There are four things that I have identified based on ministry exposure and experience that can make a minister to become irrelevant in the move of God and go into extinction.
(1) Doing what God did not call you to do or instruct you to do.
(2) Inability to handle financial pressure in ministry.
(3) Not raising men in ministry.
(4) Constant disobedience to the nudgings/
promptings of the Spirit.
I have seen this play out over the years.
There’s nothing like these notions in ministry:
(1) Once called always relevant.
(2) Once celebrated always celebrated.
(3) Once popular always in the limelight.
(4) Once current in the things of the Spirit always on the “current”.
Plus other related ones!!!
I don’t mean to offend anyone’s sensibility here but this, I believe, is a liberation for my generation.
The fire that burned yesterday can be extinguished today if there’s no DAILY SUPPLY OF WOOD on top of it to keep burning.
This is clearly stated in Scriptures:
LEVITICUS 6:12-13
And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings.
The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.
The minister needs to maintain his current form to stay relevant in the move of God in his generation.
I personally don’t believe that God wants you to be RELEVANT in ministry at a point in time just to become REDUNDANT at some other time.
No, I take exception to that mindset. If you’re still alive and you have not been called home to be with the Lord, then God still wants you TO ADD VALUE AT YOUR LEVEL – chiefly to invest in the younger generation.
The Apostle Paul who had already finished his assignment but wanted to stay a bit more reinforced this principle.
PHILIPPIANS 1: 21-24
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.
23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
Therefore to stay relevant while you’re still alive is God’s plan, even if you’re not going to do ministry at the level you did it during your hay days because of “old age” – now I understand that perfectly but not to say that you will stop adding value to lives.
Great men like Dad Hagin and many others stayed relevant in the agenda of God since the time of their calling into ministry till the time that they took a bow – they blessed lives and invested in the coming generations.
We need to get our theology right. There’s no RETIREMENT in the call; there’s only REFIREMENT – you’re always REFIRED to bless lives; not to enter into comatose!!!
Even if you retire based on your denomination’s structure (which is not out of line anyway), your next port of call is not EXTINCTION – that’s my point!
You keep adding value to lives as the Grace of God enables you and that will not of course stop you from having your WELL-DESERVED REST – that’s the balance here!
Having said all of that, you must know that as a minister, the evil one is always interested in you losing your steam, losing your voice, losing your current form, losing your relevance and thereby going into extinction.
The four points I highlighted above are prominent among the reasons ministers fall for this Satanic trap, and we’ll briefly look at them one by one.
First, don’t do what God did not call you to do. Don’t take up assignments that God did not give you. Beware of uncommanded assignments!
It drains your strength. Hardwork in the wrong direction in ministry will drain “every life” out of you.
If God has not called you to teach but you start holding teaching seminars all over the Body of Christ, the anointing on your original calling will begin to wane and you will become spiritually exhausted and redundant.
Don’t follow the bad wagon; follow the wave of the Spirit. Don’t follow the VOGUE; follow the VOICE. Do what God asks you to do per time.
Second, you must know how to handle financial pressure in ministry. Truth is that there’s no financial situation you’re going through today that some other ministers have not gone through in the past.
Yours is not a special case. You must have FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE such that you will be in a good frame of mind to pursue your calling.
Don’t abandone ministry to pursue money. Don’t close down church out of financial pressure.
Don’t get embittered with God or fellow brethren because you feel they’re the ones enjoying the goodies and bounties of ministry.
Check your heart dear minister. A minister who follows MONEY in ministry will also have a lot of MOURNING following him around.
Money should be the one following you; not the other way round. And don’t ever get embittered with God’s precious people.
The fact is that people will always be people; some will take from you over and over again without thinking of blessing you in return – they don’t mind muzzling the ox that treads out the corn.
But don’t ever get into offence. Teach people the right thing to do when need be but always look up to God for your supplies and “rewards” in ministry.
At times in ministry, God will raise one single person who will do for you what a hundred people are struggling to do – that’s ministry for you friend and you mustn’t get offended at the hundred people.
I’m taking out time to address this issue because MONEY MATTERS MATTER IN MINISTRY.
Many ministers have left ministry because of lack of funds and it will be unfair to quickly cast aspersions on them.
While the minister shouldn’t look up to men for rewards, people on the other hand need to be taught to encourage the ministers of God by ministering material substance to them – 1Cor.9:11, Gal.6:6.
That’s Scripture and there’s no point playing to the gallery here!
Third, a minister who doesn’t raise men will go into extinction. When a man builds ministry around himself without having people who are the multiplication chain of his call, the work will soon die with him.
The Holy Spirit once made this statement to me, “The best way to build an eternal structure for your calling is to raise men”. Strong! Isn’t it?
Even in politics, you discover that old generation politicians that are still “relevant” today are those who invested in other people; not those who minded themselves alone.
Papa, Bishop Mike Bamidele once said, “The people you raise today will be the ones to raise you tomorrow”. That’s VERY STRONG!
God once told Bishop David Oyedepo in the early days of his ministry, “DON’T RAISE MONEY; RAISE MEN”.
The procedure for transgenerational impact and relevance in ministry is captured in Isaiah 59:21 (please read).
Fourth, the fastest way to go into extinction in ministry is to live in PERPETUAL DISOBEDIENCE.
When a minister makes ignoring the promptings and nudgings of the Spirit a lifestyle, he’s a bonafide candidate for extinction in ministry.
Harbouring secret sins while ignoring the nudgings of the Spirit is a sure way to ministerial oblivion.
Disobeying the instructions of the Spirit and ignoring His promptings over and over again is the pathway to extinction.
Eli and his sons are good examples here – 1 Sam. 2:30-34. When a minister moves into the SILENCE of the Holy Spirit, only the mercy of God can save him.
That the Holy Spirit is “SILENT” does not mean that a minister is doing the right thing. The Holy Spirit is gentlemanly; He will not struggle with anyone.
GENESIS 6:3
And the LORD said, MY SPIRIT SHALL NOT ALWAYS STRIVE WITH MAN, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
He will “strive” with you for some time but not forever, hence the word “always”. When you ignore Him to have your own way, He then keeps silent.
He doesn’t IMPOSE the will of God on us; He only REVEALS. Make it a resolution today dear minister that YOU WILL NEVER MOVE INTO THE SILENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
May we always stay relevant in the move of God and may we never go into extinction while we’re alive or while we’re gone unto our rewards.
If we can master these four areas with the wisdom of God, then the sky is our beginning.
I trust this is a blessing Sirs and Mas?
Grace!!!
Source: Bimbo Animashaun Teaching Ministries |Published with permission.
Aphorism CITY 