Impactful Teaching

And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. (John 7: 15, 16)

Why was Jesus’ teaching so powerful?

And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Matthew 7: 28, 29)

I was thinking about what makes some preachers impactful and others, well, just preachers, and entertainers, and motivators.

Why does one preacher who looks and sounds boring draw more believers to desire and commit to grow while another with the gift of the garb not have much impact.

Why does a preacher who is so rough and ‘ignorant’ in his delivery make people flock to the cross in repentance while the really entertaining has crowds shouting, I receive and uncountable Amens yet still wallowing in sin?

What was the difference between Jesus and the religious leaders of His time?

What gave His teaching authority that the others did not have?

I dare say that that reason is the same between impactful preachers and the rest.

It has to do with agenda.

You see, Jesus had no agenda of His own. He did what He saw His Father doing. He said what He heard His Father saying.

Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me. (John 7:16)

He was submitted to the One who had sent Him.

And we will be like Him if we surrendered our everything to the One who has called us.

Our lack of impact stems from our agenda.

You see, only God’s agenda releases the power inherent in His nature.

Though we may be able to conjure His power at one time or the other for our purpose, we really will be unable to have all His powerful revelation accompanying our ministry if we are not sold out to His agenda.

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9)

We must give him the prominence He deserves, no, possesses, if we must have Him taking prominence in our ministrations.

What I am saying is that our agenda must be swallowed into His COMPLETELY for Him to give our agenda the power Christ possessed.

Then our wisdom will be the overflow of His. Our anointing will be flowing from His.

No wonder then that people will think of us as very educated though they will be wondering where we got that much education since they did not see us receiving letters.

I have encountered people who taught themselves to read just because they had to read the Bible.

You hear their preaching and are amazed at their grasp of the word, and many other issues since God’s knowledge’s purpose is to make a sense of all things since He is the creator of everything. His revelation is therefore contextual to all of life and nature.

In short, I am saying that the person sold out to God’s agenda will reach the heart a person most adrift with psychological, social and current affairs knowledge won’t.

God created the heart. All these other things defiled and corrupted that heart and so have no capacity to offer any solution to the same.

That is the impact I am talking about.

His agenda is not complicated since His revelation is not complicated.

He has hidden His revelation in His word; the same word that contains the revelation of who He is.

Once we elevate His word, we will then humbly allow it to guide us into a right relationship with Him.

Then we will know to clearly submit to His will (agenda).

This will of course give Him leeway to release His impact through us.

If you think this is easy because it is simple, try doing it. You will be amazed at the kind of power your life will be releasing the more you surrender your will into His.

Lord, Lord

To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. (Proverbs 21:3)

I want us to look at something I read a politician saying concerning another one. That someone should stop behaving like a deputy Jesus.

What was the beef, if we may call it that?

The said person was carrying a Bible to church and quoting verses.

If that is a crime, some of us probably should probably be rotting in their jails since that has described some of us (like me) for the longest time (me for close to four decades).

I have severally dispensed the do not judge error on my blog by saying equivocally that the Bible was written to guide us to judge.

It therefore gives us the guidelines for the same since we are naturally very selfish in our judgment if left to ourselves.

Do you realise that there is no place for the person who does not say, Lord, Lord, in that favourite verse?

The ones not saying Lord, Lord are outside, already condemned.

The judgment the passage is talking about is of believers, those not ashamed of calling Christ Lord openly.

There is no place for secret admirers and practitioners.

Incidentally, even the verses people quote about looking for fruit is on the same plane. It is the confessors who are being addressed. We are being asked to look beyond the words to the fruit, not replace the words with the fruit.

Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. (Mark 8:38)

Nobody called them deputy devil when they were caught in the bush with a ‘celibate’ man of the cloth. Nobody called them deputy Satan when they proudly called themselves witchdoctor.

Why should they be so offended when somebody openly confesses his faith?

Let me go to another passage before winding up this discourse.

