The Prodigal Who?

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. (Luke 15:20)

The other day, a church displayed a long term sermon series ‘The Prodigal God’.

Any time a public vehicle passed there, strangers would find common ground protesting that title. One day a girl was alighting at the church and the conductor asked her to explain the meaning and her explanation was not in the least acceptable.

I remember reading somewhere I suspect the pastor scoured that title from for such a sermon series.

That is when I decided to study that word. And it was amazing what that word means.

At the base of the word is wastefulness. The generosity in the word is from that irresponsible wastefulness. It can easily be understood when we look at something one has not earned, as happened to that son.

That is why it borders on blasphemy to apply the word prodigal to God. Remember that even after feeding about twenty thousand after multiplying a young boy’s lunch Jesus ordered them to gather the fragments so that nothing is wasted? How then can He be prodigal?

Anyway, today’s post is not about the word prodigal in any way. I just felt it is important to challenge us to stop using titles the way media uses them to attract an audience. Conveying life is different from peddling truths and untruths to keep your bottom line healthy. It is immoral to sensationalize the Gospel. It is most attractive in its simplicity.

I want us to look at one aspect of the father of that prodigal son. What do you think was in his mind when he gave the young man his inheritance? Why did he not refuse?

He was a responsible father who saw much farther than that son. Giving that son the inheritance was better than delaying that inheritance as it prevented that son from wasting his whole life.

Suppose he had refused and told his son to wait until he died?

I suspect that son was the kind that could kill to access that inheritance. But even worse was that he wanted that inheritance yet had no idea how to use it. He just wanted access to his father’s wealth without caring to know that there was a responsibility to maintain it. And we have enough examples of that wherever we look.

The father realized that it was much better for his son to waste his wealth earlier in life that after his decease. Then his life would have been completely wrecked as there would be nowhere else to turn. Chances would be that he would be having a family that would then end up living in squalor.

That is the saddest problem with entitlement.

Anyway, this father’s love for his son caused him to ‘waste’ part of his wealth for the education of his ne’er do well younger son.

But the point I want to make today is that the father must have followed up after his son. He must have been receiving briefs about what was happening to his son without lifting a finger to help him. And he did that so that he would be ready when the son came to himself.

Many assume that that father was fixated at his gate all those years waiting, indeed longing for his son to come back home, if he ever would.

The father knew his son, and that he would later come back after learning life’s lessons. He knew that the world was the teacher his son needed to take his position in his empire.

It must have hurt that father terribly knowing that his son was feeding with the swine. But he did not interfere. Interfering would have messed the education his son needed to connect to his heritage. He had to waste to appreciate. He had to waste to learn responsibility. He had to slave to agree to work on his heritage. And he had to lack to appreciate the bounty he had taken for granted.

The father knew when his son had come back to himself. That is why he readied himself and waited for him at the gate. That is why there was a fatted calf and a ring and a robe. He knew that what that son needed most was a befitting welcome and assurance that he had not been disowned.

I am sure the son came back more or less on tiptoe, ready to spring back running when his father came armed to eject him for that prodigality.

At the back of his mind, as we see in his prepared speech, he was in no illusion that he had completely lost the trust of his father.

What he did not know was that his father knew what had been happening to him. He knew the depths to which he had sunk. And better still, that he had known that he would sink that low, yet due to the love he had for his son had allowed him to walk away so that he could grow.

The father was not distraught to the point that he stopped doing everything else and sat at that gate for years waiting for that lost son. He was not fixated with that gate and path.

This father continued his life and business, and at the same time keeping updated on the progress of his son in that wilderness so that he would be on hand to receive him after he completes his education.

Do you realize that this is the way God treats us?

God wants us to grow and that is why He allows us to reap the fruits of our choices.

He allows us to walk in complete darkness when we refuse to walk in the light of His word. No wonder cults are full to overflowing.

The nature of God as our Father means He is as responsible as the father of the prodigal.

He expects responsibility yet will not force it on us. He expects faithfulness yet will not force it on us. But in the same way He will not stop the consequences of our rebellion from catching up with us. In fact He will not interfere once the wheels of that consequence start rolling over us.

Do you remember Jesus allowing the rich young ruler walking away sad? Yet instead of trying to ease that young man’s conscience started teaching the ones that remained. Remember Him asking the twelve if they also wanted to leave Him when the crowds fled from His heavy doctrine?

