DEAR MINISTER,
There are a few things the Lord has been speaking to me about and today I write to you concerning one thing that has taken the place of God in our churches, in ministries and it is my prayer that the Lord will align every one of you to His perfect will concerning your life.
We look at pride today. In Ezekiel 28:12-19 we get a perfect picture of who Lucifer really was and how he ended up been thrown of out of heaven and there is one thing that is key to him, he had harbored pride in him till he wanted to be equal with the Lord. We most probably have heard about him, he was the lead worship minister in heaven and he was so good at it, actually the best, but he allowed his life to be full of pride. Now, if you read that scripture, you notice that Lucifer was clothed with precious, beautiful stones. But as much as he was covered with beautiful valuables, he would only be beautiful and his beauty would only be seen when he got near God. He was not beautiful in himself, he was a reflector of Gods glory and that was his main job. Every minister, called by God, doing the work of God is called to reflect the glory of God and anything we do outside of that, puts us in the place Lucifer was....full of pride and when pride begins to set in and enter our hearts, we are set up for a huge fall. And this is the trap that the devil sets for us and has set for some of us and if we are not careful, we fall short of Gods glory why? we begin to want to receive the glory for ourselves, we do not to lead people to God, we want to be worshiped. If you want to know such ministers, look at their level of pride and arrogance.There is a lot of idolatry going on in churches, not because people are worshiping God falsely, not because they are worshiping an idol or graven image, not at all, the worship of men has begun to be lifted in our churches and men and women of God, who are supposed to be ministers of God are now put in the place of God!
When you read Genesis 1:27 it says that man was CREATED in the image and likeness of God. We have heard this phrase so many times or even said it, that man was created for worship but today I want to introduce something slightly different, that all creatures made by God, even the heaven and earth worship the Lord Psalm 148, Psalm 19:1, Psalm 104:12 are just examples but man, he is special, he is not just created to worship, but is created as a worship. Romans 12:1 what does it say? present ye your bodies brethren as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual act of worship. You are a worship! You are a praise! not unto men but unto God. Now, when God created man, He gave clear commands but He gave man free-will, He gave man choice. Let us look at the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, God gave them a clear command, do not eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, but He left them to make a choice Genesis 3: so when the cunning serpent came he asked Eve, did God really say..? and he goes ahead to tell Eve that God did not want them to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden because they would be like Him knowing good and evil. The devil knows this one thing we struggle with, to take the place where God must be. You see in chapter one of Genesis, Adam and Eve were already made in the image and the likeness of God. The problem here is not just they disobeyed, it comes up because everything was subdued to him, everything was subject to him but nothing worshiped him.
Man has a nature in them that desires to be worshiped and it is hidden in insecurities, in always longing to be complimented by men, to be praised, to being known as the best and most anointed lead worshiper, or preacher and the moment a minister takes such a route, they are competing with God, trying to be equal with Him, in the process like Adam and Eve, they loose relevance but they are popular, they loose Gods grace and favor, but have huge crowds as congregation(not saying that all ministers with huge capacity of people are proud), they loose touch of the revelation of Jesus,but their sermons are exciting and what people want to hear.
Dear Minister, it is either about God or about you, it can never be about both. There is a moment that comes when you need to make a decision to live for God or for yourself. It is not just a moment but a daily thing. Denying yourself is something you need to do daily Matthew 16:24-. You do not have to attract people in order for them to be attracted to Jesus. You know we have hidden ourselves in Jesus needs laborers, the vineyard needs harvesters which is so true but know what? Jesus does not need you as much as you think He does, what He needs is a vessel that is empty of itself, a yielded vessel to the Holy Spirit, He needs you to deny you, take up His cross and follow Him daily. Such vessels will unlock the greatest revival. The struggle for taking the place of God will be there, this struggle please note is not between just God and the devil , but mainly between you and Him. You will either glorify God and allow Him to take the glory due to His name, or you going to be so happy at the way God uses you hence taking glory for yourself, you will either exalt the Lord or get the exaltation for yourself.
The problem with the rich young ruler in the Bible was that he was rich in himself, and he could not part with himself and what he had accumulated. He lamented at the thought of loosing himself to follow Jesus and like Paul, we must die to ourselves daily. I am not writing this at a point of knowing everything, but I know that there is something we get to loose about ourselves in the presence of the Lord daily! Death to self daily! Take up the cross of the Lord, which shows denial of self, daily submission of your will. Stop having the desire to take credit for yourself, to be called the anointed minister, do not reach to the place where people have to know who you are, you feel too great not to be invited to minister to place.Stop being full of yourself, full of pride because the Lord will surely bring you down. Be humble, humility is not a posture before men but before God. Strive to seek the affirmation of God and not men, settle that in your heart! You will not be too popular, people will think you are crazy, you will be crushed, bruised, overlooked but nothing matters than Jesus and your great reward is in Heaven. Inspire people to worship God and not you, lead them to the awareness of the nearness of Gods presence not to yourself.
I pray that as a minister, you will never get tired of dying to self daily, may your head never lack the oil of the Lord that will set you apart for Himself and His glory and may you be irreproachable in Jesus name. Amen!
