An Overcomer’s Freedom
The Power Of Speaking Out
Meet Kingdom Media Mogul, Vicki L. Otaruyina
Vicki is a prolific author, elevation coach, pastor, speaker, and strategic marketer. She is also the Founder of Divine Purpose Publishing and the Editor-In-Chief of Divine Purpose Magazine, which has a global reach of 10 million people. Everyday she empowers women and youth to reach their God-given potential and live out God’s perfect will for their lives.
However, it wasn’t easy for her to get to this point.
Vicki’s journey to becoming the dynamic kingdom woman that she is today was filled with many twists and turns. As her relationship with God deepened, she experienced a growing tension between her past and who God was calling her to be. She went through an abortion that thrust her into a period of intense shame and guilt. She felt disqualified from being who He called her to be.
God disagreed though, and He took her on a journey of becoming an overcomer who now helps free other women.
Today, Mrs. Otaruyina’s influence spans the globe as she spreads her message that “no matter what [we] have been through, [we] are valuable, useful and powerful, and have been created to play an important part in the development of [our] society.”
What do you think gave you the courage to [speak out about your abortion]?
V: [laughs] What gave me the courage to speak out was a woman of God that I trusted. She said [to me], “God said it’s time for you to speak about this.” She gave me her stage to share my testimony. It was not overnight though. It was a consistent seeking after God. Consistently living out the Word of God and asking God for His will for my life and asking Him to clean me until I got to that point.
Because I had been delivered from…hand-picking who I shared [my story] with. But I knew deep inside it was not freedom. Freedom was being able to share it out in the open and talk about my testimony as well - about what God had done for me up until that point because there was a bondage over me having not shared that I had been through abortion. I was holding on to all of the guilt… speaking out was not something I had the strength for at the beginning but it happened over time [because up until that point] the enemy had muzzled me. [After I spoke out] I began to preach differently, my voice changed, a level of boldness came upon me, and my ministry changed.
There are many people who claim shame and anxiety as their identity. How can they move forward to embrace freedom?
V: At 21 weeks of pregnancy, I went through child loss (a stillbirth). Going through that situation took me through a lot of anxiety. Anxiety, to the point where I felt like I would die. Anxiety, where I felt like I would go crazy. Depression - I’ve been through it all. But in that period, I went to a Christian councillor. He told me to say ‘this too shall pass’.
Through the midst of all that pain, all that attacks - [because at night ] the anxiety was choking me, because anxiety is a spirit. It was choking me and something else was pulling me up, I was … on the verge of my last breath and I would always use the words “this too shall pass.”
I started to really get into the word then and I found Psalm 118:17 (“you will not die but you will live”) and I kind of turned it around and made it into a declaration: “I will live and not die to declare the works of the Lord.” I was not taking any medication and I was afraid of going to a mental institution but the way my mind was going I was taking everything else at once. I said to God, “I have heard about Your Word - I’m going to trust this Word. I’ve seen miracles in my life, and I’ve learned about miracles in school - this has to manifest in my life. So I started using the Word.
I would listen to pastors from all over the world. I remember this one saying that three times a day, God told him to read scripture and I said “okay, I’m going to apply this three times a day like medication and I did.” I was finally delivered because I began using the Word. I trusted God and I determined in my mind, if You do this in Your Word - You can do this for me. So we have no reason. The same way we say ‘my depression’ - though it is real, it does happen but we can go through the process fighting it with the Word - with the things of God, with faith and with knowing if He did it before, He can do it again.
What does ‘freedom in Christ’ mean to you?
V: Freedom in Christ is having a relationship with God and being able to tap into the Word of God and see it play out in your life. [I found] freedom in Christ by letting go of shame and fear by getting to know the Word of God. It was all about opening up my mouth and exposing the enemy for who he is.
It sounds like you are saying that you found freedom in the kingdom by doing the work God has called you to do. What would you say to Christians (1) who don’t fully know the kingdom exists and (2) don’t care?