You see, sometimes the best way to appreciate what you have is by leaving it. The best way to build commitment is by starting with desertion.

There are people who will not learn it any other way. They will abuse favor and bounty and generosity and responsibility. They will take for granted love. Until they lose them.

Incidentally, it is when they decide to come back on their own that they will have learnt their lessons and not before.

‘Rescuing’ them before they finally decide to take the torturous and shameful walk back will make their situation worse as they will think they are your oxygen so that you can’t live without them.

Now that is what we call spoiling. This is what produces brats, or what the Bible calls sons of Belial. These are people whose entitlement quotient is with the clouds that they expect everybody to fall down at their feet to serve them. From Nabal to the sons of Eli we see them. They see themselves as too special as to have everybody else at their service.

Incidentally, the modern teaching of grace is one such spoiler, producing such spiritual brats as will make even the devil blush as they overshoot his ambition. Remember this idiot who the other day said that people will go to heaven according to his word and that he has the golden key that opens the way to heaven?

Brats are many times the product of a father who will not allow a wayward son to wallow with the swine. He loves him too much to endure the pain of watching his son sleeping hungry after wasting his allowance or pocket money as we say here. He is always rushing to deal with one crisis after another, all because he loves his son senselessly.

Sadly, very few mothers are able to endure the pain of her child. Many times they will report a theft to the police yet withdraw the case when they discover their child as the culprit. That explains why very few children of single mothers are socially healthy.

Of course those who read my posts know that I am the product of a single mother of sorts as my father was prominently absent as he was with another wife. And she did a good job, at least discipline wise. I am not therefore banging the heads of single mothers ignorantly. We have many examples. In fact a single mother’s child will be noticed almost immediately from their entitlement. Of course there are fathers who are not much different.

I also want to state that God only looks to the father as concerns discipline. In other words, the father is the one who is accountable to God for how the children turn out. Like I have argued elsewhere, chances are that Eli’s wife was the reason the boys were the way they were. Why do I say that? We see Eli trying to argue with them to respect God. Yet we do not even know his wife’s name. God judged him squarely for that outcome.

Anyway, the point I want to make is that a responsible father allows his son to suffer for his stupidity and receives him ONLY when he comes back to his senses and not before.

Yet we find believers visiting prayer mountains for deliverance from unrepented sins because they have been taught a grace that will rescue one from the pigpen before someone is ready to go back home. Others camp with pastors to escape the smell of that pigpen yet they have not dealt with what brought them there in the first place. And the pastors are excited to oblige because of the offerings and seed that follows those prodigals.

No wonder we are unable to deal with open sin in church. Many times you find that even the pastor is as prodigal as his congregation. He is finding comfort in the pigpen because of the numbers. They may even have voted that the pigpen is the best place to stay, even redefining it as their father’s house.

And God will not push them out of the pigpen. They must on their own volition choose to define it as a pigpen, smelling as badly as sewage and having no comparison with the Fathers house.

Look at where you are. Examine the scriptures to know whether you are where you are supposed to be. Let those scriptures lead you back to the Father’s house and your inheritance.

By the way, this is not to be taken as a sanction for waywardness. God expects us to be like the elder son, helping the father manage his wealth.

Being prodigal is not the ideal. It is like a virus to a healthy body.

But prodigal pastors have made being prodigal exciting. What of those people who converted from crime and other wickedness bypassing all those people who have been serving faithfully to become pastors and bishops without as much as a background check?

We are supposed to be faithful. The Bible says that he who remains faithful to the point of death will inherit, not the prodigal who rushed in as the door was closing.

Do not misunderstand my post. Do not distort my post.

This is a post about grace being directed at the rebellious.

Terrorism and Religion

I want to wade into this minefield especially as our nerves are still raw from a recent terrorist attack.

It is interesting, as many have noted, how there is an outpouring or assurance from all and sundry how that Islam is not the source or reason for terrorism.

Why are people so quick to dissociate Islam with terrorism after a terror attack yet all terrorists are Muslims? Why do we behave foolishly just for political correctness?

Let me agree with this statement. All Muslims are not terrorists. But on the same breath are there any terrorists who are not Muslims especially these days?

All terrorists are Muslims; from ISIS to Boko Haram from Pakistan to France. They confess and are pursuing Islam unashamedly. And they are ardent readers of the Quran. They even die screaming verses of the Quran.

