“So, Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon the seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. And she was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, Oh Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him ‘unto the lord all the days of his life and there shall no razor come upon his head” (1 Samuel 1:9-11).
Antoni Okoh
To dedicate means “to set apart for a definite purpose”. Dedication makes you a “prisoner to whatever you are dedicated to”. It is binding. Whatever is dedicated is guarded jealously and any attempt to mess with the terms of the dedication attracts grave consequences.
If your father or mother dedicated you to God to work for Him as a minister of the gospel and you refuse to comply, you will attract the anger of the Holy Spirit. It can paralyse everything around you because of your stubbornness to obey the terms of the dedication. This can also frustrate other people in your boat.
Joseph Ayodele Babalola was born on April 25, 1904 at Odo Owa, near Offa, Kwara State, Nigeria. On September 25, 1928, after being enlisted to the Public Works Department (PWD) at Osogbo, he was recruited as a steamroller driver. On October 9, he heard a loud voice saying to him: “Joseph, Joseph, Joseph; leave this job or you will die this year.” He inquired from the other workers if they heard the voice, but their answer was negative. He therefore refused to pay attention to the call.
Two days later, he heard the same voice. He was instructed to stop work and leave the place. He disregarded the instruction and told one of his workers to start the steamroller, but the machine refused to start. Babalola tried to start the steamroller himself, and it also refused to start. The voice then told him that the steamroller would never work except he obeyed the instruction given to him. This toughened Babalola the more as he demanded to know who was calling him, and what he was being called to do.
The voice told him that if he would leave his present employment, he would be sent on a mission to the world. His colleagues demanded to know who he was talking with. “Didn’t you hear the voice of the person speaking to me?” he asked. Obviously they did not. As he later obeyed the divine mandate, he was mightily used by God in Nigeria and also beyond the shores of Africa, although he was not formally educated.