V: For persons like that, I am not the type of person who would force you to believe this but I would give you key scriptures that speak about God and the kingdom. The Bible tells us that the kingdom is righteousness, peace, joy, and the Holy Ghost. It talks about the fact there is Heaven and there is hell. I do tell people this is what the Word of God says but I also pray and guide them to a place where they can ask God, “show me the realness of who You are… show me what it means for Your kingdom to come to earth.”
It’s your responsibility to have those moments with God where He can tell you - it’s one thing for me to tell you and it’s another thing for you to have that in Christ. Of course, there are situations where you would minister to people and they may fall under the influence of the Holy Spirit, they may have visions right there and dreams when they get home, whatever it is, because God will lead us differently. In cases like [the question], I tell the truth and I guide them to a place where they have that wisdom and they have that experience with God. It’s worked for me. I tell people all the time: as long as your heart is in the right place - it’s surrendered to know there is more in Him then He will show you.
In your own words, how would you describe the kingdom?
V: The Bible tells us that “the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force” and “the kingdom is all about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost” - the kingdom is just you experiencing the fullness of the authority and the power of the King. You experiencing the kingdom of God, is everything that you can acquire from the God who sits on the throne - [who] is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. We are part of this kingdom. As His children we have access to freedom, provision, and miracles - we have access to everything. It is all about being surrendered to God and knowing that God is the One who sits on the throne and we are heirs… as His children we are kings and queens. Whatsoever is poured out from the kingdom - whatsoever authority, provision [is poured out] - is all ours.
When you talk about experiencing the kingdom, are you saying the key is staying surrendered and seeing Him as King?
V: Yes. It’s being surrendered, seeing Him as King and benefitting from Him being the King, as your Father and you being an heir to all that He is.
It is really interesting how you have reframed your perspective using the Word and standing on it. You've done the same thing with purpose. How did you get to the revelation that purpose changes with every season?
V: I wouldn’t necessarily say purpose changes rather you change with every season. You become more prepared to execute the purpose of God in your life. [For example] you might be called to abused female teenagers. So God will create in you a maturity as you study the Word and do what He is telling you to do. In that season He might be preparing you in your church to speak to those ladies. As you become bolder and realize that this message is not just for this community or for this nation, God will begin to give you revelation, He will activate your gifts and show you things. He will then position you to realize ‘wow I am a prophet and I have a gift’. For this purpose [for example], you are called to be a writer who breaks the bondages of women who have gone through abuse so God will transition you in May, June, and July to position you to write this book and touch many more people than you would have from January to March. In every season, there is a specific outpouring and manifestation of the gifts that are in you as they are developed as a different facet of that purpose or a different aspect of you is revealed.
What would you say to people who hear your testimony but they don’t believe God speaks?
V: Well, I can give my experience (not that I didn’t believe He spoke) [but I came from a place where] it was like God if this is You - cause this to happen, do this, or show me this. In all of these circumstances, God responded because He is real. He is listening. He wants you to have a relationship with Him. He wants you to have a love for Him. He wants you to have the best. There are times when all you need to do is engage God and talk to Him and He will show up and prove something about what you think does not exist. I have so many of these circumstances where I can say God is indeed real because I asked Him to prove it to me.
What suggestions would you give to someone who is trying to understand God as Father?
V: It all comes from scripture. It is the Spirit of God that gives you that understanding and knowing that ‘yes, God created me’. I always tell people, “the only way you will know it is true is by giving Him an opportunity to prove to you that it’s true”. I guide them to Scripture, of course, with the understanding that Scripture is life - as long as you read the Scripture, life will jump into you and you will get that revelation. I do guide people to Scripture because He created us - He placed us on this earth to see that representation in Genesis.