Do you also realise that in Matthew 25 Christ was also addressing His people? There was no place for outsiders.

But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? (1Corinthians 5: 11, 12)

What am I saying?

Please politician, do not try to use the Bible you do not believe in to bash those who believe in it.

2010 is not that long ago. We remember the insults the church endured as we sought to make sense of those agendas you pushed in that constitution you are now fighting to change. You openly hated and poured scorn on the church at every forum you got.

Not so long ago you were so offended by someone going to church. Remember not so long ago pouring cold water on someone being prayed for. And recently promising to close small churches.

You have killed the faith of those around you that were known for the same before.

Now that you need votes from the church you want to behave as if you changed. Yet change is occasioned by repentance. And it must be as public as those insults were.

Let me repeat.

No one who does not say Lord, Lord is being addressed in those passages you are quoting. And you have no business judging people in a house you do not belong.

Join the house first by repenting and accepting Christ as Lord and Saviour and those verses will apply to you as well.

Otherwise, look for other ways to search for votes.

Do not pretend to love the church by taking handouts to bribe members to vote for you. That for me is worse hypocrisy because you are pretending to be part of a house you do not belong.

Yet you can belong. John 3: 16 can still apply to you.

Still on politics, are our politicians living in Kenya?

Why is none of them raising an uproar on the ballooning food prices.

Let me go a few years ago at a season like this.

One side was screaming that food was becoming too expensive because it was, though nowhere near where it is today. And it was said that some leaders were hoarding maize to make a kill.

Then the government stepped in (because the big man was looking for votes also) and in a very short time the price of unga became lower than the place it rose from.

Does it mean that since the big man is not on the ballot Kenya and Kenyans can starve to death? Was his job completed when he won? Has his retirement already commenced?

Should he then not just resign and leave us without a leader instead of pretending to be one?

A father goes without food so that his children can eat. What kind of leader looks for excuses instead of food for his people?

This is the shame that I want addressed by the people looking for political positions.

Otherwise, they also have no business asking for votes, because they are not worth any of those votes.

The sycophants can start bashing me now. Karibu.

Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard. (Proverbs 21:13)

Why Sweat is Prohibited in Worship

They … shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat. (Ezekiel 44: 18b)

One exciting thing about obedience is that it precedes revelation.

It is only when we obey without asking why that we can understand why.

Obedience is the greatest proof that we trust God. It is the greatest evidence that we have faith in what we have heard or read God is.

We are simply saying that we will leap in the dark because we are trusting the one issuing the order.

That pleases God.

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. (2Chronicles 16: 9a)

Blind obedience is what people call obedience without reason. Yet that is the only obedience there is because if I must always know why I should obey it would then stop being obedience.

What does this have to do with sweat and worship? I know someone is asking.

For years, I have been wondering why a priest was not expected to sweat yet his ministry revolved around fire and smoke.

Why did God give the specifics, to the smallest detail, of their attire to ensure that they do not sweat amidst all that heat?

But I shared what God wanted anyway, the latest being a post ‘Worship and Sweat’ where I looked at this topic in some depth.

I annoy believers because I insist on teaching the scriptures as they are without seeking to shade them with culture or man-made doctrine, or even making them logical or explainable.

Many times (I would like it to be all times) my arguments are based only on what God in His word says and not what even I think He says.

It therefore means that I rarely have any logical explanation for what the Bible says unless I have gone through some lesson from God.

This is where I have been at concerning this verse.

Sweat is wrong in worship, period. It has nothing to do with how you feel or even do.

I do not have to understand why because I know God is never trivial with any of His commands. God must have His reasons. And those reasons are the only reasons worth following.

Incidentally we are not the only ones to struggle with understanding God’s commands. Remember this verse?

When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. (Psalm 73: 16, 17)

Revelation follows obedience.

As with the psalmist, God may eventually explain why, though for the obedient that is not essential to their obedience.

This is what I want to get to here.

Remember the curse on Adam?

