{"id":111606,"date":"2023-08-02T13:06:13","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T20:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/?p=111606"},"modified":"2023-08-02T13:06:13","modified_gmt":"2023-08-02T20:06:13","slug":"swimming-in-the-ocean-of-divine-love-and-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/archives\/111606-swimming-in-the-ocean-of-divine-love-and-ministry","title":{"rendered":"Swimming in the Ocean of Divine Love and Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0 Babalola is one of MSIA\u2019s Ministers of the Year in 2023, awarded at the Conference of the Power of Living Love this past June.\u00a0 We asked him to share about his ministry in the New Day Herald so you can know more about him and his service.<\/em><\/p>\n

On J-R\u2019s birthday, Saturday, September 24, 1988, Paul Kaye performed my ordination into the MSIA service ministry at a beautiful golf resort deep in the rain forest of my native Nigeria. My heart sang a melodious song to every word that came forward as Spirit\u2019s blessing upon me and my ministry. It opened with: \u201cThe purity of the heart is your guide. Listen to it well! The world does not support the purity of the heart; so, you must listen to it beyond the adversities, beyond the clamor of this world. You must take time to go within and listen to it\u2026\u201d And then later on it says: \u201cIt is like a pure stream in a pool of mud. As you just keep following this pure stream, you will find that your life will flow in purity; your life will flow in clarity for God is present with you. The Traveler stands with you strongly in this ministry. All you need do is just keep following this thread of purity within you and allow it to be your guide\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are some of the crystal-clear instructions that were issued forth through Spirit during my ordination. They made my heart rejoice because they were accurate reflections of what I had been doing (by way of service) up until that point, and they have been Lights on my path to guide me from that day onwards.<\/p>\n

I was a zealot in those early days, right after my ordination. I wanted to build an MSIA paradise in Nigeria! My ambition was huge. My means were very extremely meager. But my vision was very clear and sharp. So clear that I could not see some of the \u201cobstacles\u201d on my path\u2026until I ran into them. Then I crashed, and I burned. And like the mythical Phoenix bird, I arose out of my ashes, to the sound of my then MSIA mentor (now of blessed memory), who often told me: \u201cDear Babalola, you are going to have to learn to make haste very slowly!\u201d I finally got what he meant; wrote these words into my heart; and allowed them to bless me in my ministry. J-R was right (as always!) when he said: \u201cThe price of freedom is eternal vigilance.\u201d<\/p>\n

I continue to grow in service calling and response. Through grace, Spirit brought me into the United States of America in 1995 (story for another day). I got it very clear right from the get-go that I was not coming here to \u201cmake it\u201d like most of my fellow immigrants. Rather, I came to gather as many tools of awareness as I could to prepare me for a higher quality ministerial service in my native Nigeria (specifically) when the time is ripe. The time is ripening faster now than ever before. I now travel back home more frequently and, in the nearest future, intend to be spending more time \u201cthere\u201d than I do \u201chere.\u201d In my capacity as the Traveler\u2019s Liaison to Nigeria, the primary focus of my service is to ensure that every single student of the Traveler\u2019s who wishes to maintain an active study\/initiation\/ordination status remains active; thanks to our Beloved Traveler, his office staff, and the MSIA Presidency.<\/p>\n

If you have ever been in the midst of these ordinary, mostly poor (financially\/materially) students of the Traveler in Nigeria, you will understand what it is like to just be with them. If you have never been in their midst and would love to have a first-hand experience of it, 2026 may be your lucky year!<\/p>\n

I and an army of highly devoted and dedicated volunteers and community leaders\/elders in Nigeria (Prince Polycarp Iwuoha being my principal anchor person) are working on a project code-named: \u201cVision 2026!\u201d The vision is to facilitate a Traveler\u2019s visit to Nigeria in the year 2026, to commemorate the 40th<\/sup> anniversary of J-R\u2019s ONLY visit to Nigeria in 1986. J-R came with a bus full of his students from around the world back then (and you were probably on that trip\u2026thank you!). Traveler John Morton is currently checking out this request\/vision through Spirit. We are playing our part by proceeding as if we already have his firm approval; trusting that Spirit always meets us at the point of our action. We envision John and Leigh coming with (maybe?) two buses full of the Traveler\u2019s students from around the world this time. We invite you to join us in placing this vision, the eventual manifestation of it, and the possibility of your participation in this lovefest in the Light of God\u2026all for the highest good of all concerned. We will be sharing more details as they become available.<\/p>\n

I am blessed to be a proud member of the Traveler\u2019s family. And so are YOU!<\/p>\n

Thank HU!<\/p>\n

Rev. Babalola Chris-Rotimi \/ Richmond, Texas \/ Dateline: Lagos, Nigeria \/ July 31, 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0 Babalola is one of MSIA\u2019s Ministers of the Year in 2023, awarded at the Conference of the Power of Living Love this past June.\u00a0 We asked him to share about his ministry in the New Day Herald so you can know more about him and his service. On J-R\u2019s birthday, Saturday, September 24, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":111607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,5397],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-ministry-in-action"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}