My personal Testimony – Celine Naomi Ogbodo

Table of Contents:

• Salvation – Miraculous, wondrous transforming from a guilty sinner to a free, joyous saint!

• Sanctification – The Second Work of Grace

• Baptism of the Holy Spirit

• Heavenly Visions – Visions where the Lord gave me a glimpse into glorious Heaven

• Revival and heavenly Joy every day!

• Divine Healing

• Protection from Death

 

Salvation – Miraculous, wondrous transforming from a guilty sinner to a free, joyous saint!

Once I was a sinner, now I am a saint! Once I was bound to the bonding shackles of my sin, now I am freed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ! Praise the Lord!

But how did this happen? And how did it all start? As a little child being raised in a Christian family, the Holy Bible has always been an open book in our home. I was taught about the Holy Scripture, but that didn’t change my life. Though through the grace of God, I am blameless concerning open sins like adultery, fornication, murder, cursing, stealing etc.; secret sins were crossing my heart from time to time. I was always aware that my soul would go to hell fire in this state if I died, but the devil kept me from praying earnest prayers to Jesus Christ to be forgiven of my sins. Nevertheless, the Lord saw me and knew who I was. He knew everything about me, and He saw the sinful condition of my heart.

One Sunday, towards the end of the church service, before everybody went on their knees to pray, my father announced that we could also come to the altars to pray. I liked that, so for the first time, I went to the altar to pray. That day, I determined in my mind that I would really pray to Jesus and not look around at what other people were doing. I told myself that I would be serious with Jesus, confess all my sins that I could remember to Him, and ask Him to forgive me. And that was what I did. I confessed all my sins to Jesus and told Him that I was sorry for them. I also told Jesus that I didn’t want to go back to my sins. I asked Him to forgive all my sins and to come into my heart. I prayed this prayer with all my heart and suddenly, something amazing happened: The Glory of Heaven came down and filled my soul! The Joy of Heaven flowed through my soul and Jesus Christ came right into my heart! I was so light, a burden had rolled away out of my heart! I felt that Jesus had washed my sins completely away! I was no longer the child I used to be – I was a new creature! I knew in my heart for sure that if I died right now, my soul would fly straight to heaven! 

How marvellous this wonderful, amazing, heart-changing and life-changing experience was to my heart in one moment!

And it still is today! Daily, I am praising my Lord that He washed away all my sins. I want to serve Jesus for the rest of my life. And I want to invite you also to experience this glorious encounter with Jesus Christ, the Son of God! 

 

  Sanctification- The Second Work of Grace

After I had received this blessed salvation, though still a little child, my life started changing. The sinful things, I simply could not do any longer, I thank God for the precious gift of salvation from Jesus Christ because it changed my heart and my life for the good, it gave me a sound peace of mind and most importantly it assures my soul of eternal life in heaven after this earthly life! 

But this was not all. After Jesus had miraculously saved my soul from sin, I felt that there was more. In my Bible, I had read about holiness in 1 Peter 1:15-16; But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. Another verse that I came across in the Bible taught me that Jesus did not only die on the Cross of Calvary to save my soul from sins but that Jesus was also willing to sanctify me. “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.“ (Hebrews 13:12). I had also read how Jesus prayed for His disciples. At a point, He prayed “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17). I was thankful that the Lord had washed away all my former sins and had given me a new heart. But I also realized that the human sin nature was still present in my life. In my heart, I knew that I needed to be sanctified; made holy, and that the nature of sin needed to be uprooted out of my life. Therefore, I continued to seek the Lord in prayer for sanctification. I kept telling Jesus in tears: “My dear Lord in heaven, I thank you for saving my soul from my sins. Please sanctify me. Make me holy and remove this sinful nature from my life. I want to be sanctified and live a holy life for you, Lord. Please, Lord, sanctify me.

I wanted to be sanctified with all my heart. And Jesus saw my heart and in mercy, He heard my plea! He came down and sanctified my heart! Once again, the wonderful glory of God flooded through my heart at that moment, and I felt immediately in my heart that the Lord had just sanctified me! I was so happy, and I felt that my heart had been cleansed and sanctified, made holy for Jesus! Oh, what joy flooded through my soul. I started thanking the Lord and praising the holy name of Jesus for visiting me and sanctifying my heart! The sanctification of my soul, the second work of grace, was so dear to my heart at that moment, it has been up till now and it will always be, until, by the special grace of God, I will meet Jesus in heaven, to be there with Him forever!