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Genesis 3:19)

Sweat is the evidence of our effort. Sweat indicates hard work, labour.

Sweat and rest are two opposite sides of the coin called life.

That is where I want us to go.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11: 28 – 30)

Christ came to give us rest.

Though He came with a yoke for us, it was a restful yoke. Though He also placed a burden on us, it was light.

It goes without say that Christ replaced our burden with rest, our effort with an enjoyable yoke.

I want us to remember that the Levites were forbidden from work. They were even forbidden from lands since God became their source.

Their job became to connect Israel to God. Knowing God’s will and translating it to Israel became their only job.

Surely God cannot remove someone from labour if He was intending to replace it with more labour.

That is why sweat was removed from God’s service since it would indicate that God was taking them from labouring for their needs to labouring for Him.

I am sure this also speaks about ministry.

Ministry should be rest from labour, not transfer from one type of labour to another. It is not the change from secular labour to spiritual one. It is not from sweating to put food on the table my own way and sweating to put food on the table using spiritual methods.

When ministry is the transfer from one source of sweat to another, it is impossible for it to be Christ’s yoke.

Back to sweat.

Imagine a priest burning all that fat and meat in the process of his priestly ministration yet he was not allowed to sweat!

Yet we think it is the height of spiritual maturity and impact when we must have heavy handkerchiefs when we preach to wipe away rivers of sweat from our brows. We will even applaud ‘worshippers’ who must take constant breaks due to the exertion their ministration requires.

Whose work is it? Who is being ministered to there?

Jesus did not sweat blood because of His exertion. It was due to the travail of His heart.

When worship produces sweat, it goes contrary to God’s expectation.

God gives rest. Worship should produce rest.

There is a burden and there is a yoke. But they are restful if they are placed there by Christ.

Allow me to give some observations.

Assuming worship is only song, which it is not, do you realise that sweat is the evidence of fatigue?

This means that your body (which is the tent hosting the spirit) is crying for rest.

Have you realised that congregations that have sweaty worship sleep through sermons? That is why many resort to introducing a lot of noisy interjections to the sermon to at least maintain a semblance of wakefulness.

From shout amens to the amens being done by noisy instruments to a lot of movement and dramatics from the preacher there will literally be no quiet moment during the preaching.

Yet that can be eliminated by disallowing sweat in worship.

Before ‘worship’ was introduced in church not so long ago, we used to sing hymns several times in a worship (yes, worship) service. Very, very rarely would we have anybody sleeping through a sermon, however ‘boring’ it was. And preachers were not performers and dramatists.

Incidentally, rarely would you have two faced performers, an angel in church and the devil outside, since the Gospel would have enough time and chance to penetrate to the soul and spirit.

Do you remember Elijah? He was ordered to eat and rest after issuing prophecy for the devastating famine. And he was ordered to eat and sleep after battling the false prophets and was threatened with death.

Again, remember when God wanted to issue new orders for him. God’s voice was not in the drama and noise. It was in stillness.

David understood worship. He ensured stillness under whatever circumstances. But he had to be intentional. Saul couldn’t listen in the noise.

Noise distracts. And noise and sweat are relatives.

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. (Psalm 46:10)

Nobody sweats in stillness.

For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. (Isaiah 30:15)

And nobody can receive power from on high through their sweat.

Sweat is the product of our effort, the antithesis of the rest that is produced by resting in God and His worship.

Before you trash what I am writing here, please go to God in prayer and ask Him to verify that what I am writing is the [lain teaching of scripture

Else you will continue vomiting the unproductive and unscriptural doctrines and practices you have inherited from men.

After that, search the scriptures. Or probably that is where you should start.

Look for sweat in worship from the whole Bible and then let us talk.

I am not writing this because it is comfortable. I am writing against much of what I have held as Gospel truth almost all my life.

My scriptural intake confronted my doctrine and its practice and I had to make a decision which to trumpet.

That is where I would like you to get to.

