THE PRICE OF LEADERSHIP

“Then James
and John the
sons of Zebedee
came to Him saying,
We want You
to do for us what
ever we ask. And
He said to them,
what do you want
Me to do for you.
They said to Him, grant us that we may sit one on
Your right hand and the other on Your left in Your
glory. But Jesus said to them, you do not know
what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I
drink? And be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with? They said to Him, we are able. So
Jesus said to them you will indeed drink the cup
that I drink and the baptism I am baptized with you
will be baptized. But to sit on My right hand and on
My left is not Mine to give. But it is for those for whom
it is prepared” Mark 10:35-40.
As we considered the above scriptures in the last edition
of LIVING SEED, we saw that leadership is a good and
noble responsibility to be desired, as much as one understands
the purpose of God, and the sacrifices it entails. But of a
serious concern to us, were the several aberrations and misconceptions
about leadership, that have characterized the
Church presently in our generation- the clamour for the glamour
and carnal glory.
We are, however, further led in this edition to consider
this request of James and John. This time, it is to critically
look at the response of the Lord Jesus, because in it, the Lord
revealed to us what looks like a qualification and a condition
that every one desiring to have any part in God’s work, must
go through, in order to be acceptable for either any responsibility
or any leadership position.
“…But Jesus said to them, you do not know what
you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?
And be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized
with? They said to Him, we are able. So
Jesus said to them, you will indeed drink the cup
that I drink and the baptism I am baptized with you
will be baptized…”
According to Jesus, there is a cup, and a baptism that
every aspiring servant of God must compulsorily drink and
be baptized with, before heavens may agree to include his or
her name in the heavenly records. Yet, even if you drink of
the cup and go through the baptism as John and James swore
to, it still does not guarantee
an automatic appointment
to a leadership
position, though it is
certain that no man will
occupy any form of leadership
position, without having
passed through this basic
qualification of the cup
and baptism.
The CUP and the BAPTISM
We will now undertake to study what that baptism
and cup are which Jesus offered all disciples, as a compulsory
condition to meet, in order to be part of God’s ministry
team that will bear His glory into revival. But it is to be done
not with an eye on the carnal reward that seems to be flipped
before our faces. Remember Jesus said,
“…You will indeed drink the cup that I drink and
with the baptism I am baptized with, you will be
baptized. But to sit on My right hand and on My
left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom
it is prepared.”
We are exploring this cup not because we just want to
know it, but because we want to drink it. Appointment or
placement in ministry, whether to preach to thousands or to
two, is not the issue. And I pray that you will understand that
genuine revival is not the one that emphasizes the ‘man of
God’. So if you are still quietly praying about ‘my ministry’,
and how you are going to be known all over the country,
maybe you need to ask God to deliver you from it. That attitude
may scare God away from you. Revival has nothing to
do with preaching ‘big’. It has all to do with God working
through men. When revival comes, men are forgotten and
Jesus increases. When revival comes, men go for God rather
than for themselves. When genuine revival comes, people
will do silent earnest labors. As great as the revival in the
New Testament was ( those revivals which we read about in
the book of Acts) it was amazing that it did not emphasize
any human being; neither was the result of that revival named
after any person. Nobody particularly possessed the ministry
that arose out of that revival. We did not read about clash
of personalities, rather we only saw service. A medical doctor
dropped his instruments and was just ‘recording’ behind
other men. A great theologian like Paul, who could speak
Greek, submitted to Peter, a fisherman. James, who was
not even an apostle, headed the church in Jerusalem such
that in council meetings he was the Chairman. Apostles like
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Peter had to sit down and wait to be appointed by James
whenever he, Peter, wanted to make contributions.
As long as there exists dark spots of the flesh and
egoistic individualism in your personality (which spots are
always the point of contention and disappointment in God’s
work) God cannot release any tangible measure of His sacred
trust into your hands. All such impurities of the flesh
must be extracted. A blacksmith working on an iron tool must
melt it severally in the furnace, to extract whatever is not
cohesive with the original metal itself. He then soaks it in a
liquid; to cause the metal to come together as a component
(by contraction). He repeats this process several times to
ensure flexibility and increase of the tensile strength of the
metal. This process of firing and soaking resembles the kind
of Baptism and Cup our Lord prescribes for any disciple,
who truly desires to win God’s approval for appointment into
a position of servant leadership in the Body of Christ. A candidate
for leadership must possess first and foremost a wholesomeness
of life, symmetry of character and integrity. Integrity
here has to do with a life that is every wit dependable,
predictable and projectable. Integration is the sum (or sigma)
of every tiny variable of life to make a continuum: an
unbreaking, non-cracking, regular, cohesive and beautiful
personality. Everything in him and about him is integral with
what he says and does. Every segment of his life –be it his
matrimony; or his secular life or sacred life; his playtime or
business time is congruent with his overall outlook in life, and
none is repulsive. All has been tempered and tamed in this
process of the cup and the baptism.
For John and James, they only saw the seat on the
right and on the left. They never envisaged the processing,
the training, the taming and the testing that qualify men for
those leadership positions. They may appear vacant for a long
time; God does not just fill them up with any available person,
unless he or she has met this ‘Cup and Baptism’ conditionality.
Jesus frankly told John and James: “What you are asking
for by aspiring to come to sit at My left and right,
you don’t understand. To ever become eligible at all, are
you ready for the Cup? Are you ready for the Baptism?
Are you ready for the smelting in fire? Are you ready
for the soaking into the deep waters? This is the only
way we can confirm whether or not this instrument will
not fail us on the day of battle.”
We shall now explore what this cup and baptism actually
stand for in our preparation for spiritual service. I pray that God
will help you to come along, and actually to plunge your self into
this, so that you can emerge from this baptism a usable instrument
in His hands, in your generation, in the Name of Jesus.
The Sufferings That Produce
Human Experiences…
This is the first of the baptism that any man seeking to
become an instrument in God’s hand must pass through. All
notable men, both in Scriptures and in contemporary history,
bore testimony to this ingredient in the dealing of God over
their lives. Peter, James, and all the other apostles eventually
had this baptism of suffering. Even the latecomer, apostle
Paul declared:
“Moreover let us also be full of joy now! Let us
exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in
our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction
and hardship produce patient and unswerving
endurance. And endurance (fortitude) develops
maturity of character, that is, approved faith and
tried integrity. And character (of this sort) produces
(the habit of) joyful and confident hope of eternal
salvation.” Rom.5: 3-4(Amp)
The Example Of Jesus…
Let’s check Jesus’ own experience from the book of
Hebrews chapter2. You will remember that Hebrews chapter
one is a very beautiful epilogue of the glory, the power, the
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anointing, the position, the name and the ministry of the Lord
Jesus. And if you love to read, you may stop in chapter one
just gazing and marveling, as you see the greatness and superiority
of this Man. But one thing that I discover is that there
is a process, which Christ Himself went through, to gain that
position and to walk in it.
When you leave Chapter one of Hebrews where it talked
about all the glories of Jesus… the superiority of Christ over
the prophets and how God had given Him a name that is
above all names, and how angels are to bow to Him and all
that…and move to Chapter 2, you will immediately see the
making, the moulding and the preparations of the “Son of
man.”
“But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than
the Angels for the suffering of death crowned with
glory and honor that He by the grace of God should
taste death for every man.” Heb. 2:9 (KJV).
“But we do see Jesus, who for a little while was
made lower than the angels, so that through God’s
grace He should die for everyone. We see Him now
crowned with glory and honour because of the death
he suffered.” (Good News).
“But we do see Him who has been made for a little
while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because
of the suffering of death crowned with glory and
honour, that by the grace of God he might taste
death for everyone.” (NAB).
“But we are able to see Jesus, who was ranked lower
than the angels for a little while, crowned with glory
and honour because of His having suffered death,
in order that by the grace (unmerited favour) of
God (to us sinners) He might experience death for
every individual person.” (Amp).
But we see Jesus:
This is very strong! We see the example of Jesus.
We see what God did to Him, to make Him who He is today.
We see the way He went and the path He trod to become the
author of our salvation. It is not a thing that God has not done
before. He did it to His only begotten Son, even Jesus who
knew no sin.
What did we see in Jesus? He was deliberately made
lower than the angels for a little while. This must be so hard
for Him, who created all things, including the angels. He was
made lower than the works of His own hands. Why? What
for? It is that He may by the grace of God taste death for
every one He would later bring out of death with life; out of
darkness with light. The baptism with death was a necessary
price for Him to bring forth much fruit and many sons unto glory.
There is something more than this aspect of our own salvation.
Look at the last part of that verse…
“…We see Him now crowned with glory and honour
because of the death He suffered” (Good News).
…But we are able to see Jesus… crowned with glory and
honour because of His having suffered death.
This “because” is a very strong reason we must also see. His
being crowned with glory and honour was not arbitrary. It
was as a result of what He had gone through. It was because
of His having suffered death! This is very illuminating. It runs
across the Scriptures. Phil 2:8-9 confirms this same matter
in another way:
“And after He had appeared in human form He
abased and humbled Himself (still further) and
carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even
the death of the cross!
Therefore (because He stooped so low) God has
highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him
the name that is above every name…” (Amp).
God was only responding to a conditionality Christ had met.
“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him…” As a
result, God on His own part as well has exalted Him to the
highest place and given Him the name that is above every
name. The name God gave Him above every other name in
heaven or earth was not because He is the Son of God, but
because of the death He suffered. When God was ready to
appoint Jesus as the king, and Captain of our salvation, it
became necessary for God to subject Him to this process.
There was no short cut to the throne, even for Him. It was
not because of sin that this conditionality was necessary, for
Jesus was one who knew no sin. Look further with that Scripture:
“For it became Him, for whom are all things and
by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto
glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings.” (Heb 2:10 KJV).
“It was right and proper that in bringing many sons
to glory, God (God from whom and by whom everything
exists) should make the leader of their salvation
perfect through his sufferings.”(Phillips)
“And it was right and proper that God, who made
everything for his own glory, should allow Jesus to
suffer, for in doing this he was bringing vast multitudes
of God’s people to heaven; for his suffering
made Jesus a perfect Leader, one fit to bring them
unto their salvation.” (Living Bible).
The first thing to note here is that it was right and proper for
God to allow Jesus to pass through this process of suffering.
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It was not a mistake. It was not contradictory to God’s Holiness,
neither to Jesus’ sinlessness. It was fitting.
“It was an act worthy (of God) and fitting (to the
divine nature)…” (Amp).
This act was worthy of God. It did not contradict God nor
did it paint Him as ungodly to so do, when it came to the
matter of making Jesus the Leader that fits our need and is
best suited to be the Pioneer and Captain of our salvation. It
was also fitting to the divine nature. It was not wrong. It was
actually proper and fitting for God to do this to Jesus. And if
this was right, proper, and fitting for God to do to Jesus, who
proved a beloved Son, do you think it so wrong and grievous
for God to subject mortal men like ourselves to that baptism
and cup that will give us a place in His service? If for Jesus –
a man who received the anointing without measure- with
whom the Father was well pleased, it is still proper and right
to subject Him to this cup of suffering, in order for Him to
bring many sons to glory, how do I intend to become a channel
in God’s hands to bring and lead many men unto salvation
if I keep dodging and evading this necessary cup? Though
He was the perfect Son of God, God still needed to make Him
perfect when it came to becoming a leader, a pioneer and a
captain, through sufferings.
When God wants to make you a leader that is fit to
lead others to the kingdom of God, it is proper for Him to
subject your life to death and suffering so that you might be a
perfect and correct leader fit to lead others unto heaven. I
used to think that Jesus was automatically the Saviour of the
world. I did not know that he had to “become” a Saviour.
When He was born, God already saw His destiny and said,
“you will call His name Jesus, for He will save His people
from their sins”. But in between the announcement of Jesus’
destiny at His birth and the actualization of it, there was a
process that made Him to become a saviour. If Jesus was
not an automatic leader as soon as He was born, and that it
was not automatic for Him to save people, do not expect
anything like that for your own self. And do not be wary of
the process of becoming what God desires and designed you
to be. Do not keep dodging and running away from the process
otherwise in another ten years, you will still be on the
same spot. Prayer is good and we should pray more. Yet, we
need to open our mouths and tell God to take us through the
process. When you finish reading this message you should
stand up deliberately and tell God to take your hand and lead you
through the process for becoming a leader in the family of God.
