MAID, ARISE!

My boy child has finally arrived! Trust me; I will give you the full story. But permit me today, to share a burden on my heart. I can no longer hold it in; the burden of Borno. I know my son would not mind. It was in 2007 in Borno State that I ‘conceived’ my boy child. I will tell you that part of it today. I was in Borno, my wife (then my fiancée) was in Ife. We communicated mainly through calls and especially ‘extra-cool calls’, (every Nigerian knows what that means). So that night, we were talking on phones and we were having fellowship with God. I remember where I was and my Bible was in my front as we romanced the Scriptures together. I have sown so many spiritual seeds into that woman, long before we married. That night, we conceived our boy child. We knew his name. Ah, those who are close to me already know. You see, that singular revelation of our son’s identity and purpose became the very cornerstone of our relationship. That cornerstone is fast becoming a rock. So, now that my son is born, how can I ever forget Borno?

The bond between Borno and I is thick. I want to invite you to a 2-week Strategic Prayer Session for Borno, and it is important that you eavesdrop into the panting of my heart for that land. Until I went there for my National Youth Service Corp, I had no idea what that part of Nigeria looked like. But when I stepped into that land back in 2006, I just fell in love with it. NYSC is such a brilliant opportunity for self and national discovery, if only we give peace a chance. I was in Maiduguri all through my service year and never came home once until graduation. There was really no need to. It was such an exciting time of growth for me and I owe that land at least, my heartfelt supplications in this period of her excruciating travail of rebirth. I even wonder why I waited this long to cry for that land. It took my son to remind me. Among the books I will yet publish is 'Backside of the Desert', and it is about my spiritual sojourn in the famous land of the Kanuris. It was such a long journey, but let me take you through a short cut on my journey into the heart of Borno

I was posted to Borno to serve Nigeria under the NYSC scheme. I could not believe it and even attempted to defer my service, but the sense of purpose in me would not allow me. I knew too well that nothing would just happen to a child of God, abi? Borno is far from everywhere else in Nigeria. If you have been there, you know what I mean. I left from Lokoja yet I stayed over in Jos. Bro Ron, that was the day I slept at your place, remember? I arrived at Borno Express Car Park, and took a bike to the Camp not far from there. We were in the Camp for three weeks, I think. Then, it was the period when the very first Religious crisis in Borno in thirty years took place. Yes, the first in thirty years! Now, violence rock that land daily like a rocking chair. Do you still remember that Borno was called the 'Home of Peace'? That land was well acclaimed for the peace and tranquility enjoyed by citizens and residents alike over the decades. Right there in the Camp, we heard how people were killed and buildings burnt. I began to consider escaping from ‘Sobibor'. The NCCF- Corpers' Fellowship- had daily meetings in the Camp where I attended regularly. There they loved to sing 'It Pays To Serve Jesus...' and each time I heard the part that says 'I'd be a true soldier, I'd die at my post', I would silently reject the dying part and replace it with 'I'd serve at my post'. A few corpers died in that crisis and they probably died just as true corpers, I told God I'd stay in Borno and would even serve at Malamfatushi, if He would not let me die. Just before the Camp ended, that crisis ended. And great was the peace that permeated the land all through my stay.

I served in Maiduguri and not Malamfatushi. Comparing Maiduguri and Malamfatushi is like comparing a very beautiful damsel and a wretched old man. Maiduguri is like an average modern city in Nigeria. Malamfatushi is like actually going on the Sahara. We heard all kinds of news about the place, like; only a vehicle (rangerover) ever get to the place and that is just once in a week, that you walk on desert sands that sink and hold your feet and so on. We all dreaded being posted to Malamfatushi. Yet some Corp members served there. I did not. I served in Maiduguri. This is because I was discovered by the leadership of the Corpers’ Fellowship and was given an appointment as the Official Driver of Halleluyah. Okay, I was the Transport (and Organizing) Secretary and ‘Halleluyah’ is the name given to the Fellowship bus. Very interesting bus, the gear is the other way round, and the engine sounds just like her name; Haaa-leee-luuu-yaaaaaaah!!! Driving the bus gave me the opportunity to traverse the length and breadth of Maiduguri and even some parts outside the town. Ope was my able assistant and I have found few men as dedicated and hardworking as he was. Of course, I stayed in the ‘Family House’ which is what we call the Fellowship Secretariat. My room was Room 7, and I had some of the most interesting people in that house as roommates. The Prayer Secretary and the Evangelism Secretary were my roommates; very vibrant young men. I could touch on every resident of that house and how they touched my life positively, but I just wanted you to know I had a family in Borno; ‘They have taken me into their arms and I’m so glad to be a part of this great family’. Okay, you feel me now.

