Henrietta Ogbe, wife of the President of Young Disciples International and the Founder of Greathouse Mandate Church, Pastor Joe Jesimiel Ogbe on Saturday March 22 celebrated her 60th birthday in grand style at the premises of the Church in Lagos.
The event attracted church members, church leaders from across the country, family and friends as well as alumni of YDI.
It was a time of testimonies and rejoicing as Pastor Ogbe took to the microphone to appreciate God for getting married to the celebrant.
He paid glowing tribute to his wife describing her as a woman of great virtue who has added value to his life.
Ogbe said, ‘God has been good to my wife and by extension of marriage to me. I bear witness to the spirituality of my wife. She knew the Lord from the early days of her life.’
He recalled that he did not verbalise his prayers when he first met her over three decades ago ‘I just said in my heart, how I I wished she is my wife. I did not verbalise the prayer. It was just something that remained in my heart. Unknown to me God was working out something. The Lord answered that prayer.”
He said the first five years of the marriage was turbulent and it was like a demonic prophecy concerning him was going to come to pass.
‘We never had children for the first five years. But when the Lord opened the door, the devil could not stop her.”
He recalled, ‘A known witch doctor had told my mum I would be rich but I will not have children. Truly I was having money but children were not coming. But God changed all that. We now have three men now ..not boys.’
He said his marriage to Henrietta has been a journey of love.
‘The love keeps growing from glory to glory.’ He said.
Pastor Ogbe however lamented the rate at which the devil is attacking marriages.
‘Marriages are breaking at the speed of a light. The devil is at work. People marry and after about a year they are tired. This should not be.’ He said.
Still talking about his wife who is also a music minister and has been a great supporter of his ministry, Ogbe said, ‘She has a Masters degree and would have gone ahead to do her PhD but she had to stop and sacrificed her ambition because of the work of the ministry.’
Why celebrate
Making reference to the Bible, he said, ‘God is not against birthday celebration he says in his word that we should number our days. Today my wife is celebrating 60. Why do we number our days? We do so according to the Bible so we can apply our hearts to wisdom. You need the instrumentality of wisdom to do many things. wisdom is the portion of the elderly.’
Ogbe shared testimonies about how his wife’s walk with the Holy Spirit has helped his ministry while also introducing the book she authored, titled, ‘My walk with the holy spirit.’
The book
The book is a seven-chapter easy to read collection which chronicles the author’s experiences with the Holy Spirit.
In the book she shared her experience of waiting on the Lord for the fruit of the womb and how the Holy Spirit gave her assurance her prayers had been answered but that she should continue to pray. She did and God made her conceive two years after that encounter with the Holy Spirit.
The book goes further to do an exegesis on the person of the Holy Spirit and how God is intimate with His children through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit.
The author shared several instances of the interventions of the Holy Spirit in her daily walk with God..
At the ceremony many narrated their experiences of Pastor Mrs Ogbe and how God has used her to be a blessing.
The celebrant who was basking in the euphoria of the day expressed gratitude to God for the grace of seeing another year in good health.
She appreciated all who spared time to celebrate with her while assuring that celebration will not cease in their homes.