Show me any other holy book producing terrorists?

Why is reason unable to dissuade those radicals?

I dare suggest that terrorism is what the Quran teaches. After listening to a few radical imams, their arguments are very simple; they are pursuing Quranic doctrine and tradition. And their arguments are more fluid than those arguing for Islam as a religion of peace.

It is folly to deal with terrorism yet ignoring the Quran. We must argue away terrorism by understanding what the Quran teaches about the same. Otherwise, even if we dismissed those suicide bombers as misguided, how do we explain the rich Muslims who fund, shield and hide them? What do we do about the rich people who pour their wealth to support those ‘misguided’ youth? Who misguides them anyway?

They support terrorism with their wealth because they agree with the doctrines behind it. They are offering their wealth even as the youth are offering their lives and skills. Otherwise explain to me how the leader of the recent terrorists was able to live expensively yet he ran away from home years ago yet there is no record of him working anywhere.

It is a fallacy to think we can defeat terrorism yet ignore, even deny its driving force and doctrine.

We can only defeat terrorism by understanding what the Quran teaches. Do you realize that moderate Muslims are treated as compromised (what Christians would call backsliders), misguided and enemies of Islam by those ‘misguided’ ones?

But our Christian responsibility is sharing the Gospel of the risen Christ because that is the only solution to the mess the world is in. The disillusionment that leads many people to rush into Islam (which is radical in its truest form) can only be countered by the knowledge and true submission to the Lordship of Christ. It is only after being forgiven and adopted into God’s family that such folly can be defeated.

But the church is so full of self-interest that instead of looking at Islam as a harvest field full to overflowing with tares have started calling them brothers without caring to know what they teach and who they represent. Instead of planting the seed Christ sent us to sow, we start applauding the fruit they are producing, even saying that we are producing similar fruit.

That folly must cease.

Do you realize that nowhere does the Bible call Christianity a religion of peace? Christ said He came to bring the sword. Yet that sword is not the kind of sword we find in Islam. No Christian can take that verse to declare war as there is abundant explanation in the Bible about the kind of sword Christ was talking about.

Does it surprise you that no Islamic state, however wealthy, takes Muslim refugees that they must all flock to Christian nations?

But we do not want to open our eyes to reality. Like Paul said the god of this world has blinded the eyes of the unbelievers (those disconnected to the Vine, Christ) that we are unable to see the open strategy Islam has of taking over the world. (But assume you have not read this).

Let us read the Bible. It is the only book that offers hope beyond this mess. It is the only book that offers hope beyond this world to eternity and not those virgins as if heaven has nothing but sex orgies suicide bombers die to get.

Those who read the Bible and believe what it says know that Islam is the vehicle Ishmael found to ‘fulfill’ his prophesied mandate as recorded in the Bible.

And the driving force is trying to undo the reality that he was overlooked by Abraham as heir to his spiritual promise. It is from bitterness after being ejected from Abraham’s household; however justified Abraham was to do so as he had started to act that antagonism that early.

Or do you not wonder why Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac is rephrased to have Ishmael yet the same Quran says that it borrows from earlier books, even instructing Muslims to listen to those who had books (Christians and Jews) before it? Why falsify what those other books have recorded?

Terrorism is Ishmael’s personal war of reclaiming what he thinks was his being unfairly handed to his younger brother. Esau had the same problem and it is evident when we read the Bible. Remember Amalek?

And it becomes even bloodier because from Isaac came the Christ as the zenith of that inheritance. This of course makes his cause even more idiotic if not desperate. That is why he must spare no cost to discredit Christianity as it is a slap on his impositions and impersonation as Abraham’s spiritual heir.

Incidentally, only when Islam is the only religion will they be content. Of course, only then can they say, ‘See, I told you so’, and not earlier. That is why they kill in their territories. That is the whole purpose of Jihad – making the whole world Islamic by hook or crook. Once they overpower someone, he either converts or dies. That is what history has taught us.

Let us stop defending someone who will kill us at no provocation because that is what his faith teaches him.

But let me conclude by saying this. Terrorism is the product of our not living right. We have drifted from God. Again this is clear when we read the Bible. Consider Judges.

Ever realized that the churches are filled after major terror attacks? And why? Because we have realized that we are not right with God. We want to get right with God before the next attack because we fear we could be victims.

