(For Spiritual Fathers, Mentors And Leaders)
– Pastor Bimbo Animashaun
If you’re a spiritual father, mentor or leader in any capacity, as apportioned to you by the grace of election, then you can’t afford to relate with people in the flesh.
You see, people are precious in the sight of the Lord. No one, and I say that with great caution; no one should see fathering, mentoring or leading people as a RIGHT; it’s a PRIVILEGE.
Why? There’s nothing we have that we have not received – 1 Cor.4:7 and we’re all undershepherds under Jesus the Chief Shepherd – 1 Pet.5:4.
So, there’s no boasting here; whatever God assigns each one to do is a show of grace and mercy – it’s a divine privilege.
Now, if you ever find yourself leading or pastoring people; despise no one and never take anyone for granted.
Don’t ever discriminate against anyone on the basis of their current socio-economic status or condition.
Don’t write anyone off under your leadership. God alone knows tomorrow, and it’s a privilege to be a part of what He’s doing in the lives of people.
You see, when God sends men to you, they come as RAW MATERIALS; they do not come as FINISHED PRODUCTS.
Their gradual and radical transformation under your leadership oversight will be a credible testament to the depth and weight of the grace of God upon your life.
Many years ago, a great man of God despised his congregation because it was largely full of students.
He just figured out that there’s no much that could come out of pastoring students because most of them would also need welfare package, so he began to blurt out, “My money is not in this town”.
He left town, and unfortunately, he’s not in ministry today and he also divorced his wife.
You see, we have to be very careful in ministry. We’re NOT pastoring people for MONEY, but for DESTINY.
When destiny opens up, there’s no way the God Whom you have served faithfully will not reward you as par the good things of life.
Yes, I know of course that ministry is not about trade-by-barter but you see, the principles of God’s Word cannot be broken – God cannot forget your labour of love – Heb.6:10, and that’s incontestable.
Sometimes you hear that a son or daughter in ministry bought a car for his spiritual father, built him a house, gave him humongous amount of money, or gifted him with the good things of life and many people throw caution out of the wind.
Now do your findings well; such a spiritual father was not a run-away father – he had been there for the son when the son didn’t look like it and he never despised him but rather gave his best in service.
You see, truth is that IN LIFE AND MINISTRY, NOTHING GOES FOR NOTHING.
The students you despise today will not remain students forever; they’re like RAW MATERIALS, so when destiny breaks forth and opens up for them, they will remember how you despised them, and that’s the fact.
As a matter of fact, it will be an ungodly, illegitimate and irresponsible expectation to lay any burden on them.
Ideally, a true father will not lay any burden; he only teaches his spiritual children the ethics of Scriptures in good faith and looks up to God as his ultimate Rewarder, not to now talk of a run-away father or leader.
Pardon me Sirs and Mas if these words are too harsh. The heritage of the Lord must be cared for, nurtured and preserved, and that’s why we have the solemn responsibility to provide leadership.
Sad to say, some ministers may be suffering today because they despised the people (raw materials) that God committed to their hands.
It’s a call to connect with destiny in people and call it out with the full strength of the grace that God has placed upon your life.
You see, it is arrogance to think that you don’t need people – WE ALL NEED PEOPLE IN OUR LIVES.
There are ministers who sexually molested their members who were students, and today, those ones have risen into destiny and anytime they remember them, they don’t think of blessing them; they only think of the trauma they suffered from molestation.
You’re not relating with the outer beauty of your members (bless God for it); you’re not relating with the physical profile of your members (bless God for it); you’re connecting with their destiny and burning the midnight oil to ensure that that destiny sees the light of the day.
Remember Simon Peter. The first time Jesus met him, he was a reed – unstable, fickle, unbalanced, but our Lord Jesus stayed on his neck, followed him up, prayed for him and nurtured him until he entered into his destiny.
During that first encounter, Jesus called forth his destiny:
JOHN 1:42
And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.
