Sights & Sounds of the Promised Land

(Sent 3/07/2010)

“Now Abraham was old, and well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed

Abraham in all things. And Abraham said to the eldest servant of his house (Eliezer of Damascus), who ruled over all that he had, I beg of you, put your hand under my thigh; (Gen. 15:2.) And you shall swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I have settled, But you shall go to my country and to my relatives and take a wife for my son Isaac...” – Genesis 24:1-4 AMP

“House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the LORD”. – Proverbs 19:14 KJV

“...There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. Seek ye out of the

book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for My Mouth it hath commanded, and His spirit it hath gathered them...” – Isaiah 34:15&16 KJV

“A capable, intelligent, and virtuous woman—who is he who can find her? She is far more precious than jewels and her value is far above rubies or pearls....” – Proverbs 31:10

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it (for death or life). He who finds a (true) wife finds a good thing and obtains favour from the Lord.” – Proverbs 18:21 & 22 AMP

Shortly after I rededicated my life to the Lord in 1998, He began to explain THE BLESSING to me, and told me I was entitled to a beautiful wife under this covenant... I wanted to be sure I understood what the Lord meant by beautiful so He showed me Abimelech’s (King of Gerar), and Pharaoah’s responses to both Abraham and Isaac ‘s wives and then I understood fully... even more astounding was Sarah who was at least a 65yr old woman when Pharaoh wanted her above all the very young women in his harem (Genesis 12:11-20) (There was a 10yr age difference between Abraham & Sarah (Genesis 17:17), and Abraham was 75yrs old when he left Haran (Genesis 12:4)).

He spoke into my heart and told me I should believe Him for a wife and He very clearly told me that this would not just be any woman but that He had someone very specific for me... He said it was very important I believed Him for the specific woman He was preparing for me because this was a condition of THE BLESSING covenant... It would ruin all His plans if I ended up with the wrong person case in point Esau who went to marry 2 Hittite women who were a grief of mind to his parents, and began a downward spiral to his loosing THE BLESSING.

Well, to build up my faith I began looking through His Word to find out all that was written about a wife and found the scriptures above, and began to stand on these, declaring them and thanking God for a wife as He had said. It was not a few months before a very pretty girl who had just joined my fellowship came up to me with a friend of hers and they said God said I am her husband... I smiled saying ok, and left to thank the Lord for such a quick response only I felt a bit uneasy about it but could not understand why... When my heart had gone completely for it, I was to discover that she had left out the very minor detail that she already had a fiancé in Canada, and when he returned I was quite shocked to see the drastic change in her... This state of events caused me no small distress as I tried to understand what was going on... I went to a boys only military school for 6years, and was a bit late in understanding the strange way some girls behave so this was new territory to me... plus, I believed if someone said something, they meant exactly what they said and not some other shade of meaning they tried to get me to understand... Of course, I understand now that this was just the enemy trying to short-circuit what the Lord was doing with me, and so I stopped believing for a wife, and decided women where a strange breed I would not even try to understand! Even more damaging was the hurt of gossip from people I had fellowshipped with, and a new fellowship pastor who without seeking the Lord’s counsel on the matter, decided I had turned renegade and had decided to use the gospel to manipulate a woman into marrying me and began to speak unwisely against me from the pulpit!! Well the Lord said cursed are those who curse me or speak insolently against me so it was not long before the Lord closed down his ministry without me doing a thing or saying a single word against him (The Lord had prepared me for this with the story of Saul & David).

My faith was completely shaken at this point, and the enemy began to lie to me that the Lord had not kept His promise, but this Word that the Lord said about a specific woman kept coming to me again and again and left me in no small state of consternation... I

told the Lord, I had been completely fine without any woman in my life, before you told me about this, now it seems to be really troubling me because I just could not see or understand how He could prepare a specific woman for me especially as there were lots of nice Christian girls all around me... I spoke to other Christians about it who agreed I could marry anybody I wanted only the person should be in the Lord as written by the apostle Paul, but the Lord kept this Word strong in my heart, and then I completely understood it was just a case of trust. Well, my heart was still smarting from the prior saga so every pretty sister who so much as looked in my direction kept the Lord on His toes with questions “Is this her? Is this her?” to which He would reply no... Even more painful were the ones it was clear liked me back and wanted to spend time with me, and I would deliberately avoid because I didn’t want to disobey the Lord, through this I suppose I must have broken hearts too...