Sadly, after it becomes a distant memory, we forget our vows. We start living carelessly again. We start preaching idiotic messages, messages that itching ears want to hear.

We could therefore be speaking the truth calling Muslims our brothers because their father has started being our father like Jesus told the Jews in John 8.

We should not be surprised if the brother shows his true colours since we have accepted him as he is.

We must get back to God to get rid of terrorism. Only revival will kill terrorism completely as the light being shed will completely kill their darkness.

Let us reexamine our faith and doctrine to see whether it is the one encouraging terrorism in the spiritual realm. Otherwise we could be rearing an enemy in our house even as we are fighting him on the streets.

Personal revival is a must if we must tackle terrorism. Then we will enjoy God’s peace.

I close with Psalm 127: 1

Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

I am sure someone is wondering what revival has to do with terrorism.

First, look at the Bible. Any time the nation of Israel turned to God, they prospered and were secure. They turn to idols and everything goes haywire.

Another thing any student of revival will tell you is that revival changed nations not because policing improved. On the contrary people changed in such a way that policing became unnecessary. Prisons were closed because crime died. Revival didn’t cause people to violently lock drinking joints and whorehouses. People changed until those businesses died of asphyxiation. And nobody needed to go to rehab or counseling as getting right with God is the end game of everything.

You see revival changes hearts. And changed hearts change society.

That is why we need to get back to God. That is the safest counter terrorism strategy ever because it comes from the King of kings Himself, and He surely must know what He is speaking about.

God, open our hearts to see as You see, in Jesus name.

Thanksgiving and Sweat

Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me, and prepares his way so that I will show God's salvation to him." (Psalm 50: 23, WEB)

Have you, like me, wondered why God calls thanksgiving a sacrifice? And what is a sacrifice.

A sacrifice is different from an offering. You give an offering from your increase. But you choose the sacrifice from the best. Then you kill and burn it.

Remember Cain and Abel?

Contrary to many arguments, I do not believe that Cain’s sacrifice was rejected because it did not have blood on it. Otherwise the Bible could have plainly said it. You are supposed to give what you have and not purchase it. Worship and business do not do well. Remember the reason Jesus whipped people in the temple?

You see, Cain offered of his produce while Abel offered the choicest. In fact he offered the firstlings of his flock. In other words he offered what he valued most.

Thanksgiving is costly, probably too costly to ego. Thanksgiving is an open confession that our success is a product of factors beyond us. We are saying that we owe our success and increase probably more on outside factors than our effort. And for the believer those factors were orchestrated by God. It therefore means that his thanksgiving will be directed to God.

You see, we love being in charge. And nothing feeds that desire than the acknowledgment of that effort. Thanksgiving waters all that down. We would rather share the spoils, at the worst as equal partners with God.

That was Cain’s problem. Imagine God did not even appreciate the effort? How does God rebuke instead of applaud him?

Yet many times we are not much different from Cain. We want God to appreciate our effort instead of our worship.

What do I mean? Worship is the clearest statement we can make to God that we are nothing and can do nothing without Him.

Yet isn’t it strange that we even want to be recognized for our faith; a faith that has very little to do with us? Isn’t it strange that we want to be appreciated for our spiritual gifts and ministry? Yet precious little we have done to get them.

Human nature demands recognition for our smallest effort. That is what gives us significance.

Do you realize that at the root of depression is the feeling of uselessness and insignificance? And many times it is the result of feeling unappreciated, sometimes even unnoticed.

Depression is the actual product of life lived for self in the interests of self. It is the frustration that comes from the realization that self is worthless to focus on.

Thanksgiving provides the right position. It hides us in the hands of another, in the process releasing us to our fullest potential as we will then be able to function optimally. That is why we will not have issues acknowledging our dependence.

Thanksgiving is therefore the sacrifice of self. However, it produces the right relationship with Divinity. As a result it produces a right relationship with all of nature.

But it does more, much more.

Did you know that it insures us from walking in sin? You see, it is difficult to willingly offend someone you are grateful to.

Samson had a problem with gratitude. No wonder he fell so badly. King Saul was also fine, until he thought he was enough. Then he fell like lightning. And do you realize that is the point at which the devil approached Eve?