Jesus didn’t fold His hands for Peter’s destiny to waste away; He followed him up even during the times when Simon Peter was always showing signs of instability.
After Jesus’ resurrection, Simon had left his divine assignment and told his colleagues, “I go a fishing” – Jn.21:3, Jesus still appeared to him on the sea and encouraged him with the words, “feed my sheep” – Jn.21:16.
Now think about this; eventually the unstable Simon Peter who also ran away from a young maid became fearless as he spoke to the Sanhedrin:
ACTS 4:20
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
That’s destiny speaking. That’s no longer Simon the reed; that’s Peter the rock – Peter the stone. Why? Jesus didn’t give up on him.
Now think about this; the same Peter that Jesus invested time, energy and resources on later won 3000 souls for the Master.
ACTS 2:38-41
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about THREE THOUSAND SOULS.
That’s instructive. Jesus laboured on Peter while he was nothing, and in one day Peter won 3000 souls for Jesus.
You see, despise no one in ministry. The Scripture tells us to KNOW WE NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH – 2 Cor.5:16.
Daddy, Bishop Mike Bamidele said, “The people you raise today will be the ones to raise you tomorrow”.
Bishop David Oyedepo said the Lord told him early in ministry, “DON’T RAISE MONEY; RAISE MEN”.
That’s strong! Now it doesn’t mean that at times there will not be fund raising or that we will not encourage people to give, but RAISING MEN is pivotal and paramount.
Two days ago, a son and daughter of mine who are husband and wife (two of them medical doctors) walked up to me and gave me a seed in foreign currency.
The husband just came back from the UK about two weeks ago and while he was in the UK, the Lord told him to sow a certain amount of money into my life as a seed.So, he came with his wife and dropped the seed (which was pounds) and I prayed with them.
You see, while he was a President of a Fellowship on OAU Campus in 2013, he invited me to minister at their yearly Conference.As I was about climbing the altar, the Lord spoke to me about him (and he had received an earlier instruction along that line), and ever since then, he’s been faithful and loyal – following without distraction.
You see, if I had despised him as a Campus Pastor and talked him down, I’m very sure that he would not remember someone bearing Pastor Bimbo Animashaun.But today, Grace has lifted him. By God’s Grace and Mercy, I have several sons and daughters like that whom God gave me the privilege to be a part of what He’s doing through them.
I’m thoroughly aware that some ministers don’t like hearing the phrase, “my sons and daughters”; they feel it’s pride and arrogance.
But no qualms. That should not divide us. We can fellowship on another level.
God spoke to me very clearly in February 2006 that He had placed the “calling” of a father upon my life, and that I should be bold in the Spirit to affirm and reaffirm it, and that the more I do, the more I would walk in that realm and the more I would see my sons and daughters.
By God’s Grace, this same dealing of God has been confirmed over and over again by the fathers in my life.
So, it’s the private dealing of God, and if the Bible doesn’t speak against spiritual fathering, I would be childish to shy away from my calling because of the fear of being misunderstood.
You see, dear friend, ministry has passed that level. Everyone is busy with their assignment.
God is the ultimate Judge of everyone of us, and it doesn’t matter the amount of propaganda we subject a man of God to, it will hold no water in the light of God’s dealing in his heart which is borne credence to by the verity and veracity of God’s Word.
And I want to say very pointedly and authoritatively that if God has ordained you to be something and you shy away from it because of fear or intimidation, you aren’t going to walk in it.
Having said that, let’s ALWAYS remember that we’re to connect with DESTINY in men and call it forth until there’s the breaking forth of the morning.
Despise no one under your leadership. The RAW MATERIALS under your fathering, mentoring or leadership today are GLOBAL POTENTIALS, and as you minister to them in love, their destiny will break forth on the landscape of time.
This, to my mind, is one major way to prove your calling as a spiritual father, mentor or leader; not by intimidation, manipulation or control.
May the Lord help us all!
Amen!!
I trust this made little sense Sirs and Mas?
Blessings!!!
Aphorism CITY 