By Femi Fani-Kayode
I am 60 years old today! I give thanks to the Lord for He has been good to me.
As is usually the case with me on my birthdays I shall spend most of the day quietly with a few members of my family, loved ones and household and, for the better part of the day until the afternoon, I shall be fasting and giving thanks to God for His love, grace, kindness and mercy.
This is the way that I have marked my birthday for the last 9 years and I find it gratifying and fulfilling. I have so much to thank God for and more so this year than perhaps any other.
Throughout the year and indeed throughout my life He has been faithful and true to me despite my weaknesses, imperfections and shortcomings.
He has exalted my horn, enlarged my coast, caused me to increase, caused me to excel and prosper and met my every need. He has caused me to be a source of blessing to many and constantly worked the most extraordinary and amazing miracles in my life.
He has brought me joy, great memories and wonderful times and always lifted me up even when I am down. He has given me strength to go through the biggest challenges and betrayals that a man can ever face in his life and led me to react with restraint, decorum, self-respect and dignity. He has levelled mountains before me, made a way where there seems to be no way and made every crooked path straight.
I have witnessed the most terrible things that most only read about in books and I have been subjected to the greatest humiliation, suffering and pain from those closest to me yet I have counted it all as joy and borne it with stoicism, silence and dignity refusing to offer a word of explanation or complaint to anyone.
Yet God has been faithful. He has healed my wounds with the balm of Gilead, given me a sure word and given me the strength and power to forgive.
He has put my many enemies to shame, delivered me from death and infirmity, protected my children, strengthened my wife Regina, preserved my life, blessed me with faithful and loyal loved ones, met my every need and watched over me for good and not for evil.
He has delivered me from the wicked machinations and the premeditated, well-orchestrated, well-planned and diabolical plans of my enemies who hate me with a perfect hatred.
He has guided me in my life’s walk, counselled me even when I refused to listen and forgiven me where and when I got things wrong and disobeyed Him.
He has delivered me from every betrayal, exposed every lie, silenced every adversary, thwarted every conspiracy, strengthened my heart, emboldened my spirit, restrored my soul, helped me to love again and healed my deep wounds.
He has provided for me and mine, met our every need and delivered us from shame and defeat. He has destroyed the counsel of the ungodly and the agenda of the treacherous over our lives, confused their tongues, divided their ranks and brought us to a better place.
Like David who suffered no less, I thank Him for His love, grace, mercy, blessings, peace, joy, deliverance, promises, sure word and expected end.
I thank him for His loving kindness, for my loved ones and children and for all those who have supported me and stood with me and mine through thick and thin over the lady 60 years.
I thank Him for decreeing and determining the bitter end of those who wished me ill and those that have repaid my good with evil and for putting them to shame.
I thank Him for leading and guiding me in the dark places where I could not see and for seeing me through every raging storm.
I thank Him for the love and support that I have received over the years and particularly over the last few weeks and months from my wife Regina, my children, my sister in-law Pastor Claudia Tchapornu, my loved ones both near and afar, my friends, my associates, my colleagues, my political associates, my intercessors, my Pastors, senior members of the Clergy and the Body of Christ (including the President of CAN, Rev. Samson Ayokunle, Prophet T.B Joshua, Bishop David Oyedepo and so many others), Traditional Rulers, my mentees, my disciples and my numerous fans and supporters.
I thank Him because He delivered me from the hand of the enemy and His word over my life cannot be thwarted or aborted. I thank Him for, despite being unworthy, making me His beloved even as I have made Him my God.
I thank Him for our eternal covenant of love which will stand from generation to generation and till the end of time.
60 years today and many years to come. I boldly enter a new phase of life now and a new beginning. It is a phase of victory and a phase of abundance and blessing.
I trust God and I put behind me every setback and disappointment, forgiving and loving all, including those who hurt me, betrayed me, lied on me, repaid my good with evil and sought to destroy my life and that of my children and reduce me to nothing.
I have no enemies and I love and forgive even my darkest adversaries and foes.
I live for my calling and nothing else. I live for God’s purpose for my future and my life and all the lies, fabrications, misrepresentation, fake news and hate in the world cannot change that and neither can it resist His power or negate His extraordinary love for me.
Finally I thank God for the gift and privilege of life and good health and for all the love that I receive from those around me. Glory be to His holy name forever.
I have said it before and I will say it again, without Him I am nothing but with Him I am everything. I go forth boldly knowing that I am a warrior and a lion: I have no fear despite my many battles, afflictions, challenges and wounds.
I hold on to Him in the knowledge that as long as God is with me none can stand against me and, in the fulness of time, my enemies shall be made my footstool.
God bless my social media friends, fans, supporters and family too, particularly those that belong to the various FFK groups and that continue to believe in me and stand by me. I appreciate every single one of you.
Since my extraordinary and historic tour of the south there have been many distractions and acts of sabotage thrown our way but it changes nothing and one thing remains clear: we shall overcome and we shall prevail. God has said it and I believe it.
Darkness cannot overcome light and I urge you not to be moved by what you read, see and hear or the malevolent and malicious rantings and intrigues of the naysayers, the trolls, the enemy and his legion of emissaries and paid agents on social media.
As our Lord said of those that crucified Him, I say may the Lord forgive them for they know no better and they know not what they do.
On our part we despise the shame, remain focused as ever and forge ahead regardless with our heads held up high.
Your lion and champion is alive and well, the vision is for an appointed time and, though it may tarry, it shall surely come to pass.
Trials, tribulations, malice, premeditated attempts to derail, distract and destroy, collaboration with ancient foes, conspiracies with deadly enemies, fake news, lies and betrayal and the hatred of those who know no better are are unwelcome yet necessary evils. They serve to refine us, make us stronger and prepare us for God’s ultimate purpose.
As Joseph said, what our detractors and those that engender and peddle these evil plans and intrigues against us meant for evil, God meant for good. And in the end He shall grant us victory, vindicate us and make all things beautiful whilst they bow their heads in shame. Glory and praise and honor be unto His holy name.
Thank you Father because you alone are my focus and my strength. Nothing else matters to me. You alone can and will bring me to an expected end.
You alone can and will reward me for the wickedness I have suffered in the hands of those that seek my destruction and make boast of it publicly and privately every day.
You alone can and will judge them for seeking to destroy and derail that which you have purposed.
He is faithful. I give Him praise. 60 years today! Many more to come! Thanks be to God!