I graduated from University of Lagos in 2000, and began to get even more pressure from really lovely girls I liked back, only this inner gnawing feeling the Lord was not with it... I had stopped asking the Lord at this point because all those Nos’ where too painful to bear so I just coasted along... My pastor prophesied over me that my marriage would be celebrated in 3 countries, and I was thinking about this and saying to myself why would I want to do this, but just decided to let it be. I began to get really close to a girl in the prayer team at House on the Rock church and decided that perhaps this is her, but did not want to ask the Lord about it. Well He allowed it because I was not going to `behave unseemly towards my virgin`, and she was new to the faith so what I had was benefiting her... We got really close and she was really sure we would get married so when I announced I had to travel to the United Kingdom, and it was of the Lord it broke her heart which by the kindness of the Lord I am sure is all mended now...

Arrived here, and met loneliness so thick such as can be touched! No other Christian around me who could possibly understand anything... all the chaps excitedly looking forward to going to the Night-clubs to pick up chicks so I just stayed by myself... Was walking up Nether-gate road in Dundee where I was originally studying, when I saw a girl who had attended my church in Nigeria... we were both so excited at seeing a familiar face that we embraced, immediately exchanged numbers and began to see a lot of each other... this seemed to be perfect only she seemed to want a bit more than just chats and coffee... I remembered she was one of the ones who though had left Egypt, still periodically thought about the leeks, cucumbers and onions there but she was all I had so I began to entertain thoughts of giving in, especially with the added pressure of a worldly chap she had been involved with who wanted her back... Pressure building and mounting, I was going to invite her over one evening when the Lord sternly warned me that if I tried that, I would be gone... He reminded me about the scriptures in proverbs about the strange woman and so I just stopped calling her, even deleted her number to be sure I didn’t... changed my mobile and did not answer the door when I knew she was the one knocking... The enemy clouded me with bouts of depression such that I thought I was making a mistake but the Lord had never warned me as sternly as He did that day, and I pray He wouldn’t have to ever again... Liked another really nice girl who liked me back but she was returning back home to Angola and wouldn’t let her heart get involved which I totally respected.

Quite sure by now the Lord hated me, I began to drift away from Him and got into a long distance relationship with another girl I had known in Nigeria who had liked me... she was a catholic Christian so I imagined I wasn’t doing too badly, saying to myself, well I am still standing on apostle Paul’s word... I was in Scotland and she lived down south the far end of England so the only danger in this relationship was massive phone bills... or so I thought... well to cut a long story short the pressure was so much that I backslid when she would come visiting. All kinds of issues began to crop up in the relationship, and she decided she wanted a break, and I was very clear in saying that I didn’t do breaks... especially as I was later to find out there was another chap she was interested in trying out... and if she was giving this up, there was no way back. She did just that and wanted back after a while, but I kept my word and told her never to call me again (I have long forgiven her, and I hope she has me for wrongs I said or did). All this I now understand the Lord had wanted to save me from, but I had stopped listening for a while now... Got involved with other girls nowhere near Christianity, one of which actually said she was a psychic!! Well the Anointing of the Lord preserved me such that the devils that gave her those powers would not hang out with her when we were together!

The Lord began to pull my heart back to Him in 2005, and I began to read my Bible again and began to seek to go to church again... joining home fellowships for a start, and then began attending the Sunday services when I discovered how extra-sensitive Christian girls here in the UK could be... The slightest kindness or smile could be misconstrued as a marriage proposal, but I was later to understand why, and this was because really silly fleshly good for nothing old jocker micks saw them as an easy target when all they were trying to do was keep from getting hurt. Well I was staying clear away from women at this point so didn’t trouble me much, only my heart sank when the Lord began to open my eyes to all the hurt and muck the enemy had managed to get in among His people...

