I WILL ARISE (Part 3)

Luke 15:18 “I will ARISE and go to my father and say, ‘Father, I have sinned against God and against you.’”

Then Jesus said, "A man had two sons,
12
and the younger son said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.' So the father divided the property between them.
13
After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.
14
When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need.
15
So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine.
16
And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any.
17
Coming to his senses he thought, 'How many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger.
18
I will ARISE and go to my father and I shall say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
19
I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers."'
20
So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.
21
His son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.'
22
But his father ordered his servants, 'Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
23
Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast,
24
because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.' Then the celebration began.”

This is the scripture that blesses me so much. I like the part where it says, “Coming to his senses…”

When his senses started functioning well, the young man started thinking about the qualities his father had. He knew that he was a loving father, caring father, welcoming father, not selfish father, a giving father and a humble one.

The young man started realising that where he was, was not where he was supposed to be. He started realising that he was still a very important person to his father; no matter the situation he was facing. He realised that he was not supposed to feed himself with pigs’ food. He was the most precious gift to his father.

He boldly announced these words, “I WILL ARISE…” .

He realised that he had to arise against the situation he was facing. This is where I want to focus the most. I and Precious knew that we were more important to God. No matter the situation we were facing; no matter what people were saying about us and the life of poverty we were in.

We knew that we were not alone in that situation. We had to arise above the situation of poverty, of hunger, of rejection, of sicknesses and above those who talked bad about us. We knew that God was on our side.

We knew that poverty and hardships were not meant for us.

We cried to God to intervene in our situation. We asked God to forgive us and stop the curses against us. We asked God to restore everything that the devil had stolen from us. THAT WAS THE FIRST STEP WE TOOK.

Secondly we had to ‘walk the walk’ and ‘talk the talk’ and God would carry us through. We had to walk with our heads up, walk as victorious people.

It all started on the 14th August 2008. It was a Thursday. My day did not start very well. I had some few disappointments. As the day ended, at about 14h00, it came to my thought that only God can make me and my family happy again.

I decided to sit at the Internet café and browse a while. I had to look for a church I could attend with my family. We had never been to church ever since we arrived in Swaziland 3 months ago. We only had weekly home cell prayers in our community.

As I was browsing, I came across this website; http://hpcswazi.com/. “Wow!!!” I said with amazement.

I quickly noticed that it was a unique church, a church that serves.

It was already 15h30. I had to rush home to get my family into a new church. Someone by the Internet Café gave me directions to the church. I had to walk for 35 minutes to my place in the outskirts of the city of Mbabane to get my family.

I had to come with them and be a testimony to a new different God’s setup.

On my arrival, I told my wife about the church and she was eager to go with me. We bath all our children, Tracy and Nanette. Unfortunately my elder daughter was not staying with us.

We arrived at the church at exactly 17h30. We set quietly side by side with my wife and children. “Wow!” my wife whispers to my ears. “I would love to be here all the time.” She continued. I smiled realising that she loved the church set up and the people.

The people were full of smiles and they were all happy. The pastor was very active and everything looked really good.

Infect, everything looked new to us. The way he preached was something that caught our attention. He involved everyone in what ever he was saying. The band was wonderful.

The service ended while we were having group discussions. Just after the church service we met Pastor Ben. We introduced ourselves and we requested for an appointment with him.

We were very happy to be at the church. We were also transported back home. It was so great, and we were so curious to meet ps. Ben on the following Monday.

On that weekend the church had to serve in our community and we decided to join with them.

Read on part 4. Get the really testimony when the family had to meet Ps. Ben on the following Monday.