I had three opportunities to preach in the large gathering of the Corper’s weekly fellowship. The first topic was, ‘A Different Spirit’ taking the story of Joshua and Caleb’s attitude and how they possessed the Promised Land while a whole generation was wasted. The second time was when I preached ‘Patience is a Virtue’, where the Holy Spirit presented patience to us as a vital kingdom virtue (virtue, meaning power). The third message I preached was taped. It was titled ‘Ishmael’. There the source of Islam was traced according to the perspective of the Bible and other historical records. There I said based on records, that Borno was the gateway through which Islam entered into West Africa. The tape will go commercial someday for all to listen to. But I established love as the primary tool in the hand of a Christian, no matter his or her view of a Muslim. Isaac and Ishmael made up and when they came together to bury their father (see Genesis 25:8-9). Until we come to accept that we have the same source, and find a way to co-exist, while reaching out one to another, we will only destroy ourselves for no reason. After that message that Wednesday evening, I had to go to God and find out if He actually wanted me to stay back in Maiduguri after my service year. With that message, I had theory; practical was soon to follow.

So, not long after that, God led me to one of the most exciting and spiritually practical friend I have ever met in my journey in God. I call him my covenant friend. I was his best man at his wedding. Trust me, he and Lanre have met, and we all clicked like lego. The first book I ever published ‘Eating the Fruit of the Land’ was jointly written by this exceptional brother. His name is Peace. Okay, I met Peace in the Home of Peace. Peace had this deep, deep passion for Borno. He had just conceived the burden of prayer for that land at the time we met. He was a very dynamic young man. We had vigils of prayers; you know those kinds of prayers where you know that you are hitting the devil where it pains him. Peace and I and a number of other wonderful brothers and sisters in that Prayer Movement did a number of strategic apostolic things together, and I do not have his permission to share the details of those things. But, we visited the popular Lake Chad, and went on a canoe to the heart of the water. We were at the museum where we had contact with those ancient artifacts. We walked around the some streets at midnight; we stood under some trees at wee hours. I am not so brave, Peace is. That guy has no fear for the devil. Even Lanre knew he met a lion when he met him. There were institutions we visited and people we met, and believe me; all of those things were hitting the devil at several strategic points. Then we began to launch the movement in the other zones of Borno. Oh my, my, this turned out to be the most fulfilling task I undertook at the ‘Backside of the Desert’. We left Borno, knowing there would be results; we knew the harvest of our seeds of prayer would yield. We knew so well.

So, when violence and terrorism began to erupt out of that land- in a way that was totally unprecedented in our nation; I called Peace to ask him; ‘What has our prayers got to do with this?’ Peace told me to stay tuned. Since prayer is my antennae, I decided to press into God again in prayers for the land of cucumbers and water melon. Something good is about to follow these upheavals that has been the bane of Borno. And just like whatever enters Borno engulfs West Africa; God is about to inject His glory that will Nigeria and West Africa through the land of Borno. Borno shall rise again; she shall yet be the cynosure of all eyes. You see, since this is a burden, I must take you through the word of God and hope you catch it too. It is in Luke 8:40-56. Follow me, please.

Luke 8:40- And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him.
‘…Jesus was returned…’. I love that phrase. We are in that season. We will realize how so much we need Jesus in our nation. We will suddenly see how fragile all our religious and political structures are. Oh yes, we will return Jesus to our land and the people will gladly receive him. There is no better time for the gospel to spread like this. The ground of Nigeria is prepared and positioned to receive the good news of Jesus like never before. The harvest is here already, other men have labored; it’s time to reap. That verse said ‘for they were all waiting for him’. Let the reapers arise. The field is green, and the Lord of the Harvest is almost here! Amen.