Vashti

I was thinking about this striking beauty and some things struck me.

Why didn’t she have qualms about directly disobeying the king?

And why were the king’s advisors very quick to banish her from her position, to the point of making a law for the same?

I think she was a very modern woman, empowered to her core even in those medieval times.

She was beautiful and knew it. She was admired far and wide. I won’t be surprised if it was her beauty that drew the attention of the king. It is possible that the king heard of her acclaim and personally looked for her before finally deciding that was the beauty commensurate with the title queen. She therefore overtook many of the wives she found the king having, probably having the queen before her demoted so that she could take her place. It is even possible that she came from a distant kingdom.

You see, kings do not have one wife. Yet only one wife can be queen.

To imagine that not even a queen could go to see the king without permission without risking death, yet Vashti could actually defy his summons blows my mind.

It is possible that her presence melted the king to jelly whenever she appeared. She could therefore make him do whatever she wanted however she wanted.

In short, the king was at her mercy and there was nothing anybody could do about it. It was as if she had bewitched him, and probably had.

Due to that, she was arrogant and abrasive to everybody else.

Everybody wondered what the king they feared saw in this woman.

It is possible that his advisors tried to advise him against her to no avail.

She was the single largest sore thumb to the people around the king.

Her open defiance took things to a boil.

It left egg on the king’s face and he really had to do something.

That gave her enemies THE OPPORTUNITY.

I am sure they had prepared for that moment for long as they did not need to have any discussions.

One of them gave their united verdict, a verdict that must have been deliberated for so long that the words would perfectly move the king to conclusively banish their enemy.

They had even prepared for a replacement so that the king had no opportunity to miss her and do something stupid, since he was the king anyway. Probably he had done something like that some other time.

They were able to execute that because they must have been so fed up with her and were looking for an opportunity to finish her.

Contrast her with Esther.

Just as everybody was looking to finish Vashti, everybody was anxious to help Esther, anybody who came across her.

To imagine she was communing with a commoner outside the palace gates using the same characters who were responsible for banishing Vashti says a lot about what was wrong with Vashti.

As I have written elsewhere, Esther freed those around her to serve her without dictating how they were to do it. It made them serving her a pleasure.

Vashti must have been like Haman who wanted everybody to tremble before him.

She must have wanted anybody walking near her to walk as if walking on glass.

Her presence therefore meant stress to all who were around her, so much stress that had they known a way to poison her secretly they would not have hesitated. But in palaces there are people who first eat to ensure the safety of the food.

Reminds me of a dark chapter of my life where a similar thing to this played.

In my teenage rebellion years, I was a real pain in the neck of authorities.

From prefects to teachers to headmaster, nobody wanted to cross paths with me.

I would do something wrong and win any case taken to the authorities. I do not understand how convincing I was as I would be taken to the no nonsense headmaster and once I started talking, incidentally after first admitting having done what I was being accused of, would give such a convincing defence that he would have to plead with me to take a punishment, which I would then gladly take.

Then one day I was framed for something when I had been nowhere near the scene of the crime.

I have never seen such a case and hope to never see one.

Even the prefects I was with far from the scene of crime ‘forgot’ I had been with them.

It was me versus the whole school as even the teachers came to take part in the case.

I simply couldn’t win under those circumstances.

That was the only case I lost but the loss was devastating because all my friends turned against me. And everybody knew I was innocent of that crime.

I suspect I had been like Vashti. They just needed somewhere to get me.

I was punished for something I had not done when I could win any case concerning crimes I had committed.

I am using legal language when those were school rules I was breaking.

But I want us to get the point that our relationships are important, especially when we are in positions of authority. For me then though, my authority was my rebellion and wits.

That for me is the different between a boss and a servant leader.

A leader allows people to thrive under him, very eager to carry out his desires.

The other one carries his weight around, a weight that is overbearing on the people under them.

They will therefore be looking for ways to get rid of all that weight.

Sadly, this many times carries over to ministry where the lead minister becomes the head honcho.

