The Ripple Effect

Dear young minister, starting a ministry has nothing to do with people but has everything to do with you.  Deepen your roots! Spend time alone with your God! Preach in your room, teach out loud for hours in your room, pray in your room. Wait on the Lord and be of good courage!

Don't be quick to find a father in the faith to surrender your ministry to. You have a Father -   the King of Kings who gave you the mandate, He is your audience of one, master the art of pleasing Him! When it is time to launch out, He will tell you himself.

He is the one preparing you for the task ahead, you don't have to get into a rat race with other ministers. You have no business comparing their growth with yours.  Success in ministry has nothing to do with crowds and money, it has everything to do with the fulfilment of the ministry committed to your hands by the Holy Spirit.

I know a man who was called by God to become a missionary in a village, instead of obeying God and fulfilling his ministry, he looked at his contemporaries and started a church. The church grew and he prospered. He felt happy with himself. One day he had a vision! At the age of 62! He saw himself walking with the Lord Jesus, they got to a farmland full of bushes and Jesus said, "You have left your lot uncultivated." He said "Lord, I have chosen for myself a lot and I have built a citadel on it." The Lord said, "Oh, that's your kingdom not mine!" Wow!

This man had risen to the position of Bishop by this time. He woke up sweating. He remembered that the Lord told him as an undergraduate to go to a village and start a ministry there but he disobeyed and set a church up in a city. The church was doing well but his works were not recognised by the Lord.

He was wise in my opinion because he handed over the ministry to another minister and went to the village immediately. His daughter came to me crying in 2007. She said “my daddy is leaving his ministry to start over as a missionary, this is the work of the enemy.” (We were both undergraduates at this time.)

We prayed together and I began to prophesy. I told her everything the Holy Spirit said and she was shocked It was exactly what her father said to the family when he told them he would be leaving the church to start all over!

Learn from this. Stay with the instruction of the Lord for you. If you're not a prophet, don't claim to be one just to get the accolades of men.  Of course, you can prophesy but do not mistake prophesying for being a prophet! I will also ask you not to allow the pressure from people to push you into making decisions that will ruin your ministry. If somebody has a problem and comes running to you; the Holy Spirit is your only consultant on every issue. Don't listen to men who have fallen off the highway of majesty by consulting demons. Don't say, "My pastor consults a herbalist sometimes!” Don't ever go that way.

A minister told a sister who claimed to have a spirit husband that there is one appeasement that he can do for her to set her free. It involved a lot of sacrifice to idols. The lady told me this and I screamed! The Lord does not do collabo with idols. Remember this!

On the issue of marriage, I pray for you that you will get it right.  Your husband or wife will have a strong role to play in the fulfilment or failure of your ministry. If you have to choose between God and your wife or husband, please choose God!

Marriage was made for man; Man was not made for marriage; Remember this! Finally, the Word of God and the Spirit of God are the immutable anchors of your life and ministry. Don't stick to one and neglect the other.

The Word of God is profitable to make one wise; the Spirit of God is your key to the supernatural. Remember Jesus told the disciples that they should do nothing until they receive the Holy Spirit. He gave them Himself the Word, but he told them they needed the spirit of Jesus.  He didn't start without the Holy Spirit coming upon him; Remember this!

Read the book of Timothy and Titus until your understanding of ministry comes alive. Remember that no matter how many miracles you wrought, if the people are not lifted into spiritual independence, you have failed! You must not raise a people who will call you Daddy and Papa and be powerless to preach the gospel.

The church of Jesus was meant to lift every Believer into the supernatural life. His people shouldn't have to depend on you for the things they ought to know and do by themselves!

Teach the church of Jesus the way and life of Christ until ‘the power and the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea'. This should be your mandate.

Everyone that comes to you must be able to fulfil their predestined reality through your ministry. Remember this! Don't be one of those pastors that debar others from rising!

You're not to enslave fellow believers or curse them. They are the blessed of the Lord, you must treat them like royalty even when they make wrong decisions. You must lead as one who serves and allow those coming to you to rise to glory freely; It doesn't matter if one of your members becomes greater than you in ministry. Support, pray for and love his church as Jesus did. This is your acceptable worship and your joy in the Lord.

I know those I have raised will be greater than me, if they are not, I have failed. There is a depth they can reach climbing on my shoulders! This is why I came before them.

The mystery of the Kingdom demands that legacies be left for others to fulfil. If those around you are always lesser and lower than you, you're not doing ministry the right way.

The Word builds us up. Keep growing and raise others to grow much more than you.

Yield your platform to others. No believer is meant to be a perpetual member. We are all prophets, priests and Kings! Encourage growth and be open to counsel and instructions from the Lord.

There are members who will try to manipulate you with, "God said." Don't fall for it!

If the Lord spoke to them, then there must be many independent confirmations. The church by the Holy Spirit. There is so much more I can write but let me stop here!

Well...on the issue of money and sex, know this ephemeral stuff will pass away!

Don't major in the minor

 -GSW-