“For it was an act worthy (of God) and (fitting to
the divine nature) that He for whose sake and by
whom all things have their existence in bringing
many sons into glory should make the pioneer of
their salvation perfect. (Should bring into maturity
the human experience necessary to be perfectly
equipped for His office as a high priest) through
suffering.” Heb. 2:10 (Amp).
There is a minimum quantity of human experience that
you need before you can become a leader. It is a pity that in
our own present day churches, untested and un-baptized boys
are the founders and presidents of ministries. It was not
miracles that qualified Jesus for leadership. It was not a supernatural
demonstration of power that put Jesus there as a
perfect pioneer leader. God decided and told Him, He cannot
save people or be allowed to handle an issue that He had not
experienced. He could not be imposed over people that have
more experiences in life than Himself. He would be speaking
beyond His life. Mary out of whom Jesus had cast out seven
demons was sent to go and proclaim the resurrection message…
She was going to tell those that participated in casting
out her demons (the disciples) that she had seen Jesus.
Did they believe her? No! Why not? She could not be a
leader because she lacked the maturity in human experience.
The two brothers from Emmaus, also came to preach, did
people believe? No they did not. Why did they not believe?
Nobody knew anything about them. As such Jesus had to
come Himself. No man can lead others beyond where he himself
has reached in his walk with God. This is the predicament
we are having. Our leadership development is very slow.
Some of us do not appreciate God’s own content of making
a leader. That is why He may still be waiting for whom He
can send.
People you can influence are people of your own
level. So the Bible tells us that for Jesus to be able to bring
many sons unto God, it was necessary that God should make
Him perfect. The word perfect here means maturity in the
human experience necessary for a perfect equipment of his
office as High Priest. But the only way to bring that to happen
is through suffering.
So Jesus told Mr. James and John, if they wanted to
sit by His right, and to sit by His left, over and above men with
grey hair, they needed to get into the school of suffering. The
school of suffering is the school of leadership. It is not a Bible
school. Let us stop deceiving ourselves. A Bible school certificate
does not make you a spiritual leader. (I do not want you to
quickly say, “Yes sir”, because you are feeling too proud to go
to school. That would be another manifestation of self). The
college of suffering was the college of leadership training.
Jesus already had the divine nature. But He needed
the human experience to lead human beings. There are two
components that make for spiritual leadership: the divine nature
that comes by the anointing, and the maturity of human
experience for you to become a perfect leader that will fit you
for that office.
Let’s move down to vs.17
“Wherefore it behoved Him in all things to be made
–
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like to [His] brethren, that He might be a merciful
and faithful high priest in things relating to God,
to make propitiation for the sins of the
people;”(KJV).
“For this reason He had to be made like His brothers
in every way, in order that He might become a
merciful and faithful high priest in service to God,
and that He might make atonement for the sins of
the people”. (NIV).
“This means that He had to become like His brothers
in every way, in order to be their faithful and merciful
High Priest in His service to God, so that the
people’s sins would be forgiven.” (Good news).
“It is evident that it was essential that Jesus be made
like His brethren in every respect in order that He
might become a merciful (sympathetic) and faithful
High Priest in the things related to God, in order
to make atonement and propitiations for the
people’s sins”. (Amp).
Do you see God’s process of making Jesus the leader, which
He is? I may want to ask you, “Will you (not just by word
of mouth) like to enrol?” If you have understood by the
books that in between where you are and your destiny, there
is a process, rather than just wishing to be a man of God, and
wishfully asking for revival to come, why not ask the Lord to
enrol you in the college of spiritual leadership– the college of
suffering. We have several colleges like College of Agriculture,
Education, and Medicine etc. But this is called the college
of suffering. And its certificate is the Certificate of Leadership.
It is not a paper certificate written with ink. This kind
is the one engraved on your life known and read of all men.
Even this is not conclusive because there are other colleges
like the College of Obedience. As soon as James and John
made the request to be made to sit at His left and right, Jesus
said, “Will you go through the college?”
“It is evident that it was essential that Jesus be made
like His brethren in every respect in order that He
might become a merciful (sympathetic) and faithful
High Priest in the things related to God, in order
to make atonement and propitiations for the
people’s sins. For because He Himself (in His
humanity) has suffered in being tempted (tested
and tried), He is able (immediately) to run to the
cry (assist; relieve) of those who are being tempted
and tested and tried and who are therefore being
exposed to suffering”. Heb 2:17-18 (Amp).
For Jesus to be merciful, for Him to be compassionate,
and to know how it feels to be a man, so that on one side,
He might be able to respond to the needs of men, that did not
come by teaching. He had to suffer temptation. He overcame
temptation. He was tempted at all points but without sin so
that He can be faithful to God. The making of a leader is quite
a matter! God does not overlook it. Whereas the office of the
High Priest is one thing; Jesus could not occupy it, until He
had to be made like His brethren in every aspect. It was necessary
for Jesus to be made like His brethren in every area of
experience, in order that He might become a merciful, sympathetic
and faithful High Priest in the things related to God.
It is clear that unless He was deliberately subjected to this
process of formation, though the office is available for Him,
He would be incapable of performing in that capacity.
God’s making of a leader is not the calling of a name
or a bogus title. Leadership in God’s church must not be by
official status. The man must be made, constructed, prepared
and equipped to bear the challenges and responsibilities of the
office. It is what He has become (or rather ‘came to be’) that
matters, rather than what He is called by title. What a man is
in his life is more crucial in leadership than what he does
officially. Any one who knows how to speak or analyse the
Bible can do preaching, but to be a leader demands experience
of life, that far outweighs the challenges facing those
being led. It must be a life that actually has gone ahead in
experience. And even for Jesus, God regarded it as essential
to allow Him be subjected to everything that men are subjected
to. He became ‘a brother’ to all of us in all our afflictions
and weaknesses. God allowed Him to be tested and tried
at all points like as we are. It was His victory in those trials
and temptations that now conferred upon Him the right and
the ability to lead men.
God does not place men in the office of leadership,
who are incapable and incapacitated to perform because of
the deficiency of their life and the insufficiency of their own
personal exposure to the Cup and Baptism. It is this Cup and
the Baptism that crystallize within a man’s life such gems of
grace that he draws upon to provide leadership for the flock.
The character needed for the particular office in leadership
is what God takes time to build into a man while the
charisma and the instrument of office can be placed on him
just in a day. Many men struggle to acquire the instrument of
office, the scepter of ministry, while they lack the intrinsic
character needed for such an office.
Look at God again preparing even Jesus for the office
of the High Priest, after the order of Melchisedek. To be
in that office, He must be merciful, sympathetic, considerate
and caring. He must posses genuine feelings of compassion
for the weak and the helpless. He must be familiar with the
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pangs and the yearnings of men’s hearts. It must be in His
own life also to feel sympathy. It is not just for Him to act and
perform some duties of mercy, He Himself must be merciful.
He must have something intrinsic to Him that easily responds
in compassion. This for Jesus was not automatic. It was not
natural to Him. He had to be trained to become sympathetic
with sinners. The only way is for Him to also suffer temptation
at all points. All the assault He went through in various
ways at the wilderness, in the hands of the Pharisees and the
scribes; in the hands of disciples, traitors, like Judas Iscariot;
misunderstanding and blackmail that came His way, were all
designed curriculum to inculcate within Him and to carve out
of Him, a merciful, sympathetic, compassionate leader. He
was not only endued with power from on high, He was also
lowered into the baptism of trials and temptations.
Hence Heb. 4: 14-16 could now attest of such a
High Priest we have in Christ Jesus.
“For we have not a High Priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities…”
vs 15,KJV
“For it is not as if we had a High Priest who was
incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us, but
we have one who has been tempted in every way
that we are, though He is without sin” (JB)
Two matters are important here: one is that a man
could occupy a post in which he is ‘incapable’, ‘unable’ to
perform the requisite life function of the office. He may make
efforts, but he is structurally incapable. But our own High
Priest (Jesus) is not such a man- but we have one who has
been tempted in everyway that we are! He is experienced in
all that now troubles us. He is capable of knowing what we
are going through. He needs no one to describe it to Him
theoretically. He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He is not a leader because He is foreign to us. ‘Foreigner’
to men’s situations cannot be a right and appropriate
leader. Men will even flout his authority due to his innate ignorance.
He can be fooled to take wrong decisions. He can
be carried away by mere exaggeration of a problem, since it
is completely foreign to him.
The second issue is His qualification to lead us! Confidence
in His own experience, where He had been victorious
is very crucial. Though He was familiar with all our infirmities
in that He Himself had suffered being tempted, He would
not be a leader if in it all He was a victim like ourselves. If He
Himself is still struggling and battling with His own personal
weaknesses, how can we trust Him to help us out of our
own. This is the inherent weakness of the Aaronic Priesthood.
The priests themselves, by life, were weak and were
weaklings. They must offer atonement offering first for their
sins, before they could think of helping others. They never
finished with their own infirmities all their lives; hence their
usefulness to those they led was very minimal. But our own
High Priest is the one without sin, despite all the temptations
He went through. He thus has the right of leadership on these
two counts.
Let me emphasize this again! Leadership hinges on
two anchors: one is identification and familiarity with the led
in every way. This means to be ‘a brother’ in all afflictions;
to have a first hand experience because you have been there
before. You have gone ahead of the brethren in every thing in
which you are asking them to follow you.
The second is of equal weight. It is to be a winner,
a conqueror and a victor out of all the rubble. Yes, men can
see the traces of the dust; but they must also see the track
record of your consistent victory. This must be engraved in
your life and character. You need not announce it. It is evident
all over your life.
Christ had to meet up with these two anchors of
leadership conditionality. He was trained for this through the
temptation He suffered.
My beloved brother and sister, do you aspire to serve
God in any effective way among the brethren? This Cup and
this Baptism are essential for you. Leadership qualification
will not come to you by the frivolous laying of hands of visiting
preachers in conferences. It is not by the pouring of
anointing oil! It is not even by the word of prophecy of aged
men like Simeon and Anna the prophetess. They may speak
as the Lord gave them utterance. What to do is to keep it in
your heart and quickly resume this process of divine preparation
for the fulfillment of your destiny. Jesus had to be made
a merciful and a faithful High priest. He suffered being tempted
so He knows the pains of temptation. As such He can help
those that are being tempted. But much more important, He
knew how to say no to temptation and maintain righteousness
so He can speak for, and to God. He could insist on
God’s own standard and say, “Brother, this is the will of
God. I went through it. I know it is paining you. It
pained me too, but I never disobeyed God”. The making
of such men as instruments of revival, is God’s major focus.
You could be praying and saying, “Lord, use me.” Yet,
God’s answer will be, “Yes, I will answer that prayer. But
my answer is the Cup and the Baptism”. When you have
gone through living without money, you might be able to stand
up and talk to the girls that are compromising their faith, or
are going into wrong businesses because of economic crunch.
You will be a faithful Pastor to say “Sorry, I also lived like
that for three weeks. There were very many temptations.
There were temptations for me to renew old friend1
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of them en-masse. But all this was for God to introduce Himself
to them and to teach them the Biblical way of crossing
hurdles in God’s service. He was training them to overcome
fear.
When God delivered them (as they walked through
the Red Sea on dry ground) they danced and danced. It was
not the dancing that was God’s primary aim of this arrangement.
It was that they might have a reference point in their
walk: Ebenezer stones of memorial in their stories and testimonies
to recall in the face of other battles, especially the
battles in the land of promise.
As they passed through the Red Sea and they saw
the massive destruction of their enemies, God desired to carve
into their hearts His power to save and to deliver.
“And you shall remember that the Lord your God
led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness,
to humble you and test you, to know what
was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments
or not. So He humbled you, allowed
you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you
did not know nor did your fathers know, that He
might make you know that man shall not live by
bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of the Lord.” Deut 8: 2-3.
This is an apt summary of that training process at
the tail end of their wilderness journey. Let us highlight few
points here, to illustrate this testing: A man who will be fitted
for the highest office in the
Kingdom must be humble.
The only way God
designed for them to
learn humility (that
would qualify
them for divine
promotion)
ships. But I said no. How can I be unequally yoked
because of money? And God saw me through. Do not
disappoint God; God will see you through as well”. You
will be a faithful minister to Him who has appointed you.