Due to that, they will have many under them either looking for escape routes from the structure they head or like Vashti look for the best way to kick them out of their position.

Unless they are the bootlickers who feed off the overbearing weight others are carrying as I am sure Vashti had her loyalists.

Let me leave it here for you to write your own conclusion

Wound Progression

I want us to examine spiritual injuries, especially their impact on later ministry.

I have written some on hibernating ministers. These are ministers who were so wounded that they decided to disappear from the ministry.

I have also said that sin causes such a wound in the spirit that the offender (sinner) needs to be admitted to a spiritual hospital to be able to recover fully before they are allowed to become ministers.

I have even given an analogy of someone who has broken a limb and the fact that they will become very protective of the same that it might be the end of their being involved in the activity that caused the injury even after the breakage is completely healed.

Have you ever wondered why David was lenient with his sons after their sins? Why did he not want his son killed even after overthrowing him?

Why was it easy to kill the person who alleged to have killed Saul and the army guys who killed his son?

The two incidences happened on both sides of his sin.

He had no issues with boldness before he sinned.

But something happened to him after he sinned, something in his makeup.

Let me give you the story of my friend.

Incidentally I had known only a small chapter of his life, his initial ministry chapter.

Then I met a man who knew him long before then.

His story started with his family. By the time he came to church, his parents had issues, making him insecure and probably too aggressive.

But he got to church and was even absorbed in the leadership where I met him and long after we parted.

Then he sinned. Incidentally the church almost split because the majority was fighting for him, arguing that the ones accusing him were victimising him.

Until he confessed.

Of course, he left leadership.

Years later I met him and he was a pastor in another church. And that was the last time I met him.

Only to be told by this old man that he got into a series of sins, one that was similar to the first one we dealt with.

They had to fire him after involving the police.

I heard that he now runs his own ministry after everything fell apart.

I hope you get my drift.

The problem was not the lack of repentance or the shallowness of the same.

The problem is that he was not accorded enough time to heal from the injuries caused by his sin. It was made even worse when he was offered spiritual leadership.

It is similar to taking an injured footballer to the field. Not only will they not accomplish anything, they will cause tremendous drag on the team, and of course make their injury worse.

You could need an amputation when only a simple splint was required.

Sadly, this is what happens in the spiritual realm, especially at the leadership level, all so often.

An injured minister thinks that the best healing will occur when he just changes locations as he continues ministering as if nothing had happened.

Thus, instead of the healing happening, the wound continues festering.

I have written about a friend I knew and respected for his passion for ministry.

One injury caused by a single sin was not given the chance to heal. It is possible that his propensity for that sin was caused by his background, also because it was not conclusively dealt with.

But it was the sin he personally committed that he is accountable for and for which lack of adequate healing increased proclivity for other sins.

I doubt he will be able to minister effectively whatever else he may do because the healing becomes more difficult with the length of the healing time.

An unhealed wound develops or invites infections.

Ever heard of wounds so bad that worms start living there? That is what happens.

Many amputations happen due to a wound that for some reason are unable to heal.

Then the infection moves from the skin to the muscle to the bone.

Gangrene is a word used in the Bible. But it is a word that describes the development of that unhealed wound.

I write because I have also had very hard wounds, wounds that could have crushed me.

I remember once when I was so wounded that I wanted to move from the church where the injuries occurred, especially because they had been occasioned by people I had highly respected.

God ordered me to remain there but I protested bitterly because I was bleeding.

How will you know that I have healed you if you run away? That was God’s answer.

I obeyed and He healed me.

Bitterness and shame are the reasons the devil advances to delay the healing because he knows that delayed healing means no healing, in other words a festering wound and gangrene.

I am sure someone is thinking this is simplistic and it is. Anything from God is simple.

But it is also effective since God has used it on me at least two major times, times I know I was on the verge of crushing from spiritual wounds.

And it does not matter whether the wound is from outside (offense) or inside (sin).

