1st Priority: Relationship with God
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33). “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
I was born a sinner in an area called Muledane in Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province. By God’s providence, I became a churchgoer for quite a long time until, for the first time, I heard the gospel being preached from the pages of Scripture in 1999. And by God’s grace, for the first time, I was convicted of the ugliness of my sinful and selfish heart and the beauty of Jesus Christ, from the pages of Scripture. Since my conversion in 1999, slowly but surely, the gospel of Jesus Christ permeated every area of my life as, by God’s grace, I was growing in the knowledge of the truth, the Bible. Everything you’re going to read below is the work of God’s grace in and through my life. Romans 11:36 says it all, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
The song by Jimmy Swaggart says it all for me. The chorus and first stanza goes like this (I’m singing as I’m typing these lyrics):
I OWE IT ALL TO JESUS…
I OWE IT ALL TO JESUS…
IF I AM EVER ANYTHING
THEN, ALL THE PRAISE TO HIM I’LL BRING
I OWE IT ALL TO JESUS…
I OWE IT ALL TO JESUS…
THIS SONG OF LOVE FROM DEEP WITHIN…
I OWE IT ALL TO HIM
If I’ve been used in some small way…
To help someone in need today…
If any good is found in me…
It’s just because of Calvary…
2nd Priority: Relationship with my Wife (Marriage)
My wife is my closest neighbor to them all, and I’m commanded to love her, in the same way, I love myself (Matthew 22:39), and, most importantly, to love her the way Jesus Christ loved the Church, i.e., sacrificially (Eph. 5:25), purely (Eph. 5:26-27), caringly (Eph 5:28-30), and with perseverance (Eph. 5:31). No wonder Genesis 2:24 makes such a radical statement, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
By God’s grace, this is how I met my wife, Meriam Nemakonde (Maiden name). First, I had to drive from Pretoria to Limpopo Province, almost every weekend (1000 km return), looking for a lady I never met before. When I get to Limpopo, I will attend all possible youth services to see those ladies who feared God at that time, i.e., girls who were in the so called, “God’s option box.” I was, first all, looking for a lady described in Proverbs 31:30, which says, “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”
Secondly, I finally learned there is a lady called Meriam, who was part of God’s option box, and I kept note of that in my heart. Thirdly, on one of my weekend trips to Venda, I attended one youth service called “Thondo” at Tshifudi Baptist Church, where I saw Meriam for the first time, and my heart was set to pursue her from that moment. It was a supernatural glance that words cannot express. Fourthly, the next hurdle was to get her cellphone number, which by God’s providence, I got it through God’s favor. Now the headache was how to make the first life-changing contact, now that I had her cellphone number.
Fifthly, I started to send her biblical SMS’s beginning from July 01, 2008. The first message I sent to her, and other believers in my circle at that time, reads as follows, “Welcome to the world of studying God’s Word. Remember, God’s Word is the only truth that can set a man FREE. John 8:31-32, Psalm 119:18, John 17:17, and 1 Peter 2:2.” I continued to send her this kind of messages until her heart was drawn first to the Bible, and then to me. And if there is one thing my wife says was the deciding factor for her to say yes to my courting and proposal, she loved the fact that Patrick loves the Bible and, as a result, she would like to enjoy his company, for a lifetime as a life partner.” And guess what? The same thing that attracted her then is still the same main attraction in our marriage today, the Bible. The SMS ministry to her continued until we set a date on which she told herself that on that date, she is not going to accept any love proposal but to ask questions from the many biblical SMS’s she has been receiving.
So, on August 17, 2008, on a Sunday immediately after preaching, wearing my black suit, I went to fetch her driving my first car (Toyota Tazz 1.3). There we were in Thohoyandou for a love proposal (at least in my mind) that took us about three hours, inside my car because it was chilly and raining that day. And guess what? She forgot to ask her questions as she was enjoying listening to a long “preaching” proposal on Ephesians 5:25-33. In this text, I was explaining what I meant when I say, “I love you.” She joyfully said, “Yes” to my proposal, and one year later, we got married. Here is one of my favorite photos that I took her immediately after my proposal, I mean on the same day. This is how she looked like shortly after she said yes:
Finally, now, by God’s grace, we have been married for more than ten years, and we are blessed with three children: Emmanuel Nemabubuni (Boy – 9 years); Eternity Nemabubuni (Girl – 5 years), and Ezra Nemabubuni (Boy – 1 year, six months).
