“You can purchase a cassette tape of the message after service if you don’t get it all now.”
“Oh, thank you,” Zakia said, relieved, then just sat back and listened.
The Word that came across the pulpit had her head spinning, heart fluttering, spirit jumping, and legs shaking. When the invitation was given to join the church, Zakia found herself right in front of the preacher. She didn’t even remember walking up there. It was as though she had been transported supernaturally to the altar. She accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior, making the decision to live her life for Him according to the Word of God. Then she and about twenty other new born-again Christians were escorted to a room where prayer counselors were waiting for them. After they were all lined up, the woman she had met in the mall the day before came up to her.
“So glad you made it, sweetie.”
The woman was now dressed in a beautiful flowery print dress, makeup, and a silver-gray wig. Zakia burst out crying as she hugged her ever so tightly. The woman held her and rubbed her back as Zakia squeezed her even tighter.
“It’s all right, sweetie. You are fine now. It’s time to get what you’ve been searching for. I’m Sister Jenkins. Are you ready?”
“Yes. Yes, ma’am,” Zakia said between sniffles.
Sister Jenkins handed her some tissue. As Zakia wiped her face, Sister Jenkins began to explain the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
“Now that you have made Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, the next step is to receive the power of the Holy Ghost so that you can live victoriously. Do you know what that is?”
Zakia shook her head.
“Do you believe that you are saved now because of what Jesus did for you on Calvary?”
Zakia nodded.
“Did you have to do anything other than believe to receive your salvation?”
Zakia shook her head. She knew she was saved, and all she had done was accept the pastor’s invitation to receive Jesus.
“Well, you receive the power of the Holy Spirit the same way, by faith. Okay?”
Zakia nodded.
“I’m going to pray with you to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, and when you believe you receive it, open up your mouth and begin to speak. Just let out whatever comes up. You will not understand it, but keep speaking in tongues. That is your heavenly language. It is your brand-new, born-again spirit praying the perfect prayer to God. When that is happening, you are operating in the highest power. Understand?” Sister Jenkins asked so sweetly, holding both of Zakia’s hands.
Zakia nodded.
“Let’s pray. Dear Lord, thank You for saving this sweet child. You have snatched her out of the hands of the enemy. She belongs to You and will serve You all the days of her life. Equip her, Lord, and anoint her right now to walk on top of any situation or circumstance that arises in her life. Let her light shine brightly as she walks upright before You. Move on the inside of her precious Holy Spirit. Give her peace that passes all understanding. As she receives Your glorious power from on high, let her prayer language come forth. Amen. Now open your mouth and speak, sweetie,” Sister Jenkins instructed.
Zakia opened her mouth, and her tongue began to flow. Because of her open heart, she received her prayer language instantly.
Zakia prayed the perfect prayer, totally surrendering to the Holy Spirit that was overtaking her. She flowed for a few minutes as Sister Jenkins continued to hold both her hands, interceding for her. Afterward they hugged. Zakia looked at her.
“What just happened to me?”
“You were just born again and filled with the Holy Spirit of God, and your evidence was that special prayer language you just spoke. It will empower you to live this new life in Christ.”
“Wow! Now what do I do?” Zakia asked, pulling herself together.
“Get into that Word. Feed your spirit. Read your Bible, come to church, and listen to Word tapes. Faith comes by hearing. That is the only way you will grow spiritually.”
“Oh, I have to get the tape of today’s message. Do you know where I can find it?”
“Yes. The bookstore is to the right of the front of the sanctuary.”
“Oh, thank you so much. Thank you so very, very much,” Zakia said as she squeezed her again.
“Have a blessed week, sweetie.”
“You too, and thank you for inviting me,” Zakia said as she left.
She found the bookstore and bought one hundred dollars’ worth of products. As she stood in the cashier line, she realized something. She stood completely still. She closed her eyes and began to smile. The emptiness was gone. Her void had been filled.
Zakia sped home to tell Jay what had just happened. She was listening to one of the cassette tapes she had purchased and didn’t hear the siren; however, the flashing blue lights got her attention through the rearview mirror. She pulled over, her happiness unaffected. While waiting for the policeman to come to her car, she began to pray in tongues.
