*”STRUCK DOWN”*
*_EPISODE TWENTY-SIX(Final Episode)_*
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“Mummy now, what are you still doing? I don’t want to be late o, and you know that.” Debby said impatiently at her mom’s door while waiting for her to get dressed so they could go to church together.
“Be patient will you? I’m almost done.” Her mom said from inside and Debby heaved a sigh.
“It’s 6:45am already and from here to church takes nothing less than 15mins. I don’t want to be late for the Praise/Worship section of today’s service. I read somewhere that’s the only thing God gets in the whole service.”
“Yeah that’s true. Don’t worry we won’t be late. I’m almost done.”
“Can I at least come in now? Seeing is believing.”
“Lol….we walk by faith and not by sight o. You can come in now though.” Mama Eunice said and Debby gave a quick knock before walking into her room.
“Oya let’s go. I’m through.” Mum said after some minutes.
To Debby’s satisfaction, they weren’t late but arrived during the opening prayers.
Debby engaged herself in deep worship to God when it was time for it, that she felt refreshed and more alive even after the praise/worship section had ended.
Then came the time for a brief Bible Study, popularly called ‘Search the Scriptures’, which lasted for about 30mins before the head pastor came to the podium to preach.
“Today we’re going to be listening to a message from the Holy Spirit titled ‘forgiveness’.” The head pastor said and closed his eyes to pray.
“Father I ask that you open the eyes of your people and let them have their individual rhema this morning, in the name of Jesus.”
“Amen” The church chorused.
“Our text is going to be taken from the book of Matthew 18….” He said and paused for a while to open the big Bible placed before him.
“We’d be reading from verse 23 through to the end. Are we there?” He asked and there were rumors of yes and nos so he waited a little before reading the passage out loud.
“The message for today is simple but very deep and it’s for someone here. The Lord told me if that someone here takes the necessary steps he or she should after this message, a breakthrough that you have never imagined in your life can be yours would break forth and manifest.” He said and the church chorused Amen.
“Now obviously the passage for today is centered on forgiveness. According to the Scripture a man here owed a king a huge sum of money which he couldn’t pay. He begged for mercy from his master and received it. Meanwhile this same servant had a fellow servant that owed him not as much as he owed the king, but held him at the throat, asking him to pay his debt. I’d like to name the first servant Servant A, and the other Servant B so we don’t confuse ourselves here.
Now Servant B did what worked for Servant A in that he knelt and begged to be given a little time so he could pay up. Now on a normal note, it is expected that this servant recall or have a flashback of his encounter with the king and forgive his fellow servant, no matter how painful it might be for him, isn’t it? But he didn’t. Instead he ordered his imprisonment till he paid him all. Now let me explain this passage to you as the Holy Spirit did to me.
We are all under God’s authority and God is a King, right? That’s why we call Him the King of kings. We His children are his servants, isn’t that so? That’s why even David prays ‘deliver thy servant, rescue thy servant, hear thy servant in the day of trouble’ and the likes. Please are we following?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Good. We’re servants because we all render services to God. Now as servant there’s a debt we couldn’t and still can’t pay. That debt is what Jesus came to pay on our behalf in that he took our place and died for us. Because the huge sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ, we are pardoned and have received the mercy of God to walk around freely without any condemnation.
Now when someone sins against us as humans, a debt comes in. That’s why a person has the conviction to come to you asking for forgiveness and when you forgive, the person feels free within him. Infact sometimes it’s not only about asking for forgiveness alone, in some cases there comes a need for restitution. True or false?”
“True!”
“Now Jesus has told us several times in this Bible that we should forgive as Christ has forgiven us. He further explained how this forgiveness of a thing works in this story now. When we offend God, we all go to him asking for forgiveness. Infact there are present believer who still don’t feel they deserve God’s forgiveness as a result of the nature of their past, yet our merciful God has pardoned them. It is surprising that after they have received God’s pardon, they refuse to forgive their fellow men of the hurt they have caused them presently or in the past.
Now let’s go back to the passage and take note of certain things there.” The lead pastor said and flipped through the pages of the Bible in front of him.