A grateful heart hates sin. David is one such person. That is the reason his repentance was so genuine. And you also realize he always owned up for his shortcomings instead of diverting them elsewhere as we see with his predecessor.

Gratitude also grows humility. Again it is impossible to be proud and at the same time appreciative of what makes me, me. A heart of gratitude puts God in His right place, meaning that it makes me subject to Him, willingly.

Gratitude produces ministry. If I have nothing that is really mine, it is really hard to hoard it for my exclusive use. I can never hide gifts that I know proceed from another from touching others that the source is interested in.

Probably the greatest thing gratitude produces is rest and peace. And it becomes so the better I know the source of all that I am and have. Because God is not only faithful (a faithfulness that does not depend on our faithfulness as I was teaching the other day), but also love. It means He is consistently loving and generous to His creation. That awareness gives me safe hands to rest on.

I love children. Yet did you know that a child will not sleep on just any hands? A child will sleep when it feels safe in a way only a child understands.

One day I boarded a matatu (public transport) to town. Seated next to me was a couple with an infant who was extremely restless and troublesome. I told the mother that it needed sleep but the mother didn’t think so. And both were tired from handling that bundle of joy as is said. When I asked to hold the child, it slept immediately it landed on my hands.

The mother wondered. I told her that a child knows hands to sleep on and they will need experience to make their hands thus. Of course she disagreed and decided to take her child back, who woke up immediately she took it. She gave the child back to me and it slept immediately again until we got to town.

Those young parents were amazed. Yet someone who has handled children knows this.

What am I saying? Gratitude is our way of placing our whole weight on God. I am not thanking Him so that He can pour more grace on me. I am thanking Him because I am resting fully on His grace. And that provides rest. I am like that child who has finally found safe hands to sleep on.

No wonder in the New Testament we are instructed to give thanks in everything and for everything.

It is impossible to thank God and at the same time pride in your sweat. Thanksgiving gives sweat the right perspective. You can’t be grateful and complain at the same time just as you can’t be grateful and chest thump at the same time.

How grateful are you?

Revelation

And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.(Genesis 18: 17 – 19)

I was recently talking with a minister friend when he made a statement that made this truth hit me like a ton of bricks.

God does not just reveal things. He has a purpose for the same. And that purpose determines the tool (person) He will use.

In short, God does not reveal things just so that someone can pick that signal.

Another thing we see in these verses is that the revelation is not made from the prompting or prayer of the minister or prophet, if we can call Abraham that. In fact he was not even aware such a thing was happening.

The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant. (Psalm 25: 14)

God looks at what one will do with that revelation. He looks at the outcome of the ministry from that revelation.

You see, revelation is not a resource stream. God never releases a revelation to make us rich.

God releases revelation for the purpose of preparing the coming generation to know and serve Him.

Once that purpose is changed, He stops releasing fresh revelation, leaving the revelational expert grasping at straws to explain made up revelations or walking in past revelations by repackaging it to appear fresh.

Incidentally, the easiest way to lose revelation is to seek after self-interest because it cuts the stream from the intended recipients, making me a peddler of revelation.

If I make revelation into a book or song that someone must buy to access, I have simply killed the revelation, however valid it might have been. If I must be invited to a conference to receive honorarium to release the revelation; if I am constrained only to my congregation because it pays me well, it is possible that I will lose access to the source of the revelation. And it is because peddling revelation must block some of the intended recipients from accessing it.

And the spiritually alert can easily know when the revelation stream dries up.

Then the drama begins. The performer must demonstrate that they are still in and not rejected. They must continue being relevant, if only to continue enjoying those morsels. And that because they are not ready, even willing to repent as it will mean foregoing that privilege past revelation offered.

Do you wonder why all of a sudden a degree has become such an urgent need for pastors who have been ministering for decades? Incidentally, why should a pastor study corporate management and leadership yet for years had been successfully leading using God’s revelation?

Many times it is because the stream dried and they are scared to admit it. They must therefore thoroughly train in the flesh to cover up that deficiency. And they must eat.

I am not in any way saying or implying that studying and degrees are wrong. I am just wondering whether God, who called you from earthly engagements (job, studies) has backed down on His call to demand that you go back into what He called you from.

I believe I must have a very express and clear order from God to consider going back to what He called me from. And it is because I know the flesh longs to go back there and the world applies pressure on me to get there because it knows it will emasculate the call. And I deal with that pressure on all fronts.