“In a hurry, ma’am?” the policeman asked.
“I’m so sorry, Officer. I just left church and am so excited to get home to my husband to tell him all about it,” she said, genuinely enthused.
“Well, slow down so you can make it there in one piece. Have a nice day,” the policeman said as he tipped his hat and went back to his squad car.
“Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, Jesus!” Zakia praised God all the way home.
J
ay, Jay! Baby, where are you? Jaaaayyyy!” Zakia cried out joyfully as she dropped her bag and went from room to room looking for her husband.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Jay asked, running to his wife.
She grabbed him and hugged and squeezed him. He hugged her back.
“What is it, baby?” he asked again, only a little less alarmed.
She spoke to him in her newly found language.
“Huh?”
“Baby, I went to that church, and it was totally awesome. The people greeted me at the door with friendly smiles and warm hugs. The music was just so uplifting, and the preacher, oh wow, the preacher was so awesome. He was walking up and down the aisles as he preached . . . and he preached, you hear me, I am telling you, he preached! In all the Sunday school and church I’ve been to, I never ever heard anybody preach like that. It was absolutely liberating. I feel so free, so rejuvenated, so brand-new. Oh, and guess what? I joined and was taken to the back room, and I spoke in tongues. That’s what I just spoke to you. They said tongues would be my power. So guess what? Guess what? I was speeding and a policeman stopped me and I started speaking in tongues and the policeman told me to have a nice day and he didn’t even give me a ticket,” Zakia said all in one breath.
“Huh?”
“I found us a new church, baby.”
“What’s wrong with the old one?”
“It’s not about what’s wrong with the old one, it’s about what’s right with the new one, baby. You got to check it out.”
“Baby, I am not looking for a new church,” Jay said.
“You have to check it out, Jay.”
“Zakia, I have dealt with all of your other ventures and adventures, but now you are talking church. You have crossed the line. My dad is a deacon at our church, for crying out loud. And you just up and joined some other church. You have really, really gone too far this time.”
“But, Jay . . .”
“But Jay nothing. Now, let’s get ready to go to our church.”
“But . . .”
“This discussion is over.”
They went to Fig Tree Baptist, and absolutely everything seemed wrong about it to Zakia. Deacon Morris flirted with Sister Ann while his wife ushered. Two of the choir members were rolling their eyes at each other. Brother Braxton smelled like alcohol. The male choir director’s eyebrows looked like they had been waxed. The offering bucket came around four times. People were sleeping while Rev. Fisher preached, and he didn’t open the Bible, just read from notes. She couldn’t wait to go back to Faith in the Word Christian Center, with or without her husband.
Zakia took the next day off work to go over to her new church. She spent the day learning about it. She learned about all the ministries and the weekly Bible studies. They even had a Bible Institute where she could earn college credit. She realized that she had so much to learn, and she couldn’t wait to get started. She spent another few hundred dollars in the bookstore. She bought several versions of the Bible, concordances, commentaries, cassettes, and videotapes. She bought caps and T-shirts bearing the slogan “What Would Jesus Do?” for the boys. All week long as she studied her material, she bugged Jay to go to church with her the following Sunday.
“Look, baby, you can do whatever you want. I don’t have time to go with you on all your little trips. This is one I am not going on. I have been at my church all my life. I was born there, and I’m going to die there,” he said, sounding like his father.
“Please, Jay, just once. Come with me next Sunday, and if you don’t like it, I promise I won’t ever bother you about it again.”
Jay went to church with her the following Sunday hard-hearted and closed up. Based on his conventional upbringing, he was expecting a traditional-looking building with stained-glass windows.
“Where’s the steeple?” he asked as they entered the church.
“Oh, Jay, just wait until you hear the preacher. You are going to forget all about that kind of stuff.”
Jay had a bad attitude the whole service. The boys thought the place was cool, but Jay thought that crazy language the congregation was speaking sounded spooky, and he couldn’t wait to leave. He didn’t even hear the Word as it went forth because by then he was sound asleep. He had developed the ability to sleep with his eyes open to avoid his mother’s nudges as a child.