Suffering, as a process of training spiritual leaders, is a compulsory
part of the Cup and the Baptism.
Baptism of Trials And
Temptations
What is the other baptism that any man hoping to share
a part in revival labours must go through? It is the Baptism of
temptations as a test for strength. It is a test to discover weaknesses
so that they can be removed. And He had to be tested
at all points as we are. But rather than fall, He stood. In
Matt. Chapter three, Jesus Christ received the Holy Ghost.
Heaven was opened to Him after He was baptized in water.
Then in chapter 4, verse one, the Holy Spirit led Jesus, to be
tempted of the devil. The Holy Ghost Himself can lead you
into the wilderness for this necessary trial. And the chief examiner
in the wilderness is Satan, the devil. And the Holy
Spirit seemed to say, “I’ve brought my candidate. Please,
test him.” And the Spirit will sit somewhere waiting for
you to finish. It is the process of becoming an effective
leader, and minister. And the Bible said, “Being tempted 40
days of the devil and in those days Jesus ate nothing.”
The devil battered Him here and there, just testing for any
weakness. And I tell you sir, God will never take you to
battle as a sword or as a battle-axe until He has first of all
handed you over to the cruel tempter who will tempt you
without mercy, to see whether there is a point of weakness
where you will disappoint God later.
Remember, God led the children of Israel after they
left Egypt into the wilderness. What was His reason? He
wanted them to go through the test, so that He would know
the type of people they would be when they faced the battles
of Canaan. There was a shorter route. But He decided that
they should not go that way because they might run back
from Canaan to Egypt again if they omitted the necessary
wilderness experience. So He took them through the wilderness.
God knew there was the Red Sea. He was also the one
who went and stirred up Pharaoh to pursue them. God went
and mobilized Egyptians with their chariots behind them. It
was very tight and frightening, yet it was their first
baptism to see where they would turn to. He
was training them to look up. They were hedged
in; the Red sea in front, Egyptians at the back,
hills on the left and on the right. Some immediately
began to suggest that God just wanted to bury all
1 1 LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
their Days. There are certain tests that will come to you, not
because God does not know that you have a need. He wants
to test whether you will break in the face of such a need. He
is going to test whether you have developed that spiritual
stamina in the face of difficulties. My friend, I will ask you as
Jesus asked them: “Are you able to drink the cup and be
baptized with the baptism? If you say yes, you are able; He
will say, “You will indeed! So follow me.” And I have been
praying that you are not just reading for information. We
must need say, “Take me through the cup, take me
through the baptism.”
The Bible said the devil tempted Jesus at all points.
But the joy of my heart is that the same Bible said, “Jesus
returned in the power of the Holy Ghost.” Anointing does
not become power until you have gone through the wilderness
of testing. And from that point, “His fame went everywhere”.
But that Scripture also said, “But the devil left
Him for a while till another opportune time.” I must tell
you that the test for spiritual leadership does not come once
and for all. It comes in stages and in grades. So let us note
here: there is a Cup and there is a Baptism. All who aspire for
leadership must set themselves ready to partake of these.
Daniel, Samuel, Job, Japheth, Deborah, Esther, and
several others were men and women of like passion as you
are. They did not shun the discipline of the LORD. They
subjected themselves to this cup and this baptism in a measure.
They affected their generations because they were individually
affected.
Do not let where you stand today in your walk with
God become your destination. There is a yonder with God…
a place where men are cut for spiritual responsibility in God’s
service. God only offers this cup and this baptism to those
He loves and desires to use in a definite way. Who is interested
in this matter? Yet, it is not for the sake of posts and
positions at the right hand or the left hand. It is to become an
eligible candidate for spiritual leadership in the body of Christ,
for service among His people. Do you long to become a minister
of life unto men? Do you desire to be used to drag men
unto the Kingdom of God in their hundreds and thousands,
then bend down and ask for this cup.
Make me a battle-axe,
Kept, Lord in Thy quiver,
Tried, trimmed, sharpened in Thy furnace,
Meet for my Master’s use.
For further study:
(i) THE PRICE, PLIGHT, AND PERILS OF THE ANOINTED
– Gbile Akanni
(ii) WHAT GOD LOOKS FOR IN HIS VESSEL.
-Gbile Akanni
(iii) SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY -Watchman Nee.
was to put in this wilderness journey. They could not accumulate
wealth on the road. Of necessity they had to travel
light. No one was allowed to settle into anything. The pillar of
cloud may settle for three days or three weeks before it lifts
up for onward journey. No one could predict where the cloud
might rest and grant them an abode, and for how long. They
lived a pilgrim life; they ate pilgrim food. They could not engage
in any business with the citizens of the country they
were passing through. What a training God designed for His
people so that He might do them good in the end. They did
not take theoretical lesson on humility. He actually humbled
them for forty years, in the hope that it would become their
lifestyle.
He tested them to know what was in their hearts. It
is this baptism of trials and testing that God uses to reveal the
vivid condition of men’s hearts. It reveals areas of weakness
that need urgent attention. It is not at the land flowing with
milk and honey that you can locate a man’s heart. The wilderness
is designed to bring forth the very obscure aspects
of men’s hearts.
He wanted them to know by life and experience that
man shall not live by bread alone but man lives by every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of God. This is a necessity
for any man in God’s service. It is essential. No man can
actually bear God’s burdens among men, unless he has learnt
to live by God’s word. But God’s method of inculcating this
into their lives was not to organize a Bible Teaching Conference
on “Living by the word”. It was to allow them to hunger
and to come to the end of their bread of wheat. He now
responded with a Word: “In the morning you shall eat
bread”. There was no farm, no new harvest; no bakeries; no
new changes. But in the morning “manna” lay round their
camps. “Manna? Manna?” was their question: What is it? The
word “manna” meant (in their own native tongue), what is
this? No one knew what it was. As they picked it up, roasted,
baked, fried, boiled, pounded it, for their varieties of meals;
they kept asking the question; Manna? Manna? It was nothing
but the word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.
This happened every day for forty years, so that this singular
lesson may be carved into their hearts and personalities. This
was God’s choice of preparing them for the Promised Land.
It would take a daily waiting to catch “manna”. No one could
keep any of it over night. You were not sure of what to take
tomorrow, unless you would depend on the Word of promise
“in the morning there shall be bread”. It took this rigorous
training to learn “Living by the word”. Bible study of
three hours may look great, but I doubt if that is all it requires
to raise a man of faith fit for leadership in God’s house.
The Cup and Baptism is what all God’s choice men
had to take to step into the place where they stood for God in
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LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
bringing another person to help with a
given divine assignment was neither an
emergency nor a remedial measure to
make up for one’s weakness. It is not
necessarily because of your insufficiency
or your inability that you need to
work with others in the vineyard of our
Father, God. Even if you were perfect,
it would still not be good for you to be
alone in what you are given of God to do.
Distinction should be made of
the nature of the devil, Satan; who alone
heads and runs his system of demonic
government. We are told he was ranked
together with two other archangels, that
is consistent with divine nature, but the
devil bolted out to stand alone.
Have you bolted out of a team
in which you know God brought you in
to help do His work? Why resemble the
devil? I see this, Gen 2:18, having a
broader sense of a teamwork beyond
marriage of husband and wife. Even
though marriage also is a team for God’s
service for those who are born again
into God’s own family; God has demonstrated
that it is not good for His servants
to be alone in His service by building
up teams around even those that
were not married.
“…The Holy Ghost said, separate
me Barnabas and Saul for the
work whereunto I have called
them”Acts 13:3.
It is clear from scripture that
Paul never married (1 Cor7:8) and perhaps
Barnabas also (1Cor9: 5-6). Al-
A story is told of a father who
on his deathbed called his children with
one sole aim of teaching them the force
of togetherness. He is said to have given
each a dry slender stick to break. Each
broke his/hers effortlessly. He now gathered
many of such sticks together in
small bundles and gave to each to break.
It took more efforts for each to break
though the small bundles of sticks, but
they were broken all the same. Finally
he gathered all the sticks together in a
big bundle and gave to the strongest of
his children who tried all he could but
could not break the bundle. The old dying
father finally told his children the lesson
we must all learn: “even weaklings
bundled together are enough to stand
against any force”.
Divine Wisdom
For Teaming
And the Lord God said it is not
good that the man should be
alone: I will make him a help meet
for him.” Gen 2:18.
Our father in Heaven said this
after He had given man the work of
dressing and keeping His garden. It was
Him who discovered that it was not good
for the man to be doing this divine assignment
alone. This was well before
the fall by which untold weakness was
introduced into man’s life. He was at
this time in God’s image hence perfect
and well able to exercise his dominion
over the creation of God. The idea of
By Terwase Targema
though God would have Paul be without
partnership of a wife, yet He would
not leave him without that of a yoke fellow.
Both Barnabas and Paul were very
anointed individuals yet God would not
allow them to work each on his own.
They were capable of doing it successfully
if God willed it so. However, God’s
will for man is not to be alone in the
work of ministry. Alone, a spice does
not bring out the taste and texture of
God’s dough for divine service. We
know that they separated after sometimes,
but unto teams; and even at the
end Paul finally discovered his need of
Barnabas’ work. The wisdom of the
original divine arrangement for any Godgiven
service is partnership. Scriptures
are very quiet about Elijah’s marital status
but not of his ministerial partner.
While He never bothered with marriage,
our Lord Jesus expended much of His
ministerial time and energy on raising
His team.
Check very carefully, who,
however anointed ever ministered alone
in scriptures and succeeded – Samson?
No! Samson failed before he started,
even though greatly anointed. As soon as
“…The Spirit of the LORD began
to move upon him at Mahaneh
Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Now Samson went down to
Timnah, and saw a woman in
Timnah of the daughters of the
Philistines.” Judges 13:25; 14:1 .
The move of the Spirit of God on
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LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
Samson had only begun, not yet
steady with him, and he went
down. The move was yet “at
times” and from this time he
took a downward trend to his
doom. His going down to what
would kill him was very early in
his ministerial life. Remember it
was a woman that finally killed
him. He failed before he began.
Characteristics
Of A Strong Team
A good team must reflect
the characteristic similar to
the Godhead. The greatest team
is the divine trinity. It is amazing
how this team functions in
another- centeredness, rather
than self-centeredness. This is
the first and most important
characteristic, if a team will
achieve a common vision.
Dr Sid Buzzel et al,
commented that the three persons
of the Trinity worked together
in perfect harmony to accomplish
our salvation as
brought out in Eph 1:3-14.
Studying that scripture and several
others the work of the Father,
Son and the Holy Spirit in
salvation are individually distinct
but never complete without the
others. In summary, the Father
initiated our salvation, (v 3-
6) the Son accomplished it
(v7-12) and the Holy Spirit
made it real in our lives (v13-
14). None of this aspect of salvation
is inferior to the other nor
could stand on its own. None
of the persons of the Trinity did
anything with the mind to outplay
the others. Rather, each competed
to portray the other as having done
it all.
“In the beginning God created
the heavens and the
You are welcome. This edition marks another turning point
in the growth of LIVING SEED. The full color and the
glossy cover are all part of our Father’s further investment
to make this an endearing blessing to you and the Body
of Christ at large.
Our burden for this edition is to consider the core- courses
of God’s curriculum for fashioning men who must bear
responsibility in the kingdom. As we studied Jesus, we
discovered that sufferings, trials, and temptations are the
essential ingredients in the divine moulding of men’s character
to fit them for leadership.
MINISTERS’ COLUMN confronts us with God’s wisdom and
bulwark against the powers of darkness… It is not necessarily
the making of an individual into a “mighty lone ranging
star”… but the building of a team of ordinary men and
women fortified by the strength that unity in Christ supplies.
“I will build My CHURCH and the gates of hell shall not
prevail…”
BEDROCKS repackages for us God’s purpose in Christ
Jesus- it is much more than the healings of our bodies or
deliverances from one long list of occurrences to the otherrather,
it is the whole of one’s life that is “bent-over” and
needs “STRAIGHTENING OUT”. T his, God does when we
come under the hands of Jesus in discipleship.
In THE OTHER SIDE OF GOD, several sages bear testimony
to the sovereignty of God in choosing how to be glorified
in our individual lives and situations- He may choose to
deliver from predicaments in response to our agonies and
tears, or better still, may calculatedly ignore our feelings
in order to bring about a much bigger and fruitful divine
purpose- but in it all His grace will be available.