I had been interested in a nice Christian girl who I asked out but she said no, and I was like ok sorry I asked because she seemed even offended that I had asked... I took her word for it but it seemed she wanted me to pursue after her, and so I asked her again and she said no again... This followed by what I perceived as annoyance by my stopping and interacting with her like a friend instead, so I decided she just liked the attention and enjoyed being pursued. Well, Jesus said seek first the Kingdom of God so I declined the offer and chose to continue pursuing the Kingdom of God instead... The Lord then reminded me of this word for a specific woman He had told me, and I accepted it like a good boy... I was such an obedient son by this point that if the Lord said Temisan jump, I would ask “How high Sir?” After this was an excruciatingly long period of time I cannot possibly express in words... I was totally deluged with all kinds of women interested in something more than mere friendship... pretty blondes, brunettes, red-heads, African, Caribbean, British, Irish, French, Portuguese... at work, at church, everywhere! I had a wee conference with my biological homie and said mate, your only use for now is pissing are we understood! I was more like the subject of `footsteps in the sands` because if it had not been the Lord who was on my side now may Israel say, I would have been consumed... the only thing that saved my hide was that I loved the Lord. I then began to be like Lord, but there are many chaps around what’s going on... I was thinking I didn’t know I was so handsome... the Lord helped me realise there are

too many cowboy micks out there and the girls realise this, so when they meet someone they think they can trust they want him totally... I reached a point when I was beginning to feel really down about this Word, and the Lord gave me a prophecy through a friend of mine. This Word before several witnesses was that in 12 to 18 months from then I would be with my wife. Really grateful I continued on my way...

I had reached a point of total surrender and trust in the Lord at this point, and so twice I told Him “Lord I don’t mind if you want me to be by myself, I will serve you happily in such a case”, and I felt His smile each time, and each time He said “I have someone for you Temisan...”. I resigned myself totally to the Lord and told Him I would not do a thing to make it happen, and if He didn’t do anything then nothing would happen... I worked for a Financial Services company on Dalkeith road in Edinburgh at the time and would walk by a certain window and would have an early morning enquiring mental notion about the inhabitants but would just walk on my way... The Lord began blessing me with Dr Jerry Savelle’s ministry through his online broadcasts and I saw his very pretty daughter ministering with him, and before I could get the question out of my heart, discovered she was already married in the next 2 sentences!

Time passed and I kept this Word on my heart... in exactly the time period of the earlier prophecy, another friend who was not present when this prophecy was spoken said the exact same prophecy to me word for word, but with a shorter timescale... a week later I met Tasha... when I met her there was nothing in me that told me this is her... at that point I was just friends with any and everybody and would only withdraw from folk who I felt wanted to lead me into sin. Had a chat in a cafe, and she agreed to my invitation to come and watch me play footie with the church chaps... well by the next Sunday I was more interested in sitting with her at Whether-spoons than playing any football even though I had my kit with me and the rest is history. I didn’t see the Lord appear with angels flapping their wings and saying Lo and Behold my son, this is her!! I just knew I couldn’t be without her! I asked her to marry me a week into our relationship and she said yes... I was later to discover that all the time I had spent feeling lonely and unhappy and trying to stand on this Word from the Lord, she had not been farther than a 100 metres from me the whole time... That very window I walked by to work every day was where she lived!!

We both decided not be allow the pressure couples willingly allow society put on them for what they regard as a grand wedding day so we both decided for something really simple... A friend was going to make a cake for us and was so troubled about our seeming carefree attitude over colours and stuff! At the last minute, we decided to go for red and white but decided not to tell her in case she had already made the cake with different colours, and arrived on our wedding day to discover the cake in the colours red and white... She had decided for different colours, and the Lord told her no, make it in red and white! The beauty and blessing of the Lord has remained with us, and I now understand that prophecy my pastor spoke over me years ago... Our marriage would indeed be celebrated in 3 countries, United Kingdom, Belarus, and Nigeria.

Your brother in Christ,

Temisan

P.S. Please note, if you are already married your husband or wife is the will of God. If you’re facing issues, please work on it to make it work... the grass is not greener at the other side of the fence, but where it is watered... remember you said “I do” before God and His minister... This is a covenant... you will hurt yourself bad if you mess with it.

“...You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavour? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as

worthless. You are the light of the world-like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father...” – Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:13 – 16) New Living Translation