“I’m awake,” he said, alarmed when Zakia poked him because of an awesome revelation the pastor had just shared, which Jay had totally missed.
When the invitation was given, Zakia was waiting for Jay to answer the altar call. He did not move. He looked at his watch.
How can he not go up there?
I want to go up there again.
She nudged him.
“Quit it,” he snapped.
Zakia didn’t understand why Jay wasn’t affected like she was. They had always been in accord. They were a team and flowed in perfect harmony. Even when they argued and disagreed, they always found a compromise. This one should have been easy. It was the real deal that spoke for itself. Why couldn’t Jay see it? As they walked to the car, she gave him the third degree.
“Why didn’t you go up there?”
“For what?”
“Didn’t you like it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Zakia, save it. We’ll talk when we get home.”
Nothing else was said on the drive home. When they got into the house, the boys went to their room to change clothes. As Jay and Zakia were in the master suite changing, he sensed her about to burst and decided to beat her to it.
“What the heck kind of church is that, and what was all that crazy talk, like you come busting up in the house last week talking?” he yelled.
“It’s our power, baby. It stopped that officer from giving me a ticket.”
“Bull! You probably batted your eyes at him like you did at me, and that’s why he didn’t give you a ticket.”
“Now you’re talking crazy.”
“I’m serious. You think some crazy talk stopped a cop from giving you a ticket. Well, I think you sweet-talked your way out of it, but that’s all right: use what you got to get what you want.”
“Come on, Jay, be serious.”
“I am serious. Now, look, you promised that if I didn’t like it, you wouldn’t bother me about going anymore. I didn’t like it! Do you hear me? Now I expect you to keep your word and don’t ask me to go back,” he said with an adamant finality.
Zakia didn’t know what to say, so she just grabbed her new Bible case with all of her material in it and went to the office downstairs to study the notes she had taken.
Zakia could not stay away from Faith in the Word Christian Center. It seemed that every time the doors opened she was there, whether it was for weekly Bible study or just to visit the bookstore during the day. The people were so full of genuine love for God and hunger for the Word, which was exactly what she needed to fill her void. The more she filled it, the more it needed filling. She read and prayed and read and prayed. She studied like she was in school, comparing line upon line and precept upon precept. She was neglecting her family, her work, and her house, and when she did pay attention, all she talked about was the Word, but nobody wanted to hear it. This frustrated both her and those she tried to talk to. The Execs avoided her because she was absolutely no fun anymore.
The Cowboys and Redskins were playing. The gang was at Zachary’s house to play cards and watch the game on the big screen. Zakia still tried to hang out with her friends, and when they played cards, she would shout “Hallelujah” when she got a good hand and “Thank You, Jesus” when she won. She didn’t realize that it made them uncomfortable. She didn’t want to be a hypocrite, but she learned that she couldn’t avoid those in darkness. She felt she needed to be around them so that her light could shine and draw them. After all, Jesus hung out with sinners.
“Hey, look. ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.’ You don’t have to keep telling us, Z,” Eli said, trying to shut her up.
“Yeah, chill, twin. You playing and praying all at the same time is messing up my concentration,” Zachary admonished.
“You know, twin, if I were you, I’d get rid of that wicker furniture in your sunroom. Wicker is too close to wicked for me. You don’t want anything evil in your house, now, do you?” Zakia asked sincerely.
“Now she’s calling my furniture evil. Girl, I’m really beginning to worry about you,” Zachary said.
“I thought you study to get smart. You done got dumb, Z. You need to leave that Bible alone. It’s making you crazy, baby,” Eli said.
Zakia just ignored their insults and continued to pray for them.
Months passed, and to her family, Zakia was getting worse instead of better. She was alienating everybody who loved her in the name of getting them saved. She called out their sins and told them that their adultery, fornication, smoking, drinking, cursing, and gambling were going to land them in hell. Everyone avoided her except her sons. Zeke and JJ understood what she was saying. She took them to the eight o’clock service, leaving Jay behind. Eventually, she stopped going to Fig Tree Baptist altogether, not making it back from Faith in the Word in time, so Jay went alone.