Dealing with the injury before moving on is the only thing that will ensure that you move on in ways that please God.

Ministering with a wound is the surest way to completely crumble on the inside. And this will eventually start showing on the outside.

Many ministers who drink did not carry the vice from the world. Many ministers who sleep around did not jump with the sin into the Kingdom. Many ministers who are lost in pornography are not so because their conversion was not complete.

They are so because they suffered injuries, either from committing sin or being wounded.

But they thought that the route to healing was in sinking deeper into ministry and its activities.

Then the wound explodes as it is bound to. And it will not take even a refined temptation to fell them.

They are like those huge trees that, though looking very healthy on the outside, are rotten inside.

You will only discover their problem when they fall, many times on their own. A huge hole running through the trunk can now tell you that it had been doomed for a long time though it had been looking very healthy.

Or you might decide that you need timber from them and are only able to get scraps of firewood.

That is what happens with a minister who decides to continue looking healthy (ministering) before allowing God to heal their injuries.

By the time you (or they) discover their problems, they will many times have gone too far for any intervention to make a difference.

My favourite set of verses is instrumental here

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7: 21 – 23)

Who you are is more important to God than what you do, infinitely more important.

And it is because He knows that a healed vessel carries more value than a very effective but wounded vessel

Will you allow God to completely heal you?

Change

The only constant and sure thing about change is, well, change.

What does that tell us?

We must be prepared for change since we must deal with it one way or the other.

Our preparation and response to change determines how we will come out.

Allow me to state this

Most depressions, suicides, desperations are the product of change.

Change that has come or change that has refused to come.

I dare say that the motivational preacher, speaker and practitioner of any shade could easily be the greatest peddler for all these desperate measures I have just mentioned.

Why? You might be wondering.

The best is around the corner. Your best days are just ahead. I prophesy a promotion, a spouse, a new job, cancellation of debt, etc in the next …. days.

What happens when the prophesy does not come to pass, especially if the recipient of the same really believed in and claimed that prophesy?

What happens if they had discarded what they had to make room for what was coming? What if they had given everything to better receive what was coming? What if they had squandered what they had because what was coming would more that cover for the same?

Suppose they had resigned to prepare for the new job? Suppose they had burned bridges with the landlord because they had a better place coming for them? Suppose they had trashed their workmates and neighbours because they were leaving the country anyway?

That lack of change, call it negative change, becomes devastating, could actually be devastation itself.

These are things I have encountered and dealt with as a minister of the Gospel.

I have seen marriages break because a pastor advised a person to invest their family savings in a pyramid scheme in the name of revelation. I have seen churches break because a man of God gave similar directions to the church board and they invested church monies into sink holes. I have seen individuals lose their savings because a man of God prophesied. I have met people looking for rent and fare after they gave all their earnings to a man or woman of God after ‘anointed’ teaching.

Anticipated change is dangerous if the expectation is misplaced and I suspect is the reason many prophets are heading to hell.

Like I have said, wholesale prophesy is worse than soothsaying.

I can’t prophesy one thing to a hundred people. I doubt I can even for five.

I have said elsewhere that prophecy as many other spiritual things like promises is conditional and not absolute. That is why we see many ‘IFs’ in the Bible.

Or do you also not realise that salvation, though free is conditional? What does John 3:16 say?

But allow me to get us back to our topic, change.

In many cases, we do not and cannot anticipate change.

Change does not consult us.

Let us get to the Bible.

Do you realise that in a very short time Job went from being the greatest man in the East to a stinky and messy pauper even to his wife without advance warning?

From reading his story, it is very probable that his wife left him.

How many women do you know who can stick to a man who refuses to curse God who is punishing him? How many will stick to a man who not only has lost everything but is also hopelessly and helplessly sick? How many would stick to a man who defends his innocence against God’s punishment?

This happened to righteous Job and he didn’t know about meetings in heaven.

That is how change comes.