 

Baptism of the Holy Spirit

After I had been sanctified, I continued praying daily to Jesus and reading my Bible. I had heard about the account of Pentecost from Acts chapter 2. How the apostles had gathered together in one accord and the Holy Spirit descended upon them. How they had started praising God in different languages! I had heard how this event had stirred all the people and that there was a great Revival in the life of each apostle and in the church, even in the whole city! I also knew from Acts 2:39 that this promise of the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit was not only for the disciples of old, but also for me: “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call”. There was a big desire in my heart to receive this baptism of the Holy Spirit. I wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Daily I intreated the Lord about my baptism. However, somehow, two years had already passed by, and I still had not been baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then, one day I had a dream. It was very short but very meaningful. I only saw the word ‘Restitution’, but I knew straight away what the Lord wanted from me! I understood that He wanted me to settle out things with my teacher before He would baptize me with His Holy Spirit. Though very unspectacular and unnoticeable, the Lord still saw it. And though it wouldn’t have mattered to anybody seeing that I was still a child, it mattered to Him!  I then prayed about the matter, and the Lord gave me total victory! How happy I was and how light I felt after I had spoken to my teacher! A burden had rolled away from my heart, and I felt ready to receive my baptism. Howbeit, despite all my prayers, despite my desire to live a holy life for Jesus, despite all my desperate cries to God, despite all my tears, still no baptism. But I didn’t give up! I told Jesus, “You have done it for your disciples, you will do it for me because I am also your disciple and I know that you love me! One day, you will fill me with your Holy Spirit and you will help me to tell the world about it! I want to work for you, Lord !“ I was so upset that I just started crying at the altar. I expected my baptism to come, but it didn’t. It didn’t happen in the way I expected it to happen. Not at all!!! Anyway, I just couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to speak in a language that I had neither learned nor spoken before! Then, I fell asleep, and the Lord gave me a message through a vision. He had already heard and answered my prayer, and an angel had been assigned to deliver my answer. But on his way to me, the angel had been hindered by the devil who was trying to block my answer. I was commanded by the Lord to continue praying, and that my answer was on the way and would soon reach me.

This message was very comforting and encouraging to me. I continued praying confidently. One morning, something happened that made me unhappy. It troubled my conscience the whole day, and although I had begged God for forgiveness all day, my conscience didn’t give me rest. Consequently, I decided on my own to go into my room and pray. I wanted to have a sound conscience. For the first time in my life, I was in a real prayer mood. Suddenly, many tears started flowing down my face. I started praising the Lord in a joyous and awesome way. Normally, I used to pray in my mother tongue. But this time, I also prayed in English. I was praising God so different than before, so mature! I felt that it was not me who was praying – somebody pushed me to pray and laid those words of praise into my mouth. It was the Holy Spirit! Then, led by this power, I said something peculiar. I discovered that it was neither my mother tongue nor English or any language that I knew and had spoken before. I later found out that what I said meant ‘Be magnified, Oh Lord!’ in Italian. I have never learned nor spoken Italian before! I continued praising the Lord in tears. After ending my prayer, I was feeling amazingly happy, and I had a sound mind. Then, something incredibly marvellous happened, that I will never forget in my life: As I lifted my head towards the clock to see the time, the glory of Heaven opened, and I saw Jesus Christ in a white, shining garment, standing on the right hand of God the Father! And God the Father was sitting on His throne wearing a white, shining garment! I marvelled at what I had just seen! I was speechless! I started shaking all over my body. And I started praising the Lord for this incredible heavenly vision, for this glorious sight of heaven that Jesus gave me! I can never praise His holy name enough, and I will forever give praises to my heavenly Lord, all the days of my life until by His special grace, I will continue praising and bowing down before Him in heaven!

