By Pastor Jerry Uchechukwu Eze is the founder of Streams of Joy International and NSPPD, an online prayer fire altar that’s bringing souls back to the feet of Jesus Christ across the globe. In this interview gleaned from his YouTube page, the high-flying and fire-spitting Umuahia-born fiery cleric explained why he onced raised his voice against his late mom and his most cherished treasure, among others. RITA ENEMURU brings the excerpts
How do you find strength?
I don’t know; I just think that if you are in the line of your assignment, what people call exertion of energy becomes very natural to you. I don’t think expending myself. When people say to me ‘you should be tired,’ my question is ‘why should I be tired?’ I think it is just God. It’s like when Mary was pregnant with Jesus. It’s like, I’m going to give you something and I will help you carry what I have given you. He gave me something and he is helping me carry what he has given me.
When you quit your job with the UNDP, did you see this future, did you know that ministry would get you to this level that you are currently in?
No. At the point I quit my job, what was in my heart was just to please God. Up till three and half years ago, I never imagined this, that we would have come to where we are now. This is nothing but the finger of God.
Not many know that before NSPPD 20 years ago, God was making things happen through your declarations. How do you stay humble remembering all that God has done through your life and how do you deal with people imagining that you came out in 2020?
That is their imagination. The truth is that, no matter what you do, people will imagine what they want to imagine. The only way to help them is to leave them with their imagination. I don’t have a problem with that.
Pastor Jerry & Eno Eze with Gov. Otti
To the second question, I want to know, how do people get proud? I am trying to understand why people get proud and why I should be proud. What do you have that God has not given you? I’m a student of honour; I believe in honour. People should honour people. Access would be denied when people become dishonorable. I like those who like the place of honour. But again, why will you begin to carry yourself like there is a chip on your shoulder? God is using you to do something and you are being proud. If somebody sends you on an errand to give N10,000 to somebody and you come back and begin to act like the money is your own, why will the person send you again? And if the person decides not to send you again, you have lost your relevance. So, my relevance is because I am sendable. I have read through history and I have seen the things that have happened to the proud and I have said to myself that it will not happen to me.
What are the changes that have happened in your life to accommodate the person that you have become?
I have been stretched by God. With every public manifestation, there is a private altar that is on fire. These things cannot be coincidences even if they are, the pattern cannot be maintained for three and a half years. A doctor from the National Hospital, Abuja, came here just to find out why his patients were getting healed. There are days you will go and your eyes haven’t seen sleep. People’s burdens break me! Why should people be sick when Jesus has already borne the burden? I love people and I love to see them smile; so whatever I can do within my reach to make others smile, I always do it. Because of that love, it makes me go the extra mile.
You are still sowing seeds of giving like someone who is still expecting something. How are you about to maintain that principle this far?
It’s only a foolish Christian who does not understand the place of giving. It is foolish not to give. If you don’t give to God, you will give to the devil. He will raise a situation that will make you spend that money.
It is easier for people to sit down and say, see how blessed he is, but they have no idea. That you are not giving doesn’t mean that others are not. I have a lot of people that say to me that they are going to make my life and ministry easier and they do this by blessing me. This place I am in is very lonely; there are burdens that words cannot explain. Some people believe that I am doing too much but they are not in my season and I cannot explain my burdens to them. Giving is one of the things that has brought me to where I am. Never conclude on the story of the man you never knew how he began. I will do anything for God.
When I had nothing, I took a loan that I was going to pay in bits to ensure that the work of God moves forward and here we are today. The only thing I can say is that what God cannot do does not exist. This is me encouraging everybody to give. It is for your good. Every opportunity you have to give, give. Give because you love God and you are kingdom-minded.
How do you reply falsehood and what never happened?
I understand the desperation that Pastor Jerry will cause you to trend so when you put out his name, you will trend. What the world wants is for you to put your voice in trending issues but I will never do that. We don’t respond to negativity. It is not something we pay attention to. If you know me, you will know that you don’t find me everywhere.
What is your greatest asset at this point in your life?
The presence of God is my greatest asset. That is all I have. I love that He speaks to me, he directs my every move, I love that I can look at people….. Take everything else away; there is nothing more important to me than the presence of God. I spend every day of my life enjoying God’s presence. The presence of God is everything.
You must be a child of God. No matter the calling in your life, the basic requirement is that you must be a child of God. God curses the day we become higher than the rudiments of the gospel.
Were there things that particularly prepared you for what you are now doing?
Physically and spiritually, some things prepared me. Many years ago, I worked in a media house and that also enhanced my communication and my ability to speak English that people can understand. Working in the United Nations also helped me to build a lot of structures. If I go primitive, the voice of my mother prepared me for what I am doing right now. Mothers have very powerful voices. I didn’t go into full-time ministry when my mother was alive, but her voice outlived her. My advice to mothers is to keep talking even if it appears that your children are not listening. When she was telling me what God told her, it appeared that I did not understand. I remember we quarreled one time. I just got a job with the United Nations and I rushed back to break the news to her and what she told me was that that was not what God told her. I raised my voice at her and asked her why she liked poverty so much. I told her that this is what every mother would celebrate. But after my mum was gone, I realized that that was not what God told me; it was not just my mom again, but me. The voice of my mom shaped me and made me who I am because she was a spiritual mom.
Your life has been on a steady rise, what would you say contributed to that?
People are seeing the rising, but I am seeing maintaining the patterns of what I do. Everybody around me knows that I am not lazy and I don’t like lazy people. I do not have the mentality that I have done well. Anywhere there is consistency, there will always be a rising.
How have you done with the funny oppositions you’ve had to deal with over the years?
It’s okay to know that when they are pained, they react in a way that makes them human. I’m in that place where I don’t pay attention to them; I don’t know if they are around. There is so much to do that we don’t spend time wondering who likes you and who doesn’t.
Do you miss anything about your life before all this?
The only thing is that it is a lonely place, you carry the burden and you don’t know how to explain the way the burden feels on you so you deal with it. I miss the fact that for what I’m doing right now, I’m isolating myself. I’m just not in people’s faces anymore.
At 41, Can you tell us some major life lessons you’ve learned?
I tell people every day to face your front, not look to the side, and face where you are going.
Secondly, keep your altar on fire. People don’t mess around with people that are on fire.
The third thing is to have a pure heart. Never wish people evil. When you are angry with someone, tell them and move away from it. Maintain a pure heart. Only the pure in heart will see God and this is beyond seeing God on the last day.