As an example, some years ago God told me that I should not be selling my books even though I was giving way more than I sold as God was directing me to get His message to the people He led me to. Is it not interesting that to date the pressure continues increasing with people always offering to buy books even when I tell them I do not sell? And incidentally most times I release a book I am in such a dire financial need that it almost becomes imperative to sell instead of give.

I will not compromise my stream by going back to what I was called from just because everybody thinks it makes more sense than the folly of obedience. And you remember that Abraham chose to forego his rights in the Sodom rescue and Lot’s issues because of that. On the same page Gehazi inherited more than the sensible right he was unwilling to forfeit.

I wonder why churches that used to grow their ministers have to outsource for them. I wonder why churches that raised their singing teams must hire professionals to lead them into ‘worship’. I wonder why churches invite politicians to dedicate their churches (I am not even talking about raising money for building). I wonder why churches that prided themselves on their simplicity develop very complex doctrinal positions that the majority can’t be able to grasp. I wonder why churches have flocked to traditions they had demonized in their enlightenment. I wonder why some churches hold on to crazy, weird traditions without a basis in scripture or even sense.

Chances are that they overgrew revelation by becoming too familiar with the Revelator. They forgot who they were in relation to the Revelator and assumed He will continue revealing even when they started abusing the revelations and using them to their advantage.

Then the revelation stream dried. And some of them did not even realize it as they had created a rail for revelation to flow through, probably a person or structure. Of course revelation overshot that rail as it can’t be constrained. But people continued being fixated with that rail, completely forgetting the revelation that necessitated it in the first place. That rail became as important, if not more, than the revelation.

A study of cults will show you that many started as genuine believers. Then they elevated their structure (probably doctrinal position) or leader above themselves. They became subservient to them. The leaders in turn believed they were extra since that was the way they were treated, of course due to their accuracy in accessing revelation. And we know God hates that.

They therefore started creating revelation when God stopped His and corrupting scripture to support their weird machinations. Of course their followers, since they had surrendered their relationship with God and His word continued following people and structures that had lost the plot. Human nature being what it is, the new cultists grew in their corruption.

Any revelation that does not lead to obedience to God is not of God. Any revelation that does not lead the believer to crave and search the scriptures is not of God. Any revelation that makes me feel good instead of pursue holiness is not of God. And any revelation that leads me to treat the tool of the revelation as special is not of God.

No prophet created their own name. They all pointed to God. Elijah, after clearing the idolatrous priests did not start a church. He simply pointed people to God and left.

If the reason you attend church is because so and so is preaching, you are lost, probably beyond redemption as the charlatan you are following has no sense to lead you to Christ. You see he would rather you accompany him to hell than repent for feeding from revelation. And he will hate it if you will connect with God as he will lose his rotten clout, and food.

That is why my posts are not popular. I am calling people to connect to God directly through the scriptures and not through people, however anointed they may be. And they hit those superstars hard. No wonder they hate me for it as I am fighting to snatch food from their mouths.

But I have to be careful to maintain my revelation stream by being faithful to the Revelator and His revelation so that I do not become like them. I do not want to force revelation. That is why I would rather walk hungry in revelation than party with kings without it. And it is sad that those kings, though they will recognize you for revelation could kill your fidelity to it by honoring you for it. Who doesn’t love revelation? Remember Elisha was positively recognized by three different kingdoms, two of them idolatrous?

It is therefore not surprising that your revelation could take you places, because it will. It is what you do when you get there that determines whether the stream will dry or continue in its freshness and life giving agenda.

Remember that Balaam lost the plot the closer he walked with Barak? Being recognized from far and wide as God’s prophet and being able to access revelation even without needing to close his eyes was not enough insurance against the pampering of a king. The young prophet from Judah who gave prophecy centuries ahead of time so accurately was unable to resist the flattery of an older prophet who had lost the plot.

Your revelation will open doors. But it could be doors of your doom if not handled correctly, especially if self rears its ugly head – and sadly it will always do.

That book will open doors, that song will open doors; especially if they are the product of revelation (of course not revelation from the stomach). You did them by the express revelation and order from heaven. Relax, those doors will open. Those doors must open.

Only be careful to ensure that you are not the focus of all that glitz. Afford the revelation its rightful place. And the rightful place is pointing people to Christ and His word.