Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, I told you I have been working on some big fishes, today it is Rev.Don Odunze Jnr and after that is Rev. Felix Omobude of New Covenant Gospel Church and the President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria. Bookmark and subscribe to this blog!
I have met many men of God but Rev.Don Odunze Jnr is rare. His understanding and insight into the word of God is so deep, his preaching style is so simple; everyone gets the message. This man of God carries a rare heavyweight anointing to heal relationships and marriages and I was privileged to be one of the many people that attended the Marriage and Relationship Seminar that was organised by Pastor Iyke Samuels of House On The Rock, Benin.
After the seminar, I knew I had to interview this rare man of God and here we are.This is the most intimate interview he has ever had as he shared on his personal life, ministry, how he met his wife and five things singles should look out for in their partner. Enjoy...
www.mytestimonys.blogspot.com; How
did you become born again?
Rev.
Don Odunze Jnr; My father led me to Christ on the 3rd
of March 1980, I was in class 1, I was
in boarding house and it was my birthday. I didn’t want to serve God because my
family were Christians, it was a personal choice.
www.mytestimonys.blogspot.com; Your
seminars are different, you say things nobody has heard before, it’s a place I can
bring people with the confidence that they have never heard any of the things
you are about to tell them. How did that come about?
It’s one of those gifts
God gives to make you different from others. You are doing the same thing
others are doing in a different way and with different results. I am a down to
earth person, I don’t pretend about issues. I like to relate with people as
they are. I don’t tell people my name at times because it puts people on edge.
When you relate with people simply, you will be able to figure who people
really are and why they do what they do.
Sometimes, we judge
people without knowing where they are coming from, we may not have excuses for
doing the wrong things but there are people you may not just punish for doing
the wrong things. If they had known better they would have been better. My
teachings and seminars are not just to come and talk to your head, there are
things you can see yourself involved in. I present it like a mirror where you
are looking at yourself and if you have anything you have to pull out of your
eyes, you will see and you will pull it out. Wherever you meet me; either at
the seminars or hotels or banking hall, I would talk to you the same way. I am
a people’s person, I relate with people one on one.
www.mytestimonys.blogspot.com; Can
you share some of your great faith moments with us?
It’s for someone like
me in a ministry where you don’t have a congregation, that the Bible wrote ‘the
just shall live by faith’. I don’t have members I can call to help when
there are challenges, you just have to go out there and preach the Word. You
have to find a way to finance your vision; people don’t believe that pastors
have bills to pay. I have a multitude in my house, we have much more people
coming from outside than from my loins because I believe in investing in people
and you have this challenge where you can’t go telling someone you need to do
this or that.
A lot of pastors have
abused opportunities given to them by men that can sponsor the gospel except
for where God brings men and put it in their hearts to partner in the ministry.
I have one or two like that and it has really been of help.
Another challenge is
standing with principles in preaching the gospel considering what a whole lot
are doing in ministry. If you get into ministry with a sense of
competition, you will get into manipulation which is what's going on. I
have refused to tell anybody this is how much they will give me before I come
for a seminar; I have resisted the temptation of discussing raising money in
the service so that I can get a part of it. A lot of pastors do that; having to
take that stand means you have to depend on God because there are places you go
that are a pure missionary journey, I come back and I say ‘God pay me because no man can pay
me’. Not everyone has that discipline but you just have to look
up to God to take care of you otherwise you will compromise and say what God
did not tell you to say.
Another faith moment is
when one has to confront forces of darkness, I have had to do that on several occasions
because of my bluntness and the way my messages are, I have both spiritual and
physical attacks. I have had people
write me not to come into a city for a programme otherwise I would not be alive
to go back.
I have had people come to our seminars; agents of darkness with
charms but those things come and they give you the boldness to preach the
gospel more, God can never come short of His word, that word that says He will
prove himself strong and mighty on the behalf of those who put their trust in
Him.
One thing that has
helped me in ministry is that I have refused to see myself as a miracle worker.
