Pastor David Ibiyeomie of the Salvation Ministries in Port Harcourt has shared his experience of poverty as a struggling preacher.
“I was poor. I had one shoe, my wedding shoe. I wore it to the point that the shoe broke and I had one black coat. I mix white shirt, brown trousers and a red tie with the black coat.
“I had only white shirts. They were sold for N100. You need to see those white shirts, when it is starched, it will become something else”, Ibiyeomie told his church members.
But he added he was undaunted by his crushing poverty as he set his sights on overcoming it.
“I didn’t bother myself about the poverty, I was talking that I am going to be one of the wealthiest preachers on the earth.
“I Kept on declaring that. You don’t say what you’re going through, say what you expect to see.
“Faith does not say what is happening, faith says what it expects to see. God said I want light, forget darkness, the almighty God said ignore darkness”, he said.
“So, if you want to create like God what do you do? God’s kind of faith does not say what is happening, God’s kind of faith speaks what they want. God’s kind of faith declares God’s Word and changes bad situations to good.
“God’s kind of faith speaks only what is written, not what is happening.
“In the midst of poverty I said I can’t be poor, I didn’t say I am not poor, I was poor how can I say I am not poor, with one suit, one shoe, I was poor but I ignored poverty and I declared that I am rich. I had only 1 coat, not a suit.
“There is a difference between suit and coat. Suit is what I am wearing now while coat is the one that goes to the laundry and does not come back the same way and I don’t go to laundry, I go to the washer man.
“I was poor but I never declared poverty. I ignored the symptoms. Do you understand what faith is? Most times people think they are telling lies.
“Faith does not mean that you will ignore what is happening, faith is that you know what is happening but you don’t accept it, you ignore it. You stand in the Word”.