The Holy Spirit marvellously transformed my life. Though the Lord had always helped me to be a well-behaved child, anybody who knew me immediately observed the change. It felt like everywhere I was, in everything that I did, with whomever I was, the presence of Jesus was there, and everybody who was around felt that. I became humbler and more obedient and had the desire to walk with Jesus, to be near Him all the time, to become more like Him, and grew day by day. Before, I had always been afraid of telling someone about my faith. Something within me held me back from talking to people about Jesus. But now, He filled my heart with the desire to tell everybody what Jesus has done in my life, to lead people to Christ! He took the fear away! He gave me Power for Service! I silently started spreading the gospel in an interesting way that the Lord showed me. And it made me so happy, it filled my heart with incomparable joy! Today, some years have passed, and the Holy Spirit is still leading me day by day in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people. And I can truly say that every day with Jesus grows sweeter than the day before! Every person I witness to, every tract that I give out, and every person I have the opportunity to share my wonderful testimony with makes me one of the happiest people in the world! Joy and happiness that I can’t describe, so amazingly wonderful and glorious!

The Holy Spirit has been my most faithful guide. He has been my greatest comforter on my journey to Heaven. He has been my strength, my support, speaking for me, stirring me and gently leading me day by day.

My dear friend, it doesn’t matter who you are; I want to let you know something: To have the Holy Spirit within you is priceless! 

 

Heavenly visions – Visions where the Lord gave me a glimpse into glorious Heaven

One morning, I was contemplating within myself whether I would make heaven if the trumpet sounded, and the rapture would happen at that moment. I intreated the Lord about it and asked Him to show me that He is still with me and whether I would make heaven in my state. I was worried because something had happened that had made me sad, and I wanted to know whether the Lord had forgiven me. So, I prayed this prayer in tears with all my heart to Jesus. During the day, I took a rest and went to lie down on the sofa. While I was resting, the Lord withdrew me out of this life and took me to Heaven! Within the twinkling of an eye, I found myself in Heaven! I was astonished by the shining light and the incredible beauty that I saw around me. Heaven is the most beautiful place, and no human being could ever describe its glorious appearrance! All the marvellous mansions, the amazing, incomprehensibly shining light, the indescribable gold, every surprise in Heaven is unknowable and never-ending beauty. I saw bright, delightful lighting. There was no lighting needed because the glorious home of the soul shines by itself – Jesus Christ is the light! There was nothing that blocked my view and although the light shined so brightly, I never had to blink at all! I could look to where I wanted, I had a free view, I was free! Nothing about this glorious home of the soul, lovingly and exclusively prepared for the holy saints, could ever be compared to anything on this earth. There was no end, no wall – I felt the infinity, the everlasting eternity of Heaven! Heaven is incredibly big! It is not ground-levelled – Heaven is endless!

There was such a sweet sound in my ear, such calming music that I can’t describe! It had the perfect volume. No earthly instrument or voice could ever correspond to the value of this amazing sound.

As I was listening to this beautiful soothing sound, I saw the twenty-four elders whom I had read about in Revelation 4:4; each of them sitting on their throne!

After seeing the twenty-four elders sitting on their thrones, I searched my own place. I looked around everywhere, but I couldn’t find my place. It seemed like there was no space for me! Finally, I sadly decided to leave. Then, a glorious, awesome event for which I have no words to describe because I was indescribably joyous, took place. At the moment when I was about to turn and leave Heaven, Jesus himself stretched out His left arm and His left hand in my direction, looked at me and tenderly and lovingly said ‘COME, MY DAUGHTER!’. I followed Jesus and He showed me my place. He took me to a big and beautiful throne, which Jesus himself had prepared exclusively for me alone! I was so surprised and speechless. I didn’t feel worthy at all to sit on a throne, especially not to talk of a throne of such beauty in such a marvellous city – Heaven truly is more than a pure reward it made me feel the way I never felt before, a feeling for which I have no words to express it – much, much more than indescribably wonderful, happy, joyous, awesome!

After He had given me this glorious sight, the Lord brought me back to this life again and I awoke, although I would have wished to be privileged to stay there forever already. I continued to hear the calming sound in my ears. It has remained in a way that I can still remember the sound. Also, the sight of Heaven remained! By the special grace of God, when I have finished my life here on earth, one day I will return to Heaven and live there with my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ forever!