This might sound simple or ridiculous but say,“God if You are real, prove it to me.” He will show you through His own revelation and through scriptural revelation that He is indeed your Father and that you can come to Him for anything. There is nothing bad that He has for you. There is nothing that you can ask for that He will say “I will give you a rock or something evil” - He will give you what is good.
I think the issue here on earth is that because we have such a bad reputation of Fathers it is difficult to see Him that way but it takes us [having enough of] a change of heart to say “God, if You are real - prove to me You are real and teach me how to be a daughter/son to You as a Father.” There are Christians who do not have this relationship with God because of their own (lack) of relationship with their parent. They have to come to a humble place where they actually surrender to God as a Father and let Him teach what a Father is so that they can have a relationship with Him and if they are a man - be able to replicate that or if they are a female - use Him as an example of the type of man to marry or restore/repair your relationship with their father.
That’s so good. To fully walk in freedom, to fully walk in the kingdom, to fully trust - it takes being humble. How would you describe to the lay Christian what humility is?
V: The Bible tells us in Romans 12:2 that you have to renew and transform your mind so you can know the perfect acceptable will of God. If you want the perfect will of God, you will have to surrender everything. That means coming to a place where you recognize that you cannot do it on your own. There is nothing in life you can do without God. You may be doing it physically… but you are not doing it according to the will of God until you are surrendered to what He wants. The will of God is the way of God. You can’t know the way of God unless you surrender your heart. This means letting go of yourself.
It is not easy [but you have to] come to a place where you recognize “that yes, I need to surrender to God because there’s a little bit of pride in me. I am not doing things God’s way - I am doing things my way.” You may say in your mind or your heart, “okay Lord, I want to change” but like Paul says, “I do things that I don’t want to do” because the spirit and the flesh are fighting. But when you spend time just hitting that issue, hitting that lack of humility and pride with the Word [and] with prayer - subjecting yourself to remove yourself from the wrongs so you can focus and gain your connection with God in the Spirit. In those moments the Holy Spirit drops on you, and the glory of God comes on you and just destroys things. He begins to cleanse us in ways that we never imagined but it means we have to fight for it.
We have a quiet enemy coming against us who wants us to be proud, who wants us to be exalted above everything else and lifted up as if we are a god but God says “humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.” When we do this, it’s a place, position and posture that the enemy can only see but he can’t touch because we are covered under the Presence of God because we have said, “God, You are my source - I can do nothing without you.”
When we recognize every day that the Holy Spirit is the One leading us - this is a place for us to recognize that it’s no longer about us having the strategies. It’s about us sitting with God and getting the strategies - it’s about us going in the way of God not only in the Scripture but having that relationship to speak with Him on a daily basis saying things like:“God I know that today is the day that You called me to go into this… but God I cannot do it without You… Lord, I submit myself.” When we submit… we put ourselves under God so that every word that comes from us has to come from God. Once we get to that place where we speak more and more of God, we become more and more like Him because we can’t be in His Presence and not come out shining like Him. So we will come in with pride and come out with the humility of God. But it is dedication, it means consistency - it is not overnight - and it is with the determination that I want everything that God has called me to.
What are three shortcuts that you wish you had when you were a new Christian?
V: I would have told myself Isaiah 40:31 “those that wait on the Lord, they shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Waiting is important, specifically in relationships. Wait on God for that person. It can eliminate so much pain, heartbreak and loss. Of course, God allows things so today, I can share my stories that I walked out because I lived it but waiting on God is one of those shortcuts.
Another shortcut would be to take God seriously. I was in church at five years old but I only took God seriously at 19. Take God seriously because He is real and He can help you in any situation.
The third thing would be to believe that you are created for a purpose. It might not sound like a hack but belief is strong. When you know you’ve been created for a purpose there are a lot of things you wouldn't get involved in and places you wouldn’t go because as you wait on God and take Him seriously, you would automatically know who You are and what You’ve been called to. Keep in mind you’ve been born not just for a purpose but for a great one.