We look at pride today. In Ezekiel 28:12-19 we get a perfect picture of who Lucifer really was and how he ended up been thrown of out of heaven and there is one thing that is key to him, he had harbored pride in him till he wanted to be equal with the Lord. We most probably have heard about him, he was the lead worship minister in heaven and he was so good at it, actually the best, but he allowed his life to be full of pride. Now, if you read that scripture, you notice that Lucifer was clothed with precious, beautiful stones. But as much as he was covered with beautiful valuables, he would only be beautiful and his beauty would only be seen when he got near God. He was not beautiful in himself, he was a reflector of Gods glory and that was his main job. Every minister, called by God, doing the work of God is called to reflect the glory of God and anything we do outside of that, puts us in the place Lucifer was....full of pride and when pride begins to set in and enter our hearts, we are set up for a huge fall. And this is the trap that the devil sets for us and has set for some of us and if we are not careful, we fall short of Gods glory why? we begin to want to receive the glory for ourselves, we do not to lead people to God, we want to be worshiped. If you want to know such ministers, look at their level of pride and arrogance.There is a lot of idolatry going on in churches, not because people are worshiping God falsely, not because they are worshiping an idol or graven image, not at all, the worship of men has begun to be lifted in our churches and men and women of God, who are supposed to be ministers of God are now put in the place of God!
When you read Genesis 1:27 it says that man was CREATED in the image and likeness of God. We have heard this phrase so many times or even said it, that man was created for worship but today I want to introduce something slightly different, that all creatures made by God, even the heaven and earth worship the Lord Psalm 148, Psalm 19:1, Psalm 104:12 are just examples but man, he is special, he is not just created to worship, but is created as a worship. Romans 12:1 what does it say? present ye your bodies brethren as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual act of worship. You are a worship! You are a praise! not unto men but unto God. Now, when God created man, He gave clear commands but He gave man free-will, He gave man choice. Let us look at the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, God gave them a clear command, do not eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, but He left them to make a choice Genesis 3: so when the cunning serpent came he asked Eve, did God really say..? and he goes ahead to tell Eve that God did not want them to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden because they would be like Him knowing good and evil. The devil knows this one thing we struggle with, to take the place where God must be. You see in chapter one of Genesis, Adam and Eve were already made in the image and the likeness of God. The problem here is not just they disobeyed, it comes up because everything was subdued to him, everything was subject to him but nothing worshiped him.
Man has a nature in them that desires to be worshiped and it is hidden in insecurities, in always longing to be complimented by men, to be praised, to being known as the best and most anointed lead worshiper, or preacher and the moment a minister takes such a route, they are competing with God, trying to be equal with Him, in the process like Adam and Eve, they loose relevance but they are popular, they loose Gods grace and favor, but have huge crowds as congregation(not saying that all ministers with huge capacity of people are proud), they loose touch of the revelation of Jesus,but their sermons are exciting and what people want to hear.
Dear Minister, it is either about God or about you, it can never be about both. There is a moment that comes when you need to make a decision to live for God or for yourself. It is not just a moment but a daily thing. Denying yourself is something you need to do daily Matthew 16:24-. You do not have to attract people in order for them to be attracted to Jesus. You know we have hidden ourselves in Jesus needs laborers, the vineyard needs harvesters which is so true but know what? Jesus does not need you as much as you think He does, what He needs is a vessel that is empty of itself, a yielded vessel to the Holy Spirit, He needs you to deny you, take up His cross and follow Him daily. Such vessels will unlock the greatest revival. The struggle for taking the place of God will be there, this struggle please note is not between just God and the devil , but mainly between you and Him. You will either glorify God and allow Him to take the glory due to His name, or you going to be so happy at the way God uses you hence taking glory for yourself, you will either exalt the Lord or get the exaltation for yourself.
The problem with the rich young ruler in the Bible was that he was rich in himself, and he could not part with himself and what he had accumulated. He lamented at the thought of loosing himself to follow Jesus and like Paul, we must die to ourselves daily. I am not writing this at a point of knowing everything, but I know that there is something we get to loose about ourselves in the presence of the Lord daily! Death to self daily! Take up the cross of the Lord, which shows denial of self, daily submission of your will. Stop having the desire to take credit for yourself, to be called the anointed minister, do not reach to the place where people have to know who you are, you feel too great not to be invited to minister to place.Stop being full of yourself, full of pride because the Lord will surely bring you down. Be humble, humility is not a posture before men but before God. Strive to seek the affirmation of God and not men, settle that in your heart! You will not be too popular, people will think you are crazy, you will be crushed, bruised, overlooked but nothing matters than Jesus and your great reward is in Heaven. Inspire people to worship God and not you, lead them to the awareness of the nearness of Gods presence not to yourself.
I pray that as a minister, you will never get tired of dying to self daily, may your head never lack the oil of the Lord that will set you apart for Himself and His glory and may you be irreproachable in Jesus name. Amen!
I decrease, As You increase
It is all about You, It is not about Me. (John 3:30)
Love,
Imani
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