“We’d start from verse 27. The King is God and the servant for example is Delight. So Delight asked the Lord for forgiveness and He forgave her. This same Delight left God’s presence to hold unto a debt owed by her fellow brethren. Please note here that even if that person paid up, she still wouldn’t be able to pay the debt she owed her God. Now some of us here are like that.
You’ve received a great deliverance, perhaps it’s not even forgiveness of sins, yet you still go back to act in a way that reminds God of your past and force Him to pay you back in your own coin! Don’t you know that holding on to the past, holding on to the pain someone has caused you only hurts your relationship with God? I’m guessing now that servant A in this scripture was furious with servant B because he was thinking that maybe if that servant wasn’t owing him, he would at least have paid off some of his debt to the King.
Some of us now are angry with our fellow human being because our mindset is focused on how better our lives would have been by now if so so and so haven’t done this or that to us, so we’re holding on to the regret and caging the victim in our hearts. What you do not know is that as long as that person remains in the prison of your heart, you’re hindering yourself of the blessings and grace that God’s forgiveness comes with. Or you do not know that there’s a grace that comes with forgiveness? Don’t you know that when God forgives you of your adultery, of your fornication, He releases the grace to recover all that you’ve lost as a result of that sin? So why hold on to the past like there’s no hope for you in getting a husband, in restoring your home, or in having your babies? God has that grace given to you already but that grace can’t work for you when you don’t let go of the little debt your fellow human owes you.” The pastor said and Debby’s mind immediately flashed back to Fred. For a moment it felt the pastor was directly talking to her.
“Let that person you’re caging in your heart go, so the grace God has made available to you can work for you. If you keep holding on to that pain, that hurt, that regret, you wouldn’t be able to activate the grace God released toy ou when He forgave you of your sins. Come to think of it, I don’t think God can forgivr you of your sins if there’s no chance of making it right. A husband for example forgives his wife to show she has a chance of making things right. Imagine if all the wife does is to wallow in self-pity and regret over what she has done to her husband in the past, she wouldn’t have the chance to see her husband’s forgiveness as an opportunity to be a better wife and work towards it. It’s the same thing with you dear. If you keep caging people in your heart and allow your self sink in the ocean of regret, you’d never see God’s forgiveness as an opportunity to do better. Let that prisoner in your heart go dear brother. Let that man that has hurt you so much and is responsible for your predicament go dear sister. Let them go.” The pastor said and at this point, Debby had gotten so emotional she didn’t realized a tear had escaped her eyes.
“God I know this is me you’re talking to through this message. I get the dream now. You’re asking me to let go of this garment of shame I feel within me that I’ve been holding on to tightly for a really long time. God it’s hard, it’s really hard to let go, forgive truly and forget about my past but I will, by your grace. I receive the grace to let go Lord, I receive the grace to forgive Fred. His name even annoys me sef.” Debby said and sighed with her head bowed as fresh tears streamed down her face.
💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
Mrs. Helen drove out of the church premises overjoyed. She enjoyed the service that Sunday. God had used the preacher for the day to answer her long-term prayers.
For close to a month now, she has had to face series of attacks and battles which she didn’t know what to do about it or how to fight back. The attacks have been so consistent that she’s grown weary already. She has been praying to God to show her Bible Scriptures and weapons to use to fight back and He’s been faithful to answer her via today’s service.
Today, she has learnt about the ministry of the Angels and couldn’t wait to start making use of the Angel as a weapon to fight her battles.
“This one you’ve been smiling all through like you won a lottery today.” Her husband said as soon as they walked into their room and tried to undress.
“Dear it’s more than that o. The joy I have presently is more than the one one has when he wins a lottery.”
“Oh really? Tell me about it, I’m listening.”
“Actions speak louder than words dear, tonight we’re going to be having a vigil….a wonderful one.”
“Well okay, but is that what you’re excited about? I mean we’ve been having personal and joint vigil in this house since you joined church.”
“Yes my dear, but tonight’s own is going to be different because we’re going to be praying with direction as received from the Lord.” Helen said as her husband gave her a confused look.
“Don’t worry you’d understand tonight.”
The anticipated night came and Henry was eager to see how the vigil would go that night.
“Oya let’s pray.”
“Wait a little, it isn’t midnight yet.”