In A DECISION, Daniel, a young man with rare combinations
that dwarf the C.V’s of present day youths: (Cuteness,
poise, outstanding intelligence, plus a royal blood running
through his veins…) chose rather to inherit eternal life by
an unbending consecration to his Lord and creator than
to preoccupy himself and become conceited with earthly
ephemerals… What is your decision?
We prayerfully send these ( and others more) across your
way to assit you on this race for eternal life. Remember,
this generation is counting on you, the host of Heaven is
watching, and the Lord is waiting to receive you!
I am your sister
Ene Aideyan
1 3 LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
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LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
earth. Now the earth was formless
and empty darkness was over the
surface of the deep and the spirit
of God was hovering over the waters
and God said, let there be light
and there was light.” Gen 1:1-13.
This account of creation would portray
God the father as the creator and He is.
Even the presence and works of the
Spirit, (v2) and the Word, the Son here
(v3) looks assisting and secondly. Even
in this account the team functioning of
the three persons of the Godhead is
clearly evident. In Ps.104: 30 in the account
of creation again; it was as if God
You are certainly a weakening factor of
the team you are working with.
The second characteristic of
good team is that it must have a common
vision to achieve – all members
must find themselves working towards
that one overwhelming vision. One of
the best teams in the Old Testament was
David’s team. To me it is only second
best to Jesus’ team. One overwhelming
characteristic of David’s team we wish
to consider for our learning is the singular
purpose for which those mighty
men were mobilized of the Lord. The
singular purpose was so repeatedly reported
of them as if seeing any of these
David’s soldiers, you would immediately
read on their faces this one purpose
of their pursuit.
“ All these men came in battle array
to Hebron with the single purpose
of making David king…”
1Chro 12:38 (Study Group Bible).
The David’s team was composed of
many people. Going by the figures available
they were approximately 340,000
soldiers, even though this is clearly an
under statement since only officers are
numbered of the tribe of Isaachar. The
team was also made of very mighty
warriors who could clearly command a
troop of their own. For example, officers
from the Gad were
“Experts with both shield and spear,
Horn-faced men, swift as deer
upon mountains- the weakest was
worth a hundred normal troops
and the greatest was worth a thousand.
They crossed the Jordan
River during its seasonal flooding
and conquered the lowlands on
both the east and west banks.”
1Chro 12:8,14,15.
There were some among that army that
withstood the whole army of Philistine
all alone and earned a name. I am not
sure they were just intimidated by
David’s fighting skill and were there to
o f S a m s o n !
wanted us to know that even though He
was the one we saw as creating the creations,
we should know who actually
did it:
“When You send Your Spirit they
are created…”
See God the father leaving us with the
sense that creation was done by the
Spirit. Before we could settle down with
that conclusion the New Testament portrays
the picture differently again.
John 1:1,3,14-17 leads you to knowing
that the Bible is talking of Jesus Christ,
the only begotten of the father.
“All things were made by him: and
without him was not anything
made.” John1: 3.
The picture shifts to the son as the creator
of all things (Col. 1:14-16). Rather
than each trying to underline His own
contribution in creation, it is no problem
to the others for creations to reveal
as the work of any of the Persons of
the Godhead.
We had noted that individualism
in the service of God is inspired by
the devil. He could not work in the team
of the three archangels. This is, however,
the quiet characteristic of several
ministers in the service of God. Every
thing they do must have their names
boldly printed on it. Should any try to
play down their prominence in a work,
they would rather break away. People
name Christian works after their names
and so register them. What they do must
not be lost into another person. They
must sign every letter they write in the
ministry structure, not because they
want to claim responsibility for any implication
but to gain prominence and be
known and heard. We need to check the
spirit behind all the quiet struggles even
to be known and heard by you as an
individual, when you could safely have
done all you are doing under a corporate
name or even the name of your
leader. You fear he will be known while
no one will ever know you are there?
1 5 LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
Saul, just as the Lord had promised.”
To discover that all were eager to make
David king is a witness to the inner
mobilization of each of the team members.
Nobody was following the persuasion
of another person. Every member
of this team had come to make the matter
of making David the king as a personal
project to be achieved in his
lifetime. They invested their time
and personal resources in this not as a
national project yet, but theirs personally.
Each wanted to be a kingmaker.
David did not provide even the food they
ate and what they drank. People from
far away
Isaachar,
Zebulun and
Naphtali
brought food on
learn under him as to stand on their own
tomorrow. What made this great army
in number and might to come to be committed
to making David king shows
what must happen to any team for it to
achieve its purpose.
“ They were all eager (anxious) to
see David become king instead of
The devil loses when Chr i st ians
t eam up against his kingdom
THE MINISTERING TEAM
(Continue On Page 31)
The Challenge Of Manhood
In Fulfilling God’s Purpose
Theme:
Contact:
PEACE HOUSE,
19, Gyado hosp. Rd, G.R.A.,Gboko.
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LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
“Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues
on the Sabbath. And behold there was a woman
who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and
was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.
But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and
said to her, “ woman, you are loosed from your
infirmity. And He laid His hands on her, and immediately
she was made straight, and glorified
God.” Lk13: 10-14.
The above scripture raises certain issues that need to
be drawn out for our edification and admonition so that we
can stand and walk straight with the Lord without any crook-
1 6
edness. It happened on a Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching
in one of the synagogues that He saw an unusual sight. He
saw a woman who was bent over and could in no way raise
herself. She had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years. The
first thing to note in that scripture is that Jesus was not the
first person to ever preach in that synagogue without seeing
that woman.
Jesus Saw Her…
She must have been a regular member there for people
to know her with that infirmity for eighteen years. Yet preachers
preached but never saw her. Some might have seen her,
yet they did not see her. They did not see her situation. Their
eyes of compassion were not opened to see her and be touched
by the feelings of her infirmity. That in itself is an infirmity of
a kind in a preacher. Many times we have been given opportunities
to preach. We go, we preach but we often do not
‘see’ the people; we are not touched by the situation of the
people. All we are concerned about is to preach and so we
preach as some one beating the air and wasting punches. We
preach into the air and nothing about the people touches us.
And since nothing in the lives of the people touches our hearts,
nothing from our lives touches them too. “Deep only calls
to the deep.” It is the depth of compassion we have for the
people and how much of their situation touches our hearts
that determines how much we could affect the people by the
help of the Holy Spirit. This is a challenge. What is the purpose
of preaching if not to touch people’s lives and save them
from their troubles whether physical or spiritual?
Paul says,
“Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I
fight not as one who beats the air.” 1 Cor 9:26.
It is a waste of grace, a waste of heaven’s resources to
preach without a compassionate heart that can see people in
their infirmities and touch them with a heavenly touch. Yet, it
is quite possible to be such a preacher, dry, hard-hearted and
graceless, only concerned about what to gain and not what to
impact on the people. There are preachers who are not touched
by the infirmities of the people but are definitely touched by
the pockets and the cars of the people. As soon as they mount
the pulpit to preach, what they see is the dressing of the people
and any other thing that could show how fat their pockets
are. And so the preacher summons strength and psychology
to cause them to bring out what is in their pockets, not what
is in their hearts. The preacher has power to collect their
offerings but no power to heal them of their infirmities and
set them free from their sins. Brother, sister, man of God, are
you such a preacher? This is a great infirmity of a kind. It is
a definite blindness of the purpose of God for redemption.
“Straightened
Out”
By Sade Akanni
LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
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That is enough a matter to raise a cry to
heaven about. While teaching, Jesus ‘saw’
that woman. He saw her infirmity. We need
God to touch our eyes afresh so that we
may see people as the Lord sees them, in
their real situation. There is need to pray
for a restoration of spiritual sensitivity of
the pulpit to the true condition in the pew.
She Could Not Stand
Straight
Considering the condition of that
woman, the Bible says, she was bent over
-she was bound together-and could in no
way raise herself up. “Bent over…” by
whom? Certainly by the devil… by a spirit
of infirmity. What a wicked spirit! You can
imagine someone bent over like this. Imagine
the agony that woman went through everyday
for eighteen years!
There are many people who have
been bent over like this. You may have been
bound together even physically in your body
like this woman. You may have been experiencing
stiffness in neck, your back or even
your legs. Or yours may be other kinds of
physical infirmities that have bent your life
over. You may have looked for help in many
quarters. But there is only one touch you
need: a touch from Jesus. If you want to
cry at all, the only cry you need to make is
to the only One who could help you and
release you from that bondage: Jesus Christ
the Lord, the Healer. People who cried out
to Him for a touch received it. Even those
who do not cry out for whatever reason
still received His touch as soon as He saw
them. How I pray you will cry out! And
how I pray you will be in a position where
He will see you and touch you. You do not
have to remain in that situation. You can
receive His touch even now if you are willing,
in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
The woman in this story did not
cry out. We are not told the reason. She
probably had sought for help in many places.
But as she could not find any, she resolved
for help. He will hear you. But while the
infirmity lasts, never allow that to weigh
you down and hinder you from fulfilling
your spiritual obligation to worship Him and
serve Him. Just as it happened to this
woman, it could be there that the Lord would
meet you, see you and touch you.
The infirmity of your own life, may,
however not be a physical sickness. It may
be that of sin. Do you discover as a married
woman that you are quarrelsome and
highly irritable? Any time you are considered
for a higher service in God’s work,
there are always people to give a truly bad
report about your character. And so even
though you are ten or twenty years old in
the Lord, you can only be allowed to touch
menial things, ignoble things in Kingdom
service. That sin is gradually binding and
bending you over so that you cannot raise
yourself up. You need help. Or have you
been bound together by the sin of immorality?
You may be single or married or even a
widow but you commit immorality secretly
and even publicly. Do you find yourself reading
immoral books or engaging in immoral
thoughts? Do you practice masturbation or
lesbianism, young lady? You know it is
wrong? You might have even prayed about
it but you have not been able to stop it. You
are already bent over and you could in no
way raise yourself up. You need an urgent
divine intervention lest that sin binds you,
hand and feet, and casts you into hell fire
any moment from now.
Your own infirmity may be that of
debts. You have become accustomed to borrowing
and you are engaged in it so much
that you are neck deep in it. It has started
bringing you into shame already and you
are unable to lift up your head in the society;
yet you still find yourself continuing to
borrow. You even borrow in order to settle
other debts. When people counsel you to
stop borrowing and be contented with what
you have, you find scriptures to support
your action, and silence them. You are already
bent over and if you do not cry out
to God for help, you will never be able to
There are very many cases
today of people who are
“bent over” and are unable
to stand straight any more.
Their own infirmities may
not be physical… Some are
“bent over” because of sins
and despicable habits.
Others are struggling with
bad characters that have
reduced them in the
household of God to handling
menial things and
have thus become unusable
to God. And yet others
there are who are bent
double by debts and
credit… Still others that
timidity and fear have
pegged their lives below
what God has ordained for
them to step into. And
there could still be others
that grief and sorrow have
made them unable to lift up
their heads.
to take it as her fate in life. She decided
to even keep going to worship
God despite her situation. Her
physical infirmity was not enough
to stop her communion with God.
What a love for God! What a
woman of faith! No matter your
physical infirmity, cry to the Lord
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had stayed at home on that day, she would have missed
her miracle. You must ask God to help you to be at the
right place at the right time. It takes God’s help to
achieve that. Blind Bartimeaus was at the right place
on that day when Jesus was passing by and he
received his sight. Zacchaeus was at the right place
where Jesus would pass through; he had the right
attitude and desire. When Jesus got to the place
where he was, He lifted up His eyes and saw
Zacchaeus. Suppose he had stayed away as a
‘big man’ (the chief tax collector) on that
day, he would have missed the deliverance he
needed from his sins and the salvation of his
soul. You must be at the right place at the
right time. Besides that, you must develop and
have the right attitude of worship despite your
situation. You must have an attitude of humility
before God. Do not be too proud to go to
the Lord for help. Your attitude must be that
of expectation, always waiting for the Lord
to act on your behalf. The Lord says,
“But on this one will I look. On him who is
poor and of a contrite Spirit, and who
trembles at My Word.” Isa 66:2b.
She Came To Jesus
For Jesus to see you and turn His attention to your
life, you must have the right attitude and be at the right place.
When Jesus saw her, He called her to Him. It was after she
came to Him that Jesus healed her. Ever before you receive
the healing or deliverance you need, you need to obey His
call. He is always calling people to Himself .He says:
“Come to Me all you who labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28).
“Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any one
hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in
to him…” Rev.3:20.
Your first need is to come to Jesus. It is not healing. It is not
lifting up your head. It is because you are not really with
Jesus and in Him that the problem, that oppression and that
bondage came into your life. He is calling you to Himself up
till now. Come to Jesus. Yield your life to Him in absolute
surrender. You know what that means. Allow Him to save
you and be the Lord over your life. That will be the end of
that trouble. David said in the book of Psalms that the Lord is
his glory and the lifter up of his head. He will lift up your head
again. He will straighten you out.
As the woman obeyed that instruction and came to
raise your self up. Even your children will suffer
from this infirmity of yours when you die.
Perhaps the infirmity that has bound you
and bent you over so that you are unable to walk
tall and straight as a child of God is timidity. As
a woman, you know what God is asking you
to do. You know the grace that has been deposited
in your life as a child of God for the
Body of Christ. Your husband may even not
be against your usefulness in Kingdom service.
But because you are timid, you keep
dodging the inner prompting of the Holy
Spirit every time. Outwardly, it looks like
humility but it is timidity. You are so shy,
so fearful inside that you are becoming unavailable
for holy use. Now people have
started packing you aside and are already
forgetting you. You were meant to grow
tall in the Body of Christ but timidity is
cutting you short. You are already bent over
and you can in no way raise yourself up.
You need help.
Could it be the death of your husband
that seems to have bent you over?
You keep sorrowing over this and your grief
multiplies day after day as if you will never walk straight
again. You might have even experienced a lot of ridicule and
oppression from people so much that you despair ever being
able to raise up yourself and lift up your head again in the
society. You need a touch from the Lord. Instead of sorrowing
and giving up, you can cry to Him for help and yield your
life into His hands. You can even do as the woman in this
story did, worshipping and serving God.
You may have been bent over as a result of barrenness
and already you are unable to raise up yourself and walk
straight in your husband’s family and even in the society. The
touch you need is not of any man but of the Lord. Or is it
Satan that has bound your head and bent you over? Do you
keep experiencing one demonic attack or the other in your
dreams or even in the physical realm? You need divine help.
The touch you need is that of Jesus, not of herbalists or witch
doctors, not even of any man.
She Was At The Right Place
We are told in that scripture that when Jesus saw
her, He called her to Him… (Vs.12). Whatever is the thing
that has bound you together and bent you over, the important
thing to do is to be where Jesus will see you. If that woman
1 9 LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
Jesus her own part of the matter finished. The Lord Jesus
began to play His own part. You have a role to play in securing
your deliverance. Yet that role is not difficult. It is not
what a man cannot do. Why do you linger? What Jesus will
do in your life is what no man can do. Even you yourself
have not been able to do it, just as that woman had never been
able to lift herself up. What has hitherto been impossible for
you is what only God can do. And that is what He wants to
do. But in order to secure your agreement for Him to do it,
you must come to Him. You must confess
that sin or those sins to Him. You
must humble yourself before Him.
Come to Jesus. Leave the company of
sinners. Leave your shell of unbelief.
That woman left her seat, she left
where she was and came to Jesus. You
must do the same. Leave …and come
to Jesus. That is what will make Jesus
touch you with a lasting touch.
As she came to Jesus, He said
to her “ woman, you are loosed from
your infirmity”. The truth is that you
are already bound in your situation just
as that woman was. You cannot loosen
yourself. You need to be loosed and that
is what Jesus wants to do. He spoke
the word of deliverance to the woman:
‘you are loosed from your infirmity.’
You also need a word from Jesus. You
need to hear Him speak to you the word
that will bring about your deliverance.
“He sent His Word and
healed them, and delivered
them from their destructions.”
Ps 107:20.
God does His work by His word. Even to create the
heavens and the earth, He spoke His word. To heal people
and raise the dead, He spoke to them. When the woman with
the issue of blood touched His garment and was made whole,
she wanted to escape quietly. But to perfect the healing, Jesus
sought to make her come to Him. When she did, He spoke to
her.
You need a word from the Lord. It is His word (The
truth) that will make you free. There are many words written
in the Bible about healing. Yet, you may confess all of them
and you will not be healed. Why? It is because the Lord has
not spoken it to you. There is a word He will particularly
speak to you that will finish your problem. Listen to Him and
receive instruction from His mouth.
She Came Under The
Hands Of Jesus
The Lord Jesus Christ went a step further. He laid
His hands on her. That means a lot. He may need to use
another brother or sister to place their physical hands on you
and pray for you before you can be made whole. Do not
resist the Lord. Once you come to Jesus, abandon yourself in
His hands. He knows what to do. In this scripture, though, I
am seeing more than a physical laying
on of hands. Jesus wants you to come
under His hands before your life can be
straightened out and your head lifted up.
Your problem needs more than praying
and casting out devils before you can
be completely free. The Lord wants you
to come under His hands, under His tutelage
and learn from Him. He wants
you to learn His lifestyle. He wants to
fill you with His word. When a demon
is cast out of a man, the Bible says,
“When an unclean spirit goes out of a
man, he goes through dry places, seeking
rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I
will return to my house from which I
came’. And when he comes, he finds
it swept and put in order. Then he goes
and takes with him seven other spirits
more wicked than himself, and they
enter and dwell there; and the last state
of that man is worse than the first.”
Lk. 11:24-26 (NKJV).
WHEN Jesus saves, heals or
delivers you, demons are sent packing.
He cleanses you and puts your life in order. There and then
you experience a rest. Yet that is not enough. If you stop at
that level, your miracle will not last. You need to come under
His hands. You need to start learning His lifestyle. You need
to start filling your life that has been swept and put in order,
with God’s word. Our hearts must not be left empty, lest the
devil comes back to you in full force. You need to immediately
start learning His ways. You must come under His hand
and learn of Him. That is discipleship. After receiving His rest
as stated in Matt 11:28-30, the next thing you must do is to
take His yoke upon you and learn of Him. That is what will
make your rest a permanent reality.
b o t h t o G o d , a n d t o m a n !
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She Glorified God
Jesus laid His hands upon her and immediately,
she was made straight and glorified
God. You also shall be made straight as you follow
these instructions. Your rugged life, your
crooked path shall be made straight. Your head
that is bowed down and bent over shall be lifted
up again in JESUS’ name. But you must also
glorify God with your life hereafter as that
woman did. Some received miracles from the
Lord this way but went to beer palour to celebrate
them. Some just went back to their old
ways of life after being granted rest by the Lord.
That is not the will of God for setting you free
and lifting up your head. It is so that you may
glorify Him. Do not glorify self or the devil with it. Your life
must begin to bring glory to the Lord henceforth. You must go
and sin no more. Stand now and begin to live right. You must
boldly turn your back at whatever led you into that condition
that bound you together. You need to take your stand now and
begin to live right.
.
“Let your light so shine before men, that they
may see your good works and glorify your Father
in heaven.” Matt 5:16.
Begin to glorify God in your heart, with
your mouth and with your life. Do not be shy
about it. Let the fruit of righteousness fill your
character. That is what will bring glory to the Lord.
“By this My Father is glorified that
you bear much fruit…” John 15:8.
Your life must produce godly fruit and a
righteous character henceforth. That woman immediately
glorified God. She was not shy about
it. The whole congregation knew that day that
she had become a different woman. Why will you
conceal what the Lord has done? You also, begin
to glorify God as soon as you are made straight. Glorify Him
with your lips; glorify Him with a completely changed character,
a godly lifestyle. That is what will make your salvation,
your deliverance and your rest a permanent experience. You
also will soon become an instrument in God’s hand to bring
others out of their troubles. Praise the Lord!
Raymond Kangeh 2003
2 1 LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
thought, He is deeper than I understood,
He is higher than I knew and wider than
I imagined. There is another side of God
that is not clearly known to many. So I
have quietly drawn this conclusion in
my heart that, any person desiring to
make heaven who does not know this
other side of God, may give up the pursuit
of God on the way.
Many things happen to Christians
that our human understanding and
reasoning may not justify God: and when
these experiences come we query God
with questions like “how can?” “Where
was God?” “What is my sin?” (At such
points, you find Christians looking for
what to confess, they may even start
confessing that which they did not commit).
They think like I thought, that it
must always be a kind of sin that brought
the undesirable experience.
Now I know better. It is not
always so. The journey to heaven is long
and diversified. If any man is intending
to make this journey to a successful end,
then he must count the cost. Has it ever
occurred to you why an HIV/AIDS victim
who was infected while living in the
world (unbeliever) but during the illness
repented PROPERLY and yet this illness
defied all prayers? Why is it that a child
of God will make very sincere prayers
before starting a journey, sometimes
even going for or returning from
preaching engagement, and yet have a
ghastly motor accident? Why should
armed robbers have access to a man of
God so much as to attack and sometimes
even kill him? Why should children
of God experience barrenness that
has defied all medical and spiritual approaches?
These are questions that used
to bother me. Now I know better; that
God is just being God.
One day Peter asked Jesus a
question. He said “Lord we have left
all and followed thee”. Jesus knew that
Peter had not finished asking that question,
but knowing where Peter was going,
He answered and said “no man
who has left mother, father, lands,
etc will go unrewarded but right in
this world, he will have fathers, sisters,
lands etc and PERSECUTION”.
Persecution is strange on this list. It does
not fit in at all. We are looking for blessings,
why should we have persecution?
Strangely enough, it was Jesus who said
it. If it were another preacher like Paul,
we may say it is wrong doctrine. But
By
Emmanuel
Akaahimbe
“It is a fearful thing to fall into
the hands for the living God”
Heb. 10:31.
“For our God is a consuming fire”
Heb 12:29
“If it be so, our God whom we serve
is able to deliver us from the burning
furnace, and He will deliver
us from thy hands oh king.
BUT IF NOT, be it known unto
thee oh king that we will not serve
thy gods, nor worship the golden
image which thou hast set up”.
Daniel 3:17-18
“Knowing therefore the TERROR
of the Lord we warn men…”
2 Cor 5:11
“…Behold the Lamb of God”
John 1:36.
“…The Lion of the tribe of
Judah.” Rev 5:5.
These and several other references
abound in the word of God to
prove that God is not just what we think,
He is but more than that.
Several years of interactions
with some Christian friends; some new
converts, some very old experienced
Christians, have shown that there is a
popular side of God that most Christians
associate Him with. I have done
that before now. That popular side I
would like to refer to it as the ‘positive
and the good’ side. There was a time I
thought and also believed that no evil
can happen to a child of God (for example
things like accident, failure in examinations,
barrenness, poverty, suffering
etc) except those living in sin. I
thought that it was only sin that brings
these upon brethren. But in these my
few years of walking with God the story
is different. God is bigger than what I
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God had said concerning Jesus in LK
9:35, “This is my beloved son in
whom I am well pleased, HEAR YE
HIM”. Dear friend, did you hear that?
Why should that which we expect to
bless be prophesying persecution, suffering
and hardship for us? And heaven
did not query that doctrine, instead we
are told to give attention to this truth,
“hear Him”. Brother, has your relation
ever fallen sick and you prayed and
fasted while the illness grew worse and
ended in death like it happened to king
David in 2Sam 12:15-19? You may want
to explain that this child was the product
of adultery but what about your relation?
Let us consider the case of
Daniel and his friends in the scripture
quoted above. It was the service of King
of kings that would not allow Daniel and
his friends to compromise their faith to
the image that was set up. Daniel and
his friends seemed to know this God
deeper than us; they understood him
more, they knew him better; they knew
the other side of God. When they were
threatened with death, they made a resolve.
They told king Nebuchadnezzar
to his face that this God that they serve
is all- powerful. Just as He has power
to deliver from fire, He has power also
to allow fire to consume. They said that
the God whom they served was able to
deliver them and He would, BUT IF
NOT… Daniel knew that, there is an ‘if
not’ with the God they served. This is the
complete knowledge of God. This is that
other side that I intend to discuss here.
Brother, I know that you know
God to some extent. You may have
known only one side of Him, the popular,
positive and blessed side. You may
have known Him only as the water of
life; you do not know Him as the CONSUMING
FIRE. You may have known
Him as the gentle Lamb only; you need
to also know Him as the Lion of the tribe
of Judah. Do you only know Him as the
loving Jesus? Let me also announce to
you that He is TERRIBLE.