Luke 8:41- 42 And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought him that he would come into his house:  42For he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went the people thronged him.
But while everyone else was simply waiting for Jesus, there was someone thirsty for Jesus. They were waiting, but someone was inviting Him. If you were Jesus, who would you naturally be drawn to? Nigeria is waiting to receive Jesus again, waiting for another Jesus’ experience; but there are places hungry for a Jesus’ explosion. They were waiting for a return, Jarius needed a revival. Like Jairus who had a twelve year old daughter who was dying; there is urgency for missions in certain parts of our land. Like the Macedonian call, these places are calling for Jesus. Okay.

Luke 8:43-44- 43And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,  44Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
Jarius had an urgent situation, but here was an emergency. Emergencies do not have the patience of protocol. They do not invite, they compel your attention. Have you ever witness doctors leave all patients in the waiting room for an emergency? If they are patients, then they can be patient; they can wait. An emergency just cannot wait! A woman had an issue. We all have issues, don’t we? Some issues are critical. She had a very critical issue- an issue of blood. And I hear ‘blood is thicker than water’. Yorubas have a proverb that says ‘if fire burns your child and your lap, you will first put out the fire on your lap’. You can argue how much you love your child until you have a real experience. Emergencies touch us so well, and they touch God too. The beautiful thing about the God we serve is that He can accommodate the Waiting, the Urgent and the Emergency. Jesus was headed for Jairus house, but He would not ignore a touch. Okay, Borno is our focus, we only have some emergencies on our hands. That is okay. The timing belongs to God.

Luke 8:49-50-  49While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.  50But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.
So Jesus attended to the emergency, until the urgent became late. Jarius’ daughter died. Are there things you have waited for, and even invited God over and over to? Is it looking like it is too late now? Why did God tarry? Jesus had advance information, and was invited, yet Lazarus died. But all you need to be at peace is ‘Jesus will come’. If He is coming, nothing can be too late- absolutely nothing! So there came the news of Jarius’ daughter’s death and Jaius was told not to trouble the Master any more. Oh no! Keep troubling the Master. Even the unjust judge could not resist persistence (Luke 18), our God is the Just Judge- His judgement is on time. Oh no, it is not too late for Borno. Borno shall rise again! Forget about all the news you hear, Jesus is coming to Borno. That maid shall rise again, only believe!

Luke 8: 52-53- 52And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.  53And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.
He said the same thing when Lazarus died. It is doctors that pronounce people dead, Jesus won’t. Of course, people die when we believe so. Okay, let’s get back to our story. Jesus saw veryone weeping and mourning, and He said the girl was only sleeping. Interestingly, people who were weeping suddenly began to laugh. KJV said ‘they laughed Jesus to scorn’. That must have been a spell of laughter- after just weeping. I say Borno shall rise again, hope you did not laugh. But I know you mourn for that land. Too much blood and tears have flown on a single soil- too much. But Borno is only sleeping- she is not dead!

Luke 8: 54-55- 54And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise.  55And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.
Maid, arise! Maid sounds like Maiduguri. Arise- is the word I want to pay attention to here. When you say that word, you assume that the object has the intrinsic ability to rise up. You would not say ‘Arise’ to a book, for instance; you would raise the book. What you say ‘Arise’ to, must have been dormant and you intended to activate. Borno has been dormant all along. We mistook her dormancy for peace and we even christened her ‘home of peace’. No, it is not peace all the while, it was oppression. I can hear the heart cry of Borno in Psalm 120:5-6 ‘Woe is me, that I dwell in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! My soul has dwelt too long with one who hates peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.’ And just like Jesus did, there must first be a putting away. God will scatter the peoples who delight in war (see Psalm 68:30). The Prince of Peace will visit that land. A government will arise that will put paid to the evil in the land. There will be sanity in the civil service. Men shall have mutual respect one for another. After the maid arose, he commanded to give her meat. Meet of development. Far there in Borno, people shall run to invest. God will do these and more, in our lifetime.

This is my burden for Borno. So let us pray. Jesus allowed only Peter, James and John – and the parent of the girl- in (Luke 8:51). Is Jesus inviting you in today? Then join this facebook group BORNO SHALL RISE AGAIN. Daily prayers shall come to you by this medium, and I rely on you to join me. You may opt out of the group at the expiration of the prayer session as the group closes afterwards. But posterity and eternity will remember your labour of love. God bless you.

I am yours truly,
Adeolu Victor