“It’s a few minutes to, so let’s start already. I’m already anxious to know what your excitement earlier today was all about.” Henry said as Helen laughed and took the opening prayer. After the praise/worship section, they settled to read the Bible before prayers.
“The ministry of angels.” Helen said aloud, repeating the topic that had been preached in church earlier that day.
“Our pastor today said one of the problems of the modern day Christains is the lack of faith in the word of God. He also mentioned something today that Angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to serve us Christains.”
“Oh really, did he?”
“Yes, I even jotted down the verse he quoted that from.” Helen said as she reached out for her jotter.
“Here, this is it! Hebrews 1:14.” She said and he turned to the passage to read it to their hearing.
“And you believe this?”
“What do you mean by ‘and you believe this’? Didn’t you read it from the Scripture yourself? Are you calling God or His word a lie?”
“You’re missing my point. I thought you need to be a conc. Christain before this part of the Scripture would become a reality in your life. I mean for you to send angels on errands, you need to have a really strong faith.” He said, speaking from experience. In the kingdom he had recently been translated from, you’d need to attain a certain height and make lots of sacrifices before having a strong personality for a body guard.
“Well, what my Bible tells me is that if my faith is as insignificant as a mustard seed, I can move mountains. In the same way, I can command angels to work on my behalf with the little faith that I have and they would obey, as long as it is done in the name of Jesus. All it takes for wonders to happen when it come to the kingdom of God is just a little faith!”
“Hmm….a little faith.”
“Yes. So let’s gather the little faith we have left and make use of this weapon.”
🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
Kadar has been having his way around Chief’s family and that has made him so happy. He has been able to prevail in Chief’s life and making his wife weary of praying has earned him a promotion- one he has always envied within him. One of the advantages of his recently attained height was a free access to higher powers and he was going to test-run one of the most dangerous of them all on Chief’s family tonight.
After making some wicked incantations, a hefty and fearful looking creature emerged from the thin air.
“My victim has decided to rebel against me and has willingly joined the other kingdom to protect himself against me, not knowing he has nowhere to hide. I want you to go and strike him with illness he’d never recover from. Be sure to afflict the seed of the woman as well, even the innocent need to be affected in this fierce battle. Show no mercy. Now go, go, go!!!”
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“O Lord arise and release your angels of fire to fight my battles for me, in the name of Jesus.”
“O Lord release your angels to surround and police my environment and apartment tonight.”
“I send the angels of war into the camp of my enemies to destroy them, in the name of Jesus.”
Mrs. Helen called out as herself and her husband prayed fervently. Chief’s faith was really low, especially with the kind of prayer points she was calling, but he had no other choice but to pray them knowing the kind of fierce battle he has brought upon himself.
“Plead the blood, plead the blood, plead the blood!” Mrs. Helen felt a voice instruct in her spirit.
“I plead the blood, the blood of Jesus.” She began to sing as her husband sang along.
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“What is the problem? Why are you returning back without carrying out my orders?” Kadar asked as soon as he felt the creature’s evil presence.
“”The Blood is there. Why did you have to send me to a place where the blood is?”
“Blood? No, it cant be there. I worked so hard to put out the fire in that family. You must’ve been to the wrong location.” Kadar said and just then a bright light shone in their midst, almost rendering Kadar blind.
“Why do you keep persecuting God’s own? For how long would you keep attempting to harm the apple of God’s eye?” The being who Kadar recognized to be an angel spoke.
“I only do as assigned. You should ask him who saw no other people but God’s children to attack.” The evil creature said, pointing an accusing finger at Kadar.”
“What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I….I…No the….I didn’t know that…” Kadar stammered.
“Destroy your sender in sevenfold.” The angel commanded and the evil creature did as told immediately.
“No no no please, mercy…..arrrghh.” Kadar cried out, but it was too late. He fell down dead.
“And as for you, the Lord banishes you to the dry and bottomless pit.” The angel say and a ray of fear could be seen in the evil creature’s eyes. Having no choice but to obey the angel who obviously was more powerful and had higher authority, he turned around and disappeared. The angel as soon as he was done with his assignment, disappeared and left to meet the rest of his colleagues.
“Done?” A larger angel asked the other who had just come in.