You need to know also that the
same God who blesses, promises persecution
and suffering.
“For even hereunto were ye called:
because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye
should follow his steps.”
1 Peter 2:21.
You wake up every morning
claiming all the blessing and prosperity
that you know about but never claiming
a single suffering, a perfect example
which Christ left for us to follow in his
steps. Your Christian experience remains
shallow until you know this other side
of God.
While there are records of men
who walked with God so well that He
called them friends, Abraham for example,
yet, He is a terror, an angry lion
when He notices evil. His face is against
them that do evil. God is a friend of the
righteous man but a terror to the evil
worker. How are you preparing to meet
this God? If you walk in righteousness,
you are sure to meet him as the gentle
lamb whose blood washed away your
sins and qualified you into His presence
and brought your name in the Lamb’s
book of life; but if you persist in secret
sins then be ready to meet a Terror; He
is a consuming fire.
When Daniel knew that there
was an ‘if not’ with his God, he made
up his mind not to fear the fiery furnace
nor the lions’ den. He knew that if he
did not die a glorious death, he would
die a shameful one. He knew that onesided
knowledge of God was not sufficient
for this great journey to eternity.
I hear some sisters saying to
this my all-round God, ‘if He does not
give me a husband next year, I will
backslide ’. To whose disadvantage?
When you backslide, you only depopulate
heaven and populate hell. Daniel
knew that he needed the balanced
knowledge of God to go to heaven. How
many ignorant brethren have fallen by
the way side because they met some “if
nots” on their journeys to heaven? Be
ready for more of such experiences. This
is a core course for every child of God.
“And Asa cried out to the LORD
his God, and said, LORD, it is
nothing for You to help, whether
with many or with those who have
no power; help us, O LORD our
God, for we rest on You, and in
Your name we go against this multitude.
O LORD, You are our God;
do not let man prevail against You.
So the LORD struck the Ethiopians
before Asa and Judah, and the
Ethiopians fled.
Then Asa brought silver and gold
from the treasuries of the house
of the LORD and of the king’s
house, and sent to Ben-Hadad
king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus,
saying, “Let there be a treaty
between you and me, as there was
between my father and your father.
Here, I have sent you silver
and gold; come, break your treaty
with Baasha king of Israel, so that
he will withdraw from me. And at
that time Hanani the seer came to
Asa king of Judah, and said to
him: “Because you have relied on
the king of Syria, and have not
relied on the LORD your God,
therefore the army of the king of
Syria has escaped from your hand.
Then Asa was angry with the seer,
and put him in prison, for he was
enraged at him because of this.
And Asa oppressed some of the
people at that time.
And in the thirty-ninth year of his
reign, Asa became diseased in his
feet, and his malady was severe;
yet in his disease he did not seek
the LORD, but the physicians.
So Asa rested with his fathers; he died
in the forty-first year of his reign.”
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2 Chr. 14:11,12; 16:2, 3, 7, 10, 12,13.
King Asa’s encounter with God
was first on this popular side of blessing.
God gave him victories in battles,
gave him riches, made him popular and
gave him a name. But then he decided
to misbehave; his possessions dispossessed
him of God. He began to depend
on his money to make a way for himself.
He provoked God to anger, and
defied all warnings. Then he met a terrible
angry Lion. God will be as gentle
as a lamb with you until you touch sin.
He will immediately change His gentility
to hostility. Do you know this side of
God?
“For the kingdom of heaven is like
a man traveling to a far country,
who called his own servants and
delivered his goods to them.
And to one he gave five talents, to
another two, and to another one,
to each according to his own ability;
and immediately he went on a
journey.
Then he who had received the five
talents went and traded with them,
and made another five talents.
And likewise he who had received
two gained two more also.
But he who had received one went
and dug in the ground, and hid
his lord’s money.
After a long time the lord of
those servants came and settled accounts
with them.
So he who had received five talents
came and brought five other talents,
saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me
five talents; look, I have gained five
more talents besides them.’
His lord said to him, ‘Well done,
good and faithful servant; you
were faithful over a few things, I
will make you ruler over many things.
Enter into the joy of your lord.’
He also who had received two talents
came and said, ‘Lord, you
delivered to me two talents; look, I
have gained two more talents besides
them.’
His lord said to him, ‘Well done,
good and faithful servant; you
have been faithful over a few
things, I will make you ruler over
many things. Enter into the joy of
your lord.’
Then he who had received the one
talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew
you to be a hard man, reaping
where you have not sown, and gathering
where you have not scattered
seed.
And I was afraid, and went and hid
your talent in the ground. Look,
there you have what is yours.’
But his lord answered and said to
him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant,
you knew that I reap where I have
not sown, and gather where I have
not scattered seed.
So you ought to have deposited my
money with the bankers, and at my
coming I would have received back
my own with interest.
Therefore take the talent from him,
and give it to him who has ten talents.
For to everyone who has, more will
be given, and he will have abundance;
but from him who does not
have, even what he has will be
taken away.
And cast the unprofitable servant
into the outer darkness. There will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matt 25:14-30.
This is the story of the three servants of
the king. The first two who did what
the master wanted met a gentle smiling
Lamb, but that lazy one, who only
wasted the master’s resources – this
waste is not that he used it on himself,
but that he did not make profit, was the
capital offence- met a terrible master.
God has not left you without a talent.
Waste here does not imply loss of capital.
He brought back the capital intact.
But for not making profit he saw the
other side of the Master. What are you
doing with the talent in your hands?
Daniel said “… ‘If not’ I will
not serve your image”. Daniel meant that
his serving God was not conditional, his
serving God did not depend on if God
would supply all his needs according to
His riches in Christ Jesus. He meant that
whatever happened he had chosen
heaven and would not exchange it for
any thing; not even his life.
“And Jacob vowed a vow saying,
if God will be with me and keep
me in this way that I go, and will
give me bread to eat and raiment
to put on, so that I come again to
my father’s house in peace; then
shall the Lord be my God.”
Gen 28:20.
This Elder also at this time knew only
the God of Daniel 3:17-the deliverer,
he did not know the “but if not” of verse
18. His knowledge was not balanced
then. In his ignorance he even gave God
conditions if he must serve Him. He began
his relationship with God on “IF”
whereas Daniel began with “but if not”
– that no matter what happened, he was
going to continue with God and would
not compromise. Jacob’s bargains were
bread (food), raiment (clothes) and journey
mercies (safety).
Dear friend, I do not know
what conditions you have quietly set in
your heart as your basis for serving God.
The Lord could give you all these and
even more, but He may also in His wisdom
choose not to give you any of these
and He will still be God.
Let us take a critical look at
Jacob’s list of conditionality. Is it food
that would separate you from knowing
and following hard after this God? “Man
shall not live by bread alone but by
every word of God.” May be you have
judged God as a failure and have started
working out your own ways of sustain2
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ing yourself. You have possibly gone
even to Egypt to fend for yourself, or
you are just considering taking this dangerous
step to Egypt. God said to Isaac,
go not down to Egypt, sow in Gera and
you would reap. When Isaac obeyed,
he met God’s blessing. But much more
than that I wish you could ask help from
God to follow on even if you sowed and
did not reap.
Do you remember Elimelech,
the husband of Naomi? Famine drove
them from the land of God, Bethlehem
of Judah into Moab, a land that its foundation
was built on a very terrible fornication.
Father fornicating with daughter,
the kind that even non-church goers
abhor. Is that a place for a child of God
to go for help? I do not know your
peculiar experiences. I pray that you do
not behave like Jacob who would only
come to God on his own terms.
His second condition was raiment.
Even if Jacob could not do without
food, he should be able to do without
clothes. Sisters, are you like Jacob
who cannot serve God because you lack
changes of raiment? This only proves
you are not a serious minded follower
of Christ. What can you not leave behind
in order to go with the Master?
When you are experiencing this kind of
situation, God may only be introducing
you to the other side of Him. Your soul
is more precious than raiment. I wish
you could come to the point where you
can make a bold declaration like brother
Paul the Apostle that ‘nothing can separate
me from the love of Christ’.
Whereas for Jacob food, raiment, and
insecurity, attacks etc can separate him
from Christ, for Paul nothing. Are they
going to different heavens?
Paul the Apostle gave a long list
of the sufferings that he went through.
In summary he described them as
LIGHT affliction. Now see the details
of what Paul called light affliction:
“From the Jews five times I received
forty stripes minus one.
Three times I was beaten with rods;
once I was stoned; three times I was
shipwrecked; a night and a day I
have been in the deep;
In journeys often, in perils of waters,
in perils of robbers, in perils
of my own countrymen, in perils
of the Gentiles, in perils in the city,
in perils in the wilderness, in perils
in the sea, in perils among false
brethren;
In weariness and toil, in sleeplessness
often, in hunger and thirst,
in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”
2 Cor 11:24-27.
“For our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, is working for
us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory”. 2 Cor 4:17.
Dear friends, would you refer to this
long list of troubles as light affliction? If
not, what then did Paul see as to regard
the whole of these troubles as nothing
to disturb his journey with God? Paul
did not charge God with wrong for allowing
him to go through any of these
long lists of troubles. He simply knew
that this is the other side of God. Do
you suppose that Paul, the Apostle, went
through all of these because of his sin?
He that blesses also said we would have
persecution as a necessary addition to
our blessings on this journey.
Those who came into faith only to collect
the goodness and mercy at the end
of every fellowship and nothing is taught
about the other side, may not go far on
this journey. They may backslide like the
children of Israel who were too much
in a hurry to get to the land of milk and
honey. While God had it in His mind to
give them a land flowing with milk and
honey, the same God also took them
through a long road full of all kinds of
experiences. They got to some points
on this journey and there was no water
to drink, at other times there was no
food and they cried and sent their hearts
back to Egypt. The same God would
give milk and honey; He may also at
other times withhold these and instead
cause severe thirst and hunger. Jesus
then said,
“which of you intending to build
a tower sitteth not down first and
counteth the cost whether he have
sufficient to finish it?”
Lk. 14:28.
While you are thinking of making
a journey to heaven, Jesus’ earnest
advice to you is to sit down FIRST and
think. This journey is not cheap. It has
a price attached to it. In this case the
price is the understanding of the other
side of God. If you lack this understanding,
you may meet too many dangerous
surprises on the way. Sometimes you
see this God whom you serve, blessing
another Christian whom according to
your rating is not even doing too well,
while you who keep night vigils and hold
crusades here and there may seem to
be forgotten. Yet, God is God, and His
thoughts are much higher than ours. He
has many ways of dealing with His children.
He has two sides. Get ready, pray
hard and equip your heart for this experience.
If you have narrowed God in
your heart before, make adjustment for
the other side of God.
BIBLE TEACHER:
B r o . G b i l e A k a n n i
Radio Nigeria (FRCN 1 Ibadan)
6050 khz-49 meters band SW
(7:30 am every Sun.) 6.30 GMT
2 5 LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
Unbelief – An Evil Cover
Gleanings…
“But He said unto them, ‘why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?’” Mark 4:40.
Unbelief casts a darkness of blanket on my soul. It draws and siphons from my heart the
promises. It erects artificial hurdles and abstractions on my path… it shouts at me “yours with
God is finished. He has abandoned you. You can not see His face again”. .
Unbelief melts the heart and demobilizes me from rising to the challenge of stepping into my
call. It makes the place of communion a dread…
It sponsors dryness and drought into the soul; it threatens with imminent failure. Unbelief
makes vision blurred and makes the heart shrink unto certain narrowness… unbelief makes a
man to move in circles… moving round and round the same imaginary mountains. Unbelief
makes a high mountain of a little mound. It emphasizes the height of the “Goliath” as giants and
reduces the grace and gift of God in a man’s life to the size of a “grasshopper”…
Whereas Faith sees giants as mere bread! Faith sees God as the God of all, which He actually is.
It conceives great vision for invisible day…
Unbelief focuses on feelings and sights! It makes God, what to be felt, rather than the constant,
everlasting personality who is omnipresent and omnipotent… Unbelief is the tyrant that ties your
soul down unto utter impotence! It threatens my every step with gloom. It brings before my eyes,
those casualties on the way; it re-echoes in my ears the lamentations of wounded ones. It lowers
and tunes off the songs of feeble men like me, who through faith have overcome; it exaggerates
the magnitudes of my helplessness while obscuring the strength, which is mine in Christ.
