to the Holy Spirit. You've got to put your will into His hands. That is what it really means. Christianity is being like Christ. You cannot be like Christ without giving yourself fully to him. You can't give him 85% and say, you see this sexuality part, Ehn, Baba o ye ko understand now (God, you ought to understand), I would have to hold this one myself because I need somebody to charge my battery. You can't do that. You have to give your will completely to Him. If you're feeling sad today, feeling happy tomorrow, it's because you're yet to tap into the joy of salvation. The joy does not come from you having money in your account. In fact, on days when I don't have money, people would see me so happy they can't believe I don't have money because God is my banker! If God is your banker is not about what is in your account! Right now, I have a personal account that is not run by me. Somebody else has the token, somebody else has everything on that account and when I'm going to the ATM, I just go with confidence, I don't know whether money is there but I'm trusting my banker would not disappoint me. So, you need to give your will over to God. You see, as a Christian, there are 3 roads to it. One is your accepting Christ. Another, is your confessing Christ, actually living in Christ because you can accept Christ and not live in Christ, it doesn't make you a Christian. People saw you coming out for altar call but you have not given your will to him; you are yet to give yourself to him. You are yet to do things that shows that you're a Christian. And finally, you now giving yourself to him. You see, when a man propose to a woman she has to accept. After accepting you do the confession publicly, you go in public and you ask again - let's be sure that we're really doing this. And public could be one person, two people, whatever you chose... a crowd! And finally, you have to physically give yourself! When two people get married and there's no consummation of the marriage which is there's no sex, the marriage can be annulled, because it means they didn't give themselves - you didn't give yourself to that man or that man didn't give himself to you. If there's no consummation there's really no marriage. So spiritually, the consummation is you yielding yourself, your will, your everything to God. Your money too! Praise the name of the Lord.
9. How can I make the best use of what God has given me?
How can I make the best use of what God has given me? The simple answer is for you to use what God has given you to God's glory, and I'll use an analogy. A thousand dollars came into your hands. You have so many things you can achieve with a thousand dollars but God said to you, take 500, go to xyz home, give it to the woman there and you say, "Get thee behind me Satan. Get thee behind me Satan! $500 to a woman I don't know, lailai!” (meaning, no way!) But God has given you a gift, a money gift and He is directing the use of the money gift but suddenly you are taking ownership of that money and saying, "No, I will not.” Is that the best use of what God has given you? No. God has given you a voice for instance, to sing, and He wants you to sing gospel but you said to yourself - Ah, gospel artists? It takes time before they make money, I have to do rap. That is not the best use of what God has given you. For a long while, Ebenezer Obey (now Pastor Ebenezer Obey), who is the Overseer at the The Cross Church was into the world, he was using his gifts in a secular way but guess what? Because God was still in charge, Obey wasn't really singing razz songs, his songs were still inspiring and edifying and even today as a Pastor he can still sing some of those songs because I trust he yielded part of his will to God. He decided to glorify God in whatever he was doing even though he was living in sin. So how best can I use what God has given me? To the glory of God, as directed by God, as led by God. I had my calling into ministry as far back as when I was in high school, but I told God - look for someone else to your job. Yes, you've given me this gift but I am not going to do ministry. Later on, I decided to do ministry; money wasn't coming in, excuse me? “See people I prophesied for, see people I did this for, see people I did that for, they are not giving back! Oluwa, hold your job!” But what is the best use of God's gift, it is to lift other people up, it is to bless humanity, that's why he gives gifts. That's why; to edify the church, to bless the world. Science today is helping so many people, but much more than science, is Love. If we can love one another, we won't have a lot of fraud in the world, we won't have selfishness and greed and the kind of hate that leads to racialjudicial-racism. So the best way to use God's gift is to use it to glorify him. I'm not saying that you have to do everything gospel, No! I don't only minister to people in the church, I don't only speak, I present academic papers as well. But, everything I do is focused on glorifying God. And when God says don't do something, it means don't do it! So, the best use of my talent is to glorify God, to advance His kingdom, and to bless humanity.
10. Last question ma, I always feel bored and sleepy when I want to read my Bible or pray, what can I do ma?
Remember, that the Bible says that the flesh wars against the spirit, the flesh wars against the spirit. Satan does not want anybody reading the bible. You want to get into the truth of God’s Word? Of course, something is going to fight it. But you see, when you schedule your hours and you commit time to it and you pray and you ask the Holy Spirit to help you… Many people try to mediate, maybe a husband and wife or two friends are quarrelling and they try to mediate – they say “you say your own, you say yours” and they want to do it by flesh. At the end of the day, they can pour the contention on your head, because guess what? You don’t have the professional skills and you don’t have the spiritual skills to handle it. The first thing to always do is to say, let us pray – so you bring their minds, their hearts under God. You bring the spirit of contention under God. So, when you pick your Bible, don’t try to read your Bible in bed, you’re gonna sleep, except maybe your bed as become your chair, you’re gonna sleep. So, after your praise, your worship or whatever you want to do, sit comfortably, sit in a chair, be alert! If the bed is the only thing you have, sit up right! Be alert! And say – Holy Spirit, help me. Illuminate my mind. Block out every interference. And decide what you want to read, Don’t just say I’m reading Psalm 103 or I’m reading Psalm 119, decide what you want to read, why you want to read it and focus! Sit comfortably, have a manual or a jotter, so that in between, you are jotting things so your mind is active, your hand is active, If you’re just reading, even when you read your school books for a long time, the only thing that motivates you is because you want to pass. So something should also be a push factor when you’re reading the Bible – I want to know more about this God, I want to know more about my lover! That’s it! If you’re reading a love note, you don’t fall asleep, because your lover as written to you and you are excited about reading it. That is the kind of excitement you should bring into reading the Word of God. If you’re reading a portion that is dragging you down because it’s like – he said… she said… or maybe about building the temple… and buying this gold etcetera, then go to a part, start from a part that resonates with you. The Psalms… The book of John, Luke… the gospel, you know, start from the things that come alive as you’re reading it and gradually move to those things that may appear “not to be interesting” but they matter! When you read the early part of the bible you’ll see how detailed God is, He is giving them all the details, the kind of gold, the kind of wood; its amazing! And that is how detailed we should be as Christians. But before you get into that, start from a point where you are comfortable, then it means to you, it is interesting, it makes sense, and then gradually go to those parts you consider hard. And don’t forget, always start with, “Holy Spirit, help me” and that will keep boredom away, that will keep sleepiness away. See it as you’re reading a love letter from your lover who is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and boredom, sleep, would be kept at bay.
Appreciation:
Thank you very much. God bless you. I've had a wonderful time, I hope you've had a wonderful time as well. For those who want to know who I am and what I do, go to www.Omolola.webs.com. Other sites would be shared with your leaders. God bless you, thank you for organising this. I pray that the power of the Holy Spirit would expand all that I have shared beyond what I've shared, in your minds, in your lives. And I pray that God will make you successful in all that you lay your hands upon that is directed by the Holy Spirit. It is well with you, please be safe. Thank you, God bless YOU.
Transcribed by Samuel Oluwagbami Oluwagbami
Dr. Omolola Omoteso-Famuyiwa is a minister who is passionate
about sharing God's words for the healing of others.