I am a messenger, my job is to speak
not to perform, if I don't speak their won’t be a performance, so I
get bold in speaking knowing that He who will perform will not fall short of
it. I have seen the dead rise, I have seen sicknesses healed, I have
seen pile excreted, I have seen fibroid healed amongst many others. Above all, I have seen those you will say can
never go to church again pick up their bible and go to church, that gives me
joy. It gives me joy where someone rejected in the family comes back as a champion
to the family. I have seen scattered families reunited, some divorced and did a
fresh marriage blessing to start again.
www.mytestimonys.blogspot.com; How
did you meet your wife sir?
I met my wife by divine
arrangement. I looked at the activities she was involved in and I told myself
she was the kind of wife I wanted. I knew what I was looking for, someone who
is willing to learn, hardworking and involved in serving others; someone who is
not thinking of herself but what to do for others. I saw her in the place of
service and I asked who she was, they mentioned her name and they said if I was
looking for anyone to serve the high table, she would be the one to do it. I introduced myself to her, God did not show
me, I didn’t see her in a dream, I saw her and because I knew what I was
wanted, I made the move and God perfected
it.
www.mytestimonys.blogspot.com; What
should singles be looking out for?
If you are not married,
I want to tell you this; the first thing you must look out for is spiritual
commitment. What rules the person you marry is not what you see but the person
inside. It is the spirit that decides the passion, ambition, value system and
association. What you are seeing is just a container, you need content. What
many people marry are just containers; there are too many containers with
expired contents, that's why we have NAFDAC (LOL).
Look beyond the container,
look at the spirit, the spirit controls the temperaments. The spirit controls the spending habits, the
discretion, the appetites etc. If a man is controlled by God, that person can
become anything for you. You can’t have a spiritual commitment without being in
church under a pastor and without being in a department at church. You are not
committed sitting at home. It’s like a man who has a job but sits at home. Even
the MD is accountable to someone, that's how marriage should be. If you marry a man without a spiritual
commitment, you will lose him any day.
The second thing you
must look out for either you are male or female is ability to learn; somebody
who listens to you either you are a man or the woman. Don't marry someone who cannot
feel what you are feeling. Don't marry someone who says this is the way it
should be, that's a dictator, not a husband. Marry a woman whom you can tell
her if something is wrong with her dressing not the one who will tell you that
is how she wants it and that you can go away if you don't like it that way.
That is not a wife material because marriage is you living in the world of
another person.
You must look at the
person’s work value. Don't marry someone who doesn’t have a work value,
marriage is work. Don't marry someone who is looking for somebody to work and
bring the money. If you are a woman have a work value that places value on the
things you get, let a man marry you for
the things you stand for and can bring, not just for your beauty because you
are relevant. Don't marry because there is no work and you have suffered so you
just want someone to save your family by removing one mouth less for them to
feed. Those marriages don't last.
Marry
a man who knows there is something he has to offer to the world and to the
family. With that, you will be able to find out where this person is going and
what your role is. If you are not relevant to a man who is an applicant now and
becomes a bank manager tomorrow you will be displaced. You must be relevant to him as an applicant
and relevant to him as a manager. Otherwise at the level of a manger you will
be displaced and he will pick up somebody who is relevant at that level.
Also in choosing a
marriage mate, look at the family background, who mentored and taught that
person, what is that person’s value system of a family? You may not judge
someone from where he/she is coming from but it helps you to prepare yourself
to accommodate that person’s weaknesses and that is where being willing to
learn comes in; that even though he/she
is not coming from a perfect place, he is willing to improve and with that you
can move forward.
Marry someone you are
proud to present to the public; the Bible says beauty is vain but you
must also marry someone you are not ashamed to introduce to people. The issue I
have is there are people very good for you to introduce today but will lose
that feature that made them look beautiful tomorrow, so what happens? Some
ladies are slim fit today but they are fat five years after marriage. What I
tell men is to look at their mother in law because your wives are going to look
like her. Pick up somebody you will be proud of and be willing to introduce
anytime.
www.mytestimonys.blogspot.com; Thank
you for your time sir
Follow Rev. Don Odunze on Twitter @donodunzejr
This is amazing. God bless and continue to inspire Odunze
ReplyDeleteHis a genuine man of God
ReplyDelete