When I talked about my visit to Heaven for the first time, I felt so amazingly happy and joyous! I was so touched that I shed tears, remembering all the great things that God had shown me during my visit to Heaven, and expressing how I wanted to strive to see that place again one day, forever.

Heaven truly is the most beautiful place that I’ve ever seen, and it remains totally incomparable, despite how I tried my best to give a single feeling of what I saw. I want to strive to see that glorious city of gold again one day, forever!

Finally, I really want to thank God from the bottom of my heart for giving me a glimpse into glorious Heaven that awaits all the holy saints of Jesus Christ, for planting hope in my heart, for filling my soul with comfort, and for everything else and especially for giving me the opportunity to share this special testimony about my visit to Heaven with you. I pray that we will one day meet each other in Heaven at last and that we will all be blessed!

The second time the Lord took me to Heaven was during one of my earnest prayers after our Sunday Church Service, when I cried out my burdened heart to Jesus on the altar.

On that day, I came to church with a sorrowful spirit. I had a great burden in my heart, which made me to feel sad and feeble. I was extremely frustrated. I was at the point of desperation. After the service, I went to the altar to pray, as usual. But this time, before I even started praying, tears were flowing down my face. I talked to the Lord about my great burden. I told Jesus, “Lord, I have tried everything. I’m sorry that I didn’t succeed. And it really pains me. It tears my heart to pieces, and I can’t take it any longer. Please Lord, if it is not possible, then take my life and let me be with you in Heaven”. After praying for a while, I became weak. Suddenly, I heard a peculiar voice speaking to me. It was the voice of Jesus! He told me ‘FEAR NOT, MY DAUGHTER. YOU HAVE DONE YOUR PART. DON’T BE SAD THAT YOU DIDN’T SUCCEED!’. Then, He gave me a message for my church. This message had to do with the burden that had been in my heart. And this message was such an awesome comfort to my heart and to my soul! He continued saying ‘I CAN’T CALL YOU HOME YET, MY CHILD, BECAUSE YOU STILL HAVE WORK TO DO FOR ME ON EARTH. BUT BE OF GOOD COURAGE!’ and told me what I still needed to do for Him. The tears continued flowing. I promised my Saviour that I would do what He wanted me to do: “Yes Lord, I will fulfil my assignment here on earth. I will work for you, Lord. I will do this for you, Lord!”. While Jesus was talking to me, He came and stood in front of me, in a white shining garment! I stretched forth my hand and touched the hem of His garment! And suddenly, I was filled with incomparable, incredible joy and happiness! Within the twinkling of an eye, I found myself in Heaven! I was singing in the heavenly Choir, praising my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with a bright and shining smile on my face! I heard the beautiful, amazing voices of Heaven matching together – and I joined them! We sang a chorus that went like this: ‘Daddy Jehovah, You are the Most High, Daddy Jehovah, You are the Most High God! Jehovah, You are the Most High God, Daddy Jehovah, You are the Most High God!’, and we modulated it many times!

Then, the Lord brought me back to this life again. I started praising the Holy Name of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in tears. My heart was overflowing with joy! I quickly checked the time. At that moment, I was supposed to have struck the organ. I gently walked to the organ, but I couldn’t play. Because I still heard that glorious chorus in my ears and was filled with amazement! Led by the Spirit, I started heading towards the seats and calmly touched every brother and sister that was around, praising the Lord and lifting my hands toward Heaven! Then, continuously praising the Lord, I went into a corner and gave thanks. There, the Holy Spirit descended upon me! I started shaking all over my body! The whole church was marvellously revived, and the day that was one of the saddest days of my life turned out to be one of the most amazing, joyful, happiest days, where the Lord met me, spoke to me, took me to Heaven and filled my soul and heart with joy and peace! Glory forever and ever be to the holiest, Almighty God in Heaven! After our prayers, I told the congregation and the pastor about the message that the Lord had given me about our church, and we all went home greatly rejoicing on that day!

 

Revival and Heavenly Joy every day!