It is a great joy and a privilege to be married to Mrs. Meriam Ruth Nemabubuni, who has become more than a wife, but also a friend whom I share everything with (Cf. John 15:15). And most importantly, she has become a ministry partner who holds me accountable in all that I do and shares with her. Over and above her IT Diploma, my wife completed a two-year biblical counseling training at Strengthening Ministry Training Institute (SMTI) here in Pretoria, South Africa. It is also a joy seeing her grow in her spiritual life as she is growing in her knowledge of the truth, through reading the Bible regularly, all by God’s grace. Indeed two is better than one (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).
3rd Priority: Relationship with our children (Family)
Indeed, a spirit-filled marriage (husband and wife) is family-focused (Cf. Ephesians 6:1-4). We will forever be grateful for the privilege of being parents to Emmanuel, Eternity, and Ezra, they are such a blessing and a bundle of joy. Our prayer (and efforts) is for them to be saved upon hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Tim 2:4), grow in the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4), speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15), and to be fruitful and be a blessing in the Body of Christ (Cf. 1 Peter 2:9).
4th Priority: Relationship with other Christians (The Body of Believers in Christ)
As a matter of non-negotiable requirement for church leadership, “Marriage and family relationships precedes our relationship with other believers.” It says in First Timothy 3:4-5, “He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?”
Like one author said, “Church is a needs-meeting complex.” And our gracious God does not only command Christians to love one another, but He also gives us divine enablement or spiritual gifts to help us do one anothering with ease and grace. I will forever be grateful to God for his saving and equipping grace that makes Christians a unique and fruitful people in the Body of Christ. It is because of God’s undeserved grace that Christians can meet each other’s needs with elegance, all for the edification of the saints, and His glory.
God’s grace always surprises us. For whatever God does is a reflection of His greatness, beauty, glory, and majesty.
It says in Psalm 111:2-3, “Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever.”
Patrick Nemabubuni, by God’s grace, is Senior Pastor at Muledane Baptist Church in the Thohoyandou area, Limpopo Province. On September 6, 2016, he became the 1st Black African to be accredited as a Biblical Counselor by the board of biblical counselors called the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors USA (www.biblicalcounseling.com). He has completed his Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling at The Master’s University in California, USA, on June 04, 2018 (www.masters.edu). On November 29, 2014, Patrick also completed a two-year biblical counseling training from Strengthening Ministries Training Institute (SMTI) instructed by Dr. Wayne Mack, here in Pretoria.
In 2019 he published his first two books called, “95 Scripture-saturated Poems,” and “Doing Entrepreneurship God’s Way,” available at https://www.amazon.com/. His first article, “Witchcraft is a Functional Deception,” was published in May 2020 in a Christian newspaper called “Courant” at Christ Baptist Church in Polokwane, South Africa. In this article, Patrick was requested to write on the Biblical View of Witchcraft.
What does the future look like in terms of ministry and personal growth? Only God knows. First Corinthians 3:6 says it all, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” It is God, and God alone, who saves us, equips us, and grow us in our spiritual lives and ministry, all for His glory.
5th Priority: Relationship with the world (Work)
Ephesians 6:5-9:
“Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.”
Patrick completed his Bachelor of Commerce in Economics (Degree) at the University of Venda in 2001; Honors in Business Management at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in 2013. Relevant to his employment, he also completed a post-graduate certificate in Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment from the University of South Africa (UNISA). He is currently responsible for managing a component called Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) in the National Department of Water and Sanitation in Pretoria, South Africa.
When all is said and done, it is what we have done for Christ and his gospel that counts. It says in Mark 8:35, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
Biblical Counseling, African Context 