AMOS:

Amos was a shepherd in Tekoa. He was doing his job as a shepherd contentedly without any problems.

One day, he had an encounter with God, and the trajectory of his life changed: God called him to be a Prophet!

He started giving words of prophecy as led by the Holy Spirit. And these words were not sweet to the ears! Amaziah the Priest sent a message to Jeroboam the King: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you! The land cannot bear his words!” Then he said to Amos, “Don’t prophesy again! Go back to Judah and prophesy there! Relocate to Judah to continue your Prophetic Ministry!”

Amos replied, “I wasn’t a Prophet, neither the son of a Prophet. I was a shepherd and the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me go and prophesy to Israel”

In other words, “I am doing this as instructed from God, I was doing something else contentedly before God gave me this assignment! I had a life changing experience that altered the trajectory of my life!”

 

JONAH:

Jonah was already a prophet: he knew his calling.

It was never in doubt.

One day, God sent him to Nineveh with a word of prophecy, so he took a ship- not to Nineveh but to Tarshish: in the opposite direction! He literally wanted to run away from God!

He got to Joppa and entered a ship heading to Tarshish.

Then he had a life changing experience…

He was thrown overboard into the raging sea (on his instruction), got swallowed by a fish and was vomited out on land after 3 days. After THAT experience, he went to do what God had told him to (any sane man would, if you ask me!).

 

MOSES:

He lived the life of an Egyptian Prince for 40 years, with all the opulence, prestige, honour, dignity and respect.

But he KNEW he had Jewish blood running through his veins. One day, he saw an Egyptian beating a Jew. Instinctively, he killed the Egyptian and buried the body.

The next day, he saw 2 Jews fighting and he intervened. To his shock, one of them told him to his face: “who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?”

Woah!

He realized the murder he committed was no more a secret! It was a life changing experience for him: he ran away from Egypt. The next 40 years of his life was spent as a shepherd in Midian.

Then he had another life changing experience in the wilderness that altered the trajectory of his life for the next 40 years.

 

PETER:

Peter was a fisherman in a village. He was good at his job, raising a family from the proceed of his fishing business. Until one fateful day, he had a life changing experience: he met Jesus, and the trajectory of his life changed dramatically: he went from catching fish to catching men.

 

PAUL:

Paul was a very zealous Pharisee, committed to destroying the Early Church. He believed he was doing the RIGHT THING, persecuting the Church. But one day on his way to Damascus, he had a life changing experience: he met Jesus and the trajectory of his life changed dramatically. He became the biggest promoter of the Church he fought against.

 

TUNDE:

Tunde is a single 30 year old Civil Engineer.

He had two ladies in his life he saw as prospective “wife material”. He was not ready to marry in another year or 2, so he was not in a hurry making up his mind to decide which of them is The One.

Then, he had a life changing experience: a car accident!

He broke an arm in the accident.

He was hospitalized for two weeks.

For those two weeks, one of the ladies would bring him breakfast on her way to work in the morning, close from work, go home and make food to bring to him in the evening.

She would spend Friday and Saturday nights in the Hospital with him to keep him company.

The other lady would just call to check up on him once in a while and visited him in the hospital four times all through the two weeks he was under admission.

The following year, Tunde got married. No prizes for guessing who he got married to!

In life, we sometimes go through some life changing experiences that bring us CLARITY, going forward. We may NEVER know what to do next in life if we don’t go through these experiences: they are God’s way of giving us DIRECTION and PURPOSE.

 

Shalom,

Haruna Daniels