Every day, I wake up singing and rejoicing, because I know for sure that no matter what happens, even if sadness happens to come on my way, Jesus has saved my soul from sin and has freed me from my guilt and shame! And as long as He helps me to live for Him, by His special grace I will one day live with Him in Heaven forever! I am never without hope, no matter what situation comes along my way! Truly, every day with Jesus grows sweeter than the day before! He renews and increases my desire to spend time reading His Word, the Holy Bible, and praying to Him, daily!

Jesus has blessed my life in multiple ways! He has blessed my spirit, my soul, my body and everything about me. He has miraculously brought me through a tough journey in school and always granted me to be one of the best students in my classes, from the beginning to the end! He always defended me when I seemed to be fighting all alone and everything looked hopeless. He fought all my battles and gave me total victory when everyone else expected that I would have been trampled down! When things went wrong, He made them right! He made me to shine out in a miraculous way, which nobody understood. But I understood: It was the glorious presence of Jesus Christ in my life! He has been travelling the new journey of the university along with me, continually on my side! He has blessed me with musical talents and grants me to use them exclusively for Him alone! In all my ways, He has made me a channel of blessing, and He has been my greatest Comforter! In times of deep loneliness, in times of hard temptations, in times of bitter sadness, in times when I thought that I could not go on!

 One day, something happened that made me feel unhappy and desperate. I cried out to the Lord, and I told Him, “Lord, remember that I am only a human being! Just give me the strength to do every day what I must do and help me not to sin against you! The only thing I want is to live a holy life for you and to preach your Word.  While I was praying, the Lord came down and encouraged me in a very loving and tender way! He put a song into my mind, and He told me personally that He is watching and leading me day by day, just as His eyes are daily on the sparrows. He assured me that He would never ever leave me nor forsake me, but that He would give me daily strength to walk this journey, even in difficult times of sorrow and sadness. I started thanking the Lord in tears and telling Him I was not worthy to receive such a blessing from Him!

There was a time when I faced very challenging temptations. Right when I felt so weak and the devil tried to destroy me, the Lord came down and strengthened me! He gave me hope when hope was gone. He gave me strength when I could no longer go on. He gave me shelter in the times of my stormy life. And when I could not find peace on earth, I found the most soothing peace in Jesus Christ. Deep peace. Everlasting peace.

 

Divine Healing

One time, I had an injury to my leg. I had to wear a plaster cast and I could only walk with crutches. The pain was there, and it didn’t go. But one night, when my dad anointed me with oil and prayed the prayer of faith over me as commanded in the Holy Bible in James 5:14-15, Jesus Christ miraculously healed me, and I could immediately stand up and walk! The pain vanished away! To the stun of the doctors, the next day I walked into the room without having to use crutches or even limp! Glory be to my Almighty Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! He truly is the greatest and most powerful miracle worker!

 

Protection from Death

The devil has tried many times to kill me! 

One afternoon, as I was on my way home from university, I was crossing the green pedestrian light, when suddenly there appeared a car from nowhere. The car was driving very fast, crossed the red traffic and was about to badly hit me. But within the last second, the Lord miraculously turned the hand of the driver to the other side, and the car did not hit me at all! If the car had hit me, I would have been dead! That was the plan of the devil, but my most powerful Lord and Saviour Jesus spared my life!

Another time, I was involved in a horrible bus accident, in which everybody was injured. Some passengers were so badly injured, that their survival was not sure. But the Lord lovingly protected me. He didn’t allow me to have any noticeable injury at all!

One day, I passed out while standing in the bathtub. I could have easily hit my head on the metal faucet, but Jesus prevented it in an amazing way: He sent my mum into the bathroom right in the second while I was losing my strength, to catch me. After that, the Lord brought me back to life!

Many times, the devil told me that I would die and not live. But Jesus assured me and declared to me that I will live to spread His marvellous saving grace and His wondrous works all over the world! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!!

 

Conclusion

This is my personal testimony that the Lord has blessed me with. One night, the Lord told me to write down my personal testimony and share it with the whole world. And I thank Him from the bottom of my heart that He has helped me to fulfil this beautiful assignment for Him! 

All Bible verses are quoted from the authorized KING JAMES Version