“See now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us.” 2 Kings 6:1
This was the statement made by the sons of the prophet to Elisha. They had obviously outgrown the current facility they were in and the overcrowding made them go to the prophet and ask for a bigger place. The prophet’s response? GO!
When we first bought our current facility way back in 1997, it took almost 18 months from the first time we viewed the premises till the time we agreed to purchase the property. When I first stepped into the facility, the Lord so stirred my heart about the place and I just “knew” that this was going to be ours. We offered a price; the owners countered offered, and this went on for a long period and finally, 18 months later, we possessed our inheritance. But it all began with a burden and this burden was then translated into a vision by the Holy Spirit and I carried it for many months.
There were times when I thought the vision was dead. The deal was on and off and I died many times. But God had spoken to me and I clung on to His promise. So, after a season of testings, a price was finally agreed upon, and we paid the 20% deposit. The rest of course is history, but no one knew the agony that my wife and I had to go through.
After we paid the deposit, we had almost nothing left in the bank and we had many bills piling up. You must remember that this was almost 20 years ago and we had a small congregation of about 400 people; the majority of them whom were students. We had very few working adults in the church. Then came the incessant badgering from the devil, night after night. He’d literally tell me I was going to be a bankrupt and a failure and I’d get up in bed and hyperventilate because I really didn’t know if we were going to pull through. It was a valley of despair. We cried out to the Lord to help us and this went on for months. But God heard our cry. It was amazing.
God sent us a contractor whom I got “reacquainted” providentially and he did a massive work for us for almost nothing. He just felt that God was calling him to help us. He was like an angel sent by God. Then several churches came alongside us to assist. The members of the congregation started rallying around the vision and they helped me bear the burden. And God pulled us out from that very difficult time. There were so many obstacles we were facing and through prayer, we overcame each one of them. When we finally had our first service in Jan 1998, what a day of rejoicing it was for us. It took us many years to finally clear the debt but I stand today and declare that God is faithful.
I share this because I sense we’re now at the place where God’s about to give us a second campus. I’ve searched the Scriptures and realised that each time because of God’s blessings, the Children of Israel experienced shortage of space and went to God asking Him to help; He’d always undertake to assist His people. The God I serve is the God of abundance and overcrowding is not His plan for us.
So, for almost two years, we’ve been keeping our eyes open for a second campus and I do believe we’ve found the one. It’s also taken us over 18 months but I keep hearing the Lord say to me to be patient and wait for Him. And we did. We didn’t push or strive. And we’ve kept our hearts open to Him. Negotiations are now underway and I’d like to ask you to stand with us in prayer. What we need now is a breakthrough. God is a GOOD GOD and He’ll undertake for us.