Unbelief comes to me again and again, in my pilgrimage. Just when I have come through a
battle, it comes again, to sit me down in a corner of depression! When I thought I will never
have to doubt my Father’s love, unbelief comes in quietly… with questions, upon questions…
why? How will it be? When and where will you get this? Who and who will stand by you? ..
Unbelief will not allow me recall the past mercies and miracles… it will bluff off all my
reviews of God’s faithfulness in times past…
A man that cannot remember his history will not locate his present position and cannot see
direction for his future. He finds himself in a vacuum; battered here and there with the winds of
doubt and uncertainty… in this lies the strength of unbelief. It makes me forget the history of God’s
dealings and casts a mantle of darkness on my hope for the days to come… all, just to drag me into
despair and depression! Unbelief is the tool in the hand of Satan, the devil. His ministry is to cover
and make the glory of God unseen to saints… He makes me feel my Father is no more there.
Unbelief will not allow God do great works for a man and in a man. It will hinder the Spirit of grace
from breaking forth… it is the net that traps men who otherwise would have been great for God…
Unbelief cripples and makes a man bent over, not able to lift up himself…unbelief is evil! It is like
spitting on the Father’s face. It prolongs a 40-days’ journey and makes it 40-dry years… unbelief
and rebellions are friends! Sometimes it offers it self as the reason for reluctance to obey!
O Lord; I have seen the fiery dart of the enemy aimed at my soul. It is the fiery dart of unbelief…
Grant me this day, the shield of faith to quench it as it comes…I feel the tenderness of my soul. Every
dart inflicts a bleeding wound. I need a shield today! It seeks to isolate me! It seeks to obsess me
with seeming problem. It consumes valuable time from me.
It makes me bear about a disquiet heart under my breast… it punches my joy and makes me dreary…
Oh Lord, my heart slips back so easily unto unbelief. Imperceptible unbelief robs my soul of its
calm. Anxiety about anything (even if it be God’s work) is a reflection of unbelief. It only wastes
me away…
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LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
fact you have, but the few gifts the Lord bestowed on your
life have become the blockage to your total surrender to Jesus.
But Daniel was different, and God is lifting him for you to
see, so that we will not be ignorant or have any excuse to
give for withholding our lives from Jesus having a full control.
Right from the initial stage of the chapter 1 of his life the
scripture records;
“But Daniel made up his mind not to defile himself
by eating the food and wine given them by the
king…” Dan 1:8 NLT.
Family Background
Right early in His life Daniel had taken a decision to
keep himself for the Lord. If it’s in our days we will say he
was born again. He did not stop at that but took a step forward
not to defile himself even though he was faced with a
difficult situation, yet a captive, a handsome and intelligent
boy. As a captive, the fear of the master’s fury was enough
to make him bow his head in compromise. As a handsome
and intelligent boy he would have sought to impress every
body around rather than stand his ground of righteousness
and be brought to shame. He threw all these seemingly genuine
reasons abroad and preferred to honour the Lord. He has
left a mark for us to follow. Several reasons the devil makes
us to consider which have left us victims of spiritual failures
come because you have not yet taken a decision, your mind
is not yet made up to “Live for Him who died and rose
again for you.” But now it’s not too late. A decision now can
save the impending failures of tomorrow. What to do as you
take a decision now is to sit down to carefully check what
are those things you have that make it difficult for you to
obey God wherever you are. Could it be the consideration to
live up to a family name is a very possible reason that you are
not able to submit your self to the truth of the word of God
that the spirit of God gives you a special privilege to hear and
learn. As you take a step of obedience your heart shouts you
down, asking what do you expect people will think about you
as you take this foolish step? People around you, show care
and concern, call you aside and try speaking sense into your
head. They warn you do not follow this poor, confused and
frustrated so called born again. Your parents also shout at
your behaviour that is bringing disgrace to your family. All
these might make you to draw back. But remember that even
Jesus when he decided to take the cross and told it to His
disciples, Peter did call him aside, out of concern and love, to
warn Him against such a dangerous step He was going to
take. But Jesus told him
“Get behind me, Satan! You are an offence to me.
By
Arit Targema
As an undergraduate I used to watch from afar a
Theatre Artist not with a special admiration though, she loved
to wear a T-shirt with an inscription BRAIN PLUS BEAUTY.
She normally felt very good in it but what drew my attention
to her was that a combination of beauty and intelligence was
enough to keep Jesus away from her. The story of Daniel has
never stopped being interesting and challenging to me. The
Bible spoke of him as a young man who met the qualification
of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and was admitted
into the King’s Royal College. And the king’s order was:
“…To bring to the palace some of the young men
of Judah’s royal family and other noble families,
who had been brought to Babylon as captives. Select
only strong, healthy, and good looking young
men. Make sure they are well versed in every branch
of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good
sense, and have the poise needed to serve in the
royal palace…” Dan. 1:3-4 NLT.
According to the order, the criteria, which Daniel met, were
a young man from a royal family, very good looking, intelligent,
and with a good poise. You will agree with me that he
was a boy with a rare combination. Any young boy or girl
who finds himself or herself with just one or two of these
qualities belongs to a class. A high class and he or she moves
with such an air of importance that says, “mind how you
handle me”, that you must be careful how you handle him
or her. This air of importance is extended to God, the creator
of all. The gift He has given us has made Him too small to
deserve our honor. The question the Bible asks is:
“What do you have that you did not receive?”1 Cor4: 7b.
Can you please stop for a while to think about what you have
that you did not receive from none other than the Lord? So
what have you been doing with Jesus? For most of the problem
is not that you have not taken a step to receive Jesus, in
2 7 LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
ARE
YOU JUST
BEAUTY
PLUS BRAIN
BUT NO
JESUS ?
For you are not mindful of the
things of God, but the things of
men.” Matt. 16:23(NKJV ).
The care that emanates from the consideration
of the things of men is not sponsored
to you by the Spirit of God. And every
friendship with the world or the things of
men places you at enmity against God. So
you have no excuse for your flamboyant
lifestyle, lack of humility and submissiveness
just because you want to please your
family. Moses had a family name to live for,
a throne to guard jealously and occupy in
due time. But he
“Choose rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than
the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward.”
Heb 11:25-26.
May be there is no reward that you are seeing with the eye of
faith and expecting to receive on that great day, that is why
the treasures of this world are holding sway on your heart
and you cannot take a bold stand for Jesus. Note the scripture
says, “Not many nobles are called…” (1Cor. 1:26),
yet it does not mean that men and women with noble background
are not called. It is just that they are not many. So if
you have had the rare privilege of hearing a heavenly call why
delay? Your refusal to heed the call of God unto missions
because your mother cried that you would bring disgrace to
the family is not genuine. Suppose you died after graduation,
would it not have been a greater disgrace? Why live to bring
disgrace to the name of Christ and grace to your family name?
It’s not worth it.
Good-looks
How often people have expressed surprise and disappointment
that you a beautiful girl or handsome young man
belong to that born again group. This disappointment of the
world has led to modernization of Christian standard. Children
who have once received the “right to become children
of God”, have lost that right because they sought to lower
that standard to gain approval and acceptance by men. Jesus
says of hypocrites who seek men’s approval;
“…Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward…”
Why waste your time receiving reward from men, to where
will you take their reward? It would be foolish to allow the
good gift of good looks, beauty or handsomeness, which the
Lord graciously bestowed on you to be a reason for you to
stray away from your savior and Lord. Women like Sarah
and Rebecca, and Esther, the Bible specifically
noted that they were beautiful.
Yet their beauty did not give them a reason
to dishonor God. Rather they gave
God his rightful place in their lives and
became submissive to all around them. So
what are you doing with your good looks
to bring glory to God? Have you made up
your mind not to defile yourself by eating
(making use of) the meat of this world;
whatever be their names: call it make –
up and make down, half-naked dressing,
yielding your bodies as instruments of fornication
or adultery, to pass exams or get a job or promotion?
Have you taken such a decision? The daughters and sons of
Satan are using their good looks to make several ready for
external punishment in hell. What profit is yours bringing to
the kingdom of God? For fear of loosing face do you keep
quiet and allow that unbelieving man to kiss you, or fondle
with you. Do you keep silent when that adulterous woman is
making eye for you to lie with her? Why don’t you speak like
Joseph did to Potiphar’s wife?
“ How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against
God.” Gen. 39:9b.
Why will you not speak out and say, “I am a child of God I
cannot afford to condescend to this level of filth and sin against
my Father.” Why do you keep quiet to save your face until
you lose your birthright? The devil has had enough victories,
take a decision today before the Lord and plead with Him for
mercy upon your life. He will certainly pardon and receive
you. He will much more show you the true beauty: His word
says:
“ Let your beauty be the hidden person of the heart,
the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,
which is very precious in the sight of God”. 1 Pet 3:4.
God will take time to teach you by His spirit the way into it as
He sees your sincere readiness to please Him with your life.
Intelligence
Ability to reason rightly and analyze things well is
another possession that could dispossess some young men
and women of heavenly inheritance. Whenever the truth of
God’s word comes during Bible studies or personal quiet times,
our intelligence wakes up to analyze and put in perspective
what we hear such that the spirit of the word is lost and an
opportunity to possess the life of Christ is lost.
God gave whatever intelligence you have to profit
your life. He did not give it so that it can kill you, but rather
that the glory of God might burst forth out of it and men will
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LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
see it and give praise to God. Have you allowed praise to
God? Daniel did, king Nebuchadnezer a heathen king worshiped
God, because of Daniel’s intelligence. Has yours puffed
you up to become so proud that you consider it a shame or
being a “Jew boy” to follow the instructions of God? Have
you become so intelligent that the word of God cannot benefit
your life because you will argue about every truth that
you are taught until the spirit of God passes you by? Paul was
such an intelligent young man before his conversion; his mind
was so sharp he could manipulate the existing laws of the
land to cut off the heads of those who called on the name of
the Lord Jesus. To obtain permit to travel around and deal
with (persecute) Christians everywhere
they ran to hide. But when
God’s mercy appeared to him, he
bowed and could only ask:
“My Lord what would you
want me to do? Acts 9:6.
From then onward his intelligence was
laid down at the feet of Jesus. You
have been taught to die to yourself, to
deny yourself and pick-up your cross
to follow Jesus, but your reasoning has
denied you enjoying this truth ever
since, will you lay it at the feet of the
Lord and decide to follow him anyhow
and anywhere he leads you? Do
not delay.
Poise
The boldness and ability to face anybody or crowd
may be another thorn that might choke a Christian to death.
You know you possess that quiet confidence and dignity to
stand before people to speak. What a treasure to face everyone
around you with the gospel of repentance. To pray for
anybody anywhere. Daniel used his poise when king
Nebuchadnezer rose to kill together with their families, these
wise men that could not interpret his dream, to deliver all
those men from death as he confidently approached the king.
Do not let this gift God has bestowed on you to be spent only
on political rallies, only for entertainment and for other frivolous
activities that have not eternal consequences.
Captivity
Daniel was in captivity despite all these good qualities
of his. Yet this was a strong factor, which could have
stifled his faith, and snuffed out all the standard of life God
had taught him before now. But Daniel had made up his mind
not to defile himself.
He simply took courage and approached the chief
Eunuch with his request. God backed him up and he was
able to maintain his standard and integrity before God. Yours
may simply be that you do not have the privilege most people
around you do. This has become a limiting factor for your
spiritual growth, as you cannot arise with boldness to obey
the truth of God’s word that you have been taught. Fear of
being an outcast has overwhelmed you and you have hidden
your standard of Christian life. Before long you discover that
you have quenched the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit in
your heart and you are getting along well with the crowd.
You are unfortunate. God warns that none of us should become
profane like Esau who
for one morsel of food sold
his birthright and was rejected
by God. (Heb.12: 16-17).
When you quietly
started abandoning your quiet
times with God, for fear that
your roommates will mock at
you. You endured the stench
of cigarette smoking and
strong drinks so as to feel a
sense of belonging with
friends, you never planned to
become a smoker like them but
what has happened now? You
are visiting their girlfriends and
boyfriends with them; you did
not dream that lust would swallow you up to the extent of
keeping sin partners called a civilized name of boyfriend/
girlfriend. But today you have committed sin not once or
twice with them. “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”
You have forgotten this. But the Lord is calling on you to
arise from this point.