Sometimes, as was with Job, it comes as one huge hit.

But it also could come in instalments.

Look at David.

He is worshiping God as he herds his father’s sheep when he is called to be anointed.

Then his skill takes him to the palace where his audience changes.

He is loved for his skill. He is loved for his youth. He is loved for his worship. Above all he is loved for what his skill and worship does in the palace.

But war happens and he has to go back to his humble job once again.

That humble job requires him to visit the war zone, but not for military purposes.

As he does, he hears blasphemy that boils his zeal away that he could not let go.

That transforms him to a celebrity; a champion.

He goes into the palace again, but this time as THE MAN.

But that causes problems with the king and he had to run away and become a fugitive as the king who had loved him wanted to kill him. Even his wife is given to another man.

As was with Job, David was only in charge of his relationship with God. Everything else was sinking sand, so to speak.

And that is the determinant whether we will thrive or dive.

Change is due. Some of it will ambush you and dismember everything you know. It will thrash and trash all your preparation.

Look at Job to know how to deal with drastic change.

He does not blame his wife who (probably) deserted him at his hour of greatest need.

He does not blame his workers who were trashing everything he was telling them

He does not blame his ‘comforters’ who were trying their best to prove that he was being punished for his wickedness.

He places his case squarely in God’s hands.

That is what infuriates his three comforters because their theology had no place for God glorying over His servant. And it will happen to you when God does the same with you.

Unless you think Job was the only servant to undergo such an experience, it will be worse for you than it was for Job.

Sadly, that is what motivators will always preach.

It is called the prosperity gospel though nothing could be farther from the truth.

It is deception, cultic deception. Demonic deception.

It opens one up to desperation when unpleasant change occurs, as it will.

Or have you not read this verse and many others like it.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Losing favour with someone you value is one change anybody dreads, especially someone with authority over you.

Yet that many times must happen if we are to forge farther in our spiritual pilgrimage.

Faith demands the destruction of whatever props our life depends on so that we are only left with God.

I shared some other time about God opening my eyes to some of our prayers.

Do you know that asking God to increase your faith is actually to ask Him to disconnect you from all your support systems?

In short this is what this prayer is saying.

Disconnect me from my parents, my job, my spouse, my health, my savings. Let me be left ONLY with You.

Unpleasant change is how God answers that prayer. And the two men of God we have looked at are very clear examples.

In my journey of faith, I have seen things. As I have obeyed God, I have also experienced things, things that have really built my faith. Though they are things I would not have prayed for had I known.

Many times, as I share my testimony, people wonder at the kind of faith I have.

But it really is not about faith. It is about God taking me through change and managing that change for me. It is God leaving me no options and throwing all my props aside to allow me to see Him.

How do I raise six children in a city without a job, a business, a predictable support structure? How do I pay rent, and those many other bills by simply waiting upon God?

You see, God many times does not give me options. He leaves me no choice but to wait on Him as I do what I many times just sense was His will though it appeared the height of folly and madness. That is why I never argue with anybody who calls me insane as that really who I am but for God vindicating my obedience. I have done really crazy things in obedience to what God had led me to do, burning many bridges and alienating many friends in the process. But God has always supported me.

Change is what obedience brings. Change is what growth in faith is.

And it is not change as we would like. It is change packaged in a way that has the capacity to please God.

At the same time, flunking there may mean losing one’s spiritual identity and relationship with God.

People have fallen from the faith because change ambushed them. People have trashed their calling because change came. People have killed families and relationships because change came.

But people have also grown several notches in their spiritual position because of change.

A death might make you bitter. But it can also make you better.

 As we see with Job, the intention of the evil one for change was to make Job bitter with God.

But his alignment with God’s cause ensured that he came out tops, the primary reason God brought that change around.

How do you manage change?

Do you know why whatever change is happening has come? Does it cause you to question God or develop and even richer relationship with Him?

Because your relationship with God is not only the target for the change, but also the determinant of how you will come out as a result of the change.