“Yes, all done. The camp of their enemies have been destroyed as requested.”
“Good. Now we watch over them till dawn”
THE ANGEL(S) OF THE LORD ENCAMPS ROUND ABOUT THEM THAT FEAR HIM, AND DELIVERS THEM.
GLORYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE……….
Or wait, one more thing
🥳EPILOGUE🥳
“I hope you’re all enjoying your stay here.” Debby asked a group of ten girls in a hotel room.
“Yes Ma!” They chorused.
“Ojay so keep yourselves comfortable okay, it’s bridal shower. Very soon the camera man would come do his job and we’d have some fun.”
“Are we ready? He’s here already.” Charity said as soon as she walked into the room.
“Yeah we’re set.”
Soon pictures were taken and the girls had fun till late intot he night.
“It’s so amazing how far I’ve come.” Debby said with her face up when she was alone with Charity. The rest of the bridal train had retired to their own room..
“I know right? Life can be so unpredictable, but when you join hands with the all-knowing God, He lets you have a glimpse into the future like an expo, that you can at least predict what ca happen.” Charity said and Debby smiled broadly.
“If anyone told me I’d be where I am today, I would’ve labeled the person a joker. A lady who had written off getting married now soon to be married in few hours time, amazing!”
“Abi now? And this beautiful breakthrough came from obeying God’s instructions to forgive Fred.” Charity added.
“Hmmm….Fred. You know babe, when I think of it, I think I’m grateful for how my life played out. Seriously.”
“Yeah, except the painful parts.”
“On the contrary, inculuding the painful part. I’m glad I met Chief, Fred, you and everyone I’ve ever come across because my relating with each of you was like bringing me a step closer to God. You know if I had never met Fred or Chief, I wouldn’t have come to realized how much I needed Christ in my life. They brought in the battles in my life that drew me closer to God which in turn led me into having this strong fellowship with the Holy Spirit that I’m enjoying now.”
“Hmmm….in a way, that is true. All things work together for good to them that love the Lord.”
“Yes. I even heard from Chief lately via Instagram. From the look of things and his post, he’s a changed man; more to say, a born-again Christain.”
“Oh really? Wow, that’s surprising.”
“I made the same comment too, but I’m happy for him.” Debby said and Charity yawned tiredly.
“Babe let’s sleep now. Tomorrow is your big day and we need to have a lot of energy for it because I bet it’s going to be stressful.” Charity suggested as Debby chuckled
“Yeah that’s true. Okay let’s pray first before we go to sleep.”
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The D-Day was here and everyone seemed liked they had been waiting forever for this day to come as multitudes flooded in and out of the venue till it was over, all thanks to Debyy’s mom who announced her daughter’s wedding to the world.
After Debby exchanged vows with her divine husband Raymond, they all danced and danced before heading to the reception venue to have some fun.
When it was time for exchange of gifts, multitudes gave valuable gifts. It came as a deep surprise to the new bride when she got to know Fred came for her wedding.
“Happy married life Debby.” He whispered with a ray of sadness on his face as he handed over his gift to her.
On opening his gift later on, she found a letter neatly placed inside.
“Dear Debby,
I’m sincerely sorry for the pains I casued you in the past and I’m super glad you had a heart large enough to forgive me when I asked for it. I would’ve love to wish I could go back in time to treat you right, the way you deserved to be treated, but the truth remains that it wouldn’t change anything because I hadn’t learnt the love of Christ which I’m being exposed to now.
Truly a man doesn’t know the worth of something until he loses it, but I’m happy you ended well after all because you deserve it, being so tender-hearted, caring and loving. I hope to find a woman like you again in this life, and I’m certain I’d treat her right this time as God has been dealing with me in that area. Till we meet or need each other again in the future (I hope),
Fred”
Debby smiled broadly as she read the letter and kept it back to attend to others who were still bringing in their gifts in exchange for surveneirs.
Soon the reception was over and everyone dispersed. The latest couple in town entered their car and drove to their new home.
“Indeed God is faithful. I was STRUCK DOWN by the enemy but by the grace and rich mercies of God, I wasn’t destroyed.” Debby said as she laid in the arms of her husband
*THE END*
©Princess Stories