Beauty, intelligence and noble background are not
tickets to take you outside the will of God. Every good and
perfect gift comes from God and He gives it to achieve His
pleasure for your life. Do not frustrate this purpose. All you
are, and have must bring profit unto the kingdom of God if
your life will have a sense of fulfillment. If your life has
already strayed in disobedience and lacks submissiveness to
His will, God has lifted Daniel’s life for you and I to learn
from and be corrected, do not fail to heed this challenge.
God wants your life like His to bring blessings to several
others who are less privileged to learn what you are
opportuned to be exposed to. As you surrender, the Lord
will help you to keep step with His ways.
2 9 LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
God’s major instrument for affecting men (apart from
the life of the minister) still remains His word. This inevitably
introduces two dimensions of labour that whosoever is called
of God must pursue in order to make a foolproof of his calling.
First, the minister by definite life experiences must know
the Word (as we studied in the last edition), and secondly
must be able to minister the Word effectively. This second
part, we will here study under two broad sections: (A) Receiving
the Word, and (B) Imparting the Word.
Receiving the Word
As ministers of God’s Word, we have the need of receiving
divine oracles each time we stand on the pulpit to
confront men. This need leads many unto much study, rigorous
researches; many of us maintain fat libraries of books
and great sermons of great preachers forgone. Some claim
messages of other men and just deliver as a parcel… Saturday
nights and early Sunday mornings are usually tedious for
several pastors and teachers as they approach the “D-day
and the T-time” of sermons delivery.
Many of us have several experiences in this … Homiletics
and “making of a sermon” are inevitable courses in theological
institutions… we need to bow before the Lord again at
this moment; to the Great Teacher of all times; the Great
Pastor and Bishop of our souls, who taught men continuously
without break for three days “as one having authority
and not as the scribes” – even Jesus Christ, the pattern Servant
and Minister – to show us what we need to do to touch
and receive divine bread from the table of presence, to break
before the hungry multitude sitting eagerly on bare grass…
Looking for these grasses to turn to grace and their
wobbling knees strengthened to run the heavenly race. They
come eagerly to hear the “Word of the Lord” and the “Word
from the Lord” each time … may we not just turn them away
to go fend for themselves in the towns and cities of worldliness
because “we ourselves are here in a desert place” destitute
of fresh, divine, potent and fiery unction from above. As
we consider few things here, I implore you to pray and look
up unto God for an impartation of divine wisdom on your life
in Jesus’ name.
1. REVELATION KNOWLEDGE
i. What is revelational knowledge? How does it differ from
native, cumulative experiential knowledge? Gal 1:11-12
ii. Describe briefly in what various forms you have encountered
a revelation of God’s Word before.
A revelation of God’s Word is like the breaking forth
of the eggshell, that the live chick may emerge and fly out. It
is like cracking the hard shells of the Bible letters, so that
inner yoke, fresh and powerful may come forth, into our
spirits. It is seeing into what is normally hidden away from
the ordinary casual reader.
iii. What is its nature? What must we look for in any revelational
knowledge of God’s Word, in order to rely on it?
BALANCE; WHOLESOMENESS;
CONFORMITY WITH THE WHOLE
PURPOSE AND COUNSEL OF SCRIPTURE;
RELEVANT APPLICABILITY;
GOD’S GLORIFICATION;
EDIFICATION OF BELIEVERS.
“…a light (an insight; an opened eye) that shineth
in a dark place, until the day is dawn, and the day
star arise in your heart.” 2 Peter1:19-21.
Every true revelation of God’s Word must impart Christ
and conform us to the same image of Christ our Lord in a
continuous, growing manner.
2. FINDING THE WORD FOR MINISTRY
Jer.15:16, Prov. 4:20-22.
i. We must seek the Word out of all the volumes of contrasting
scriptures: Mark 4:21-25.
The scriptures have been used (by God) to preserve,
conserve and keep His Word, such that it does not spill and
splash here and there, and thereby get wasted. God Himself
is willing to make manifest His Word unto us:
THE WORD
Effectively
Ministering
Bible Study
29 LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
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LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
What did you discover in Mark 4:22-25 and Isa 28:9-10?
ii. Ask, seek, and knock on each Scripture you encounter,
in prayer until the inner yoke breaks forth unto you. Luke
11:9-13.
iii. Turn inward to the Teacher and Revealer within- the Holy
Spirit. 1John2: 27, Jn14:22b, 16:13, 1Cor2:10-14, 2 Cor3:15-18.
This turning must be moment by moment. True revelation
can only be kept in and with the spirit. Just like the
snail withdraws into its own shell once the atmosphere is not
familiar and conducive, so the Word withdraws back into
the shell once it is taken out of the spirit – realm.
iv. Trap the Word with your candle (spirit) and blow on it
until it becomes aglow with flames unquenchable.
Prov.20: 27, 4:20-26, 22:1-7.
(a) Meditate on it gathering all your thoughts around
it, until your whole soul is overwhelmed and aflame.
Reserve your thoughts always for the Word to fly
upon. Matt.6: 19, 25; Phil.4: 6-9.
(b) Put it into action: practice it before preaching it.
Acts 1:1, Luke1:1-4; 1John 1:1-2.
(c) Make notes and build personal altars around God’s
Word and dealing with you.
Gen.14:18, 1 Sam.7: 12, Heb2: 2.
We need to come again and again to the Lord for the
revelation of His Word, so our barn may be full of bread and
our quiver full of arrows. Read Matt13: 52.
Imparting The WORD
The essence of being a minister of the WORD is actually
to serve men with the divine oracles, and administer it (as
a nurse does the drugs to the patients) until it produces desired
heavenly result in their lives.
A ministry of the WORD cannot be said to be “fait – a
compli” until it has brought a change in lives, a build -up in
character and conformity to the image of the Master Jesus.
In this aspect, we shall explore practical ways of holding
forth God’s Word to men either as individuals or in congregations
for effectiveness. May the LORD grant each of us His
counsel in Jesus’ Name (Amen).
1. UNCTION AND UTTERANCE
i. What is unction? What is utterance? When does an unction
become utterance?
ii. How do we secure utterance? What are the characteristics
of a conducive atmosphere for free utterance in a meeting?
(a) OPEN DOORS OF MEN’S HEARTS
TOWARDS THE MINISTER.
(b) FAITH IN THE HEART.
(c) SPIRITUAL WORSHIP.
(d) PRAYERFULNESS.
Why do we create this necessary condition before
sowing our seeds? Hos. 10:12; Jer.4:3. What does it mean to
sow among thorns, stony grounds and wayside grounds?
Luke 8:4-16.
iii. What are the hindrances to divine utterance?
How can one lose utterance during a sermon or message?
What is your experience in this…? Is there any way out?
iv. What is the burden of the WORD? How can it be usefully
discharged?
2. SERMON MAKING AND DELIVERY
i. What are the parts of an effective sermon outline?
What about making notes and extempore preaching?
What is the role of the Holy Spirit in making a sermon? Isa.50: 4-7.
ii. What steps must we take unto effective sermon delivery?
1 Cor.2:1-7, 12-13, 1Thess.2:3-8
* PREPARE YOURSELF; HOW?
* PREPARE THE AUDIENCE; HOW?
* MANAGE YOUR EMOTION AS
NECESSARY… HOW?
* BE FOCUSED; BE PLAIN, BE SIMPLE;
BE DIRECT; BE ILLUSTRATIVE;
* BE CONFRONTATIONAL WHEN
NECESSARY;
* BE AUDIBLY CLEAR; BE GRAVE! BE
URGENT; BE SERIOUS. Tit. 2:7-8
iii. What are the things to avoid on pulpits? 2Tim. 2:23 – 26
(a) FOOLISH JESTINGS AND GISTINGS.
(b) FABLES AND UNFOUNDED
TESTIMONIES.
(c) IMPOSITION AND INTIMIDATION.
(d) VAIN BABBLINGS AND SLANGS.
What we are handling is divine. It is eternal, it is
grave. Ministers must not act like cowboys.
iv. When should a message stop? How do we drive “home”
and “in” the nail?
3. THE ALTAR CALL
i. What is an altar call? What purpose does it serve?
ii. What are the basic ingredients of an effective altar call?
(a) Pointed (b) Active (c) Conclusive
(d) Not beggarly! (e) It is always instructive…
Examine some altar calls in the Scriptures.
3 1 LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003
Acts 2:38 – 40; Matt.3: 7-12
4. MONITORING A MESSAGE
We are stewards of the mysteries God has graciously
given to us. We must therefore be ready to give account of
every bit of it (1Cor.4:1-2). Jesus told the disciples: “Gather
up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost”. What a
solemn injunction to every man who is in the ministry of
God’s Word.
i. How can we monitor a message lest men vomit it?
Prov. 25:16, 27.
ii. What does it mean to gather up the fragments of a mes
sage? What are the fragments by the way?
iii. What does the “baskets” stand for?.
5. PROBLEMS OF IMPARTING GOD’S WORD
i. Lack of utterance.
ii. Lack of receptivity and openness.
iii. Clumsiness on the part of the minister.
…Too much to say within too little time.
…Scattered thoughts.
iv. Planlessness and ambition.
v. Unstable congregation.
What are the ways to tackle these problems?
Beloved, we must now pray to the LORD of the harvest
to teach us and grant us the anointing of the Holy Spirit
in this crucial aspect of our services in the vineyard. We
commend you to the Lord Himself, our Master, to lead you
further into an effective ministry.
Bow your heart at this point and pray.
donkeys, camels, mules; vast supplies of food. Each mobilized
food for himself from his brethren.
“And there they were with David three days, eating
and drinking: for their brethren had prepared for
them.”
I see a team who might have caused even God to wonder
at their commitment and dedication. For even though the
Word of God says “Nobody goes to war at his own expense”;
these ones, because of the overwhelming singular purpose on
each of their hearts went to war at their own cost. It would
look as if the weapon of battle was also a personal undertaking
of each member. They were not going to encumber David
with any personal demand but to make him king.
“ All these men came in battle array to Hebron…”
1Chr 12:38a(New Living Translation).
“These also are the chiefs of the mighty men whom
David had, who strengthened themselves with him.”
It was interesting to see what mobilized them so entirely.
Yet, it was certainly not David or anything about him; not
even an inner hope of any reward to when he would be king.
Humanly speaking it was too risky to identify with David at
this time. David was in hiding because of Saul and anybody
Saul learnt aided David in a little way paid with his life. There
was more hope for death sticking with David that time than
reward. What mobilized each and every one of them was the
personal response to the Word of God concerning Israel.
“These also were the chiefs of the mighty men whom
David had who strengthened themselves with him
in the kingdom, and with all Israel to make him king,
according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel.”
The Word and will of God concerning Israel drew
these mighty men. More than David as a person, they saw
the will of God concerning Israel. They were only keen on
David because David was the will of God for Israel. It was
not a small vision of a hero that captured their hearts. They
were neither hero-worshippers nor empty sycophants but
people deeply committed to the Word and will of God for the
land of Israel. When they followed David at the risk of their
lives it was because of the embodiment of God’s vision David
stood for. When they submitted their personal potentials of
becoming something by themselves, and yielded all their capabilities
and abilities to making David king, they were on the
final note submitting to God Himself. This must be the highest
binding and driving force for the individuals of a team and
the team itself. The vision of what God is doing – it does not
matter yet who must be at the center of it – is the basis of
every work. One must begin to understand the overwhelming
purpose of God for his life in order to fit into what God is
doing and to understand the Word of God for such a purpose.
The kingship of Jesus, even though already concluded
and no longer debatable and unchangeable, is under
great and keen contest. Anywhere and at any point and at any
time that God is putting together a team, it is primarily to
effect the kingship of Jesus over His enemy and those under
the enemy’s control. He must be king in the hearts of men.
God is committed to raising a people who have seen this great
vision, who must be bounded and bundled together for life
and with their lives to enthrone Jesus as king in this generation.
Small and individualistic interest for those who have
heard the Word of God must give way for selfless, dedicated
and sacrificial service to make Jesus king in the nations. Is
this the sole reason for your labour? Then go on the Lord will
sustain you. And you who are labouring for self-interest, remember
Samson and change your ways
THE MINISTERING TEAM (Continued From Page 15)
3 1 LIVING SEED Vol.10 No.1 Feb., 2003