When we Refuse to be Hidden

As we continue with the message about God hiding His generals, I want to acknowledge that this message is offensive to most in our generation. We think that it is our visibility that gives us ministry. We believe (though fear to confess) that God needs as much visibility as possible to function, and that it is our duty to give Him that visibility.

But there is something I want to say. This message is not talking about our hiding. We are not the ones doing the hiding just as we are not the ones who make ourselves His generals. He is the one who chooses which generals to hide and which ones to put on the frontline.

This message is not talking about our concealing our witness. In fact, correctly understood, it is not speaking about us at all; but about what God does to protect His ministers.

Our responsibility is therefore restricted to being connected to Him and doing what He asks us to do as unworthy slaves, since that really is what we are. Our honor is as a result of our faithfulness in being just that.

We are still the salt and light of the world. We still are cities on a hill that cannot be hidden. We are still witnesses of what God is about in the world. We are still supposed to be sharing the Gospel to the nations.

The thrust of this series of messages is not therefore our influence or impact. It is not about our effectiveness or the lack of it. In fact He is the one that judges that effectiveness.

This is about the level of our connectedness to our headquarters, heaven. It is about how clear our orders are from day to day, moment by moment. And I still have the space to place one of my most favorite and sobering verses.

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)

This really is what I mean with this post. I am only opening our eyes to another dynamic.

How do we do ministry yet get disqualified when it really matters?

Incidentally, the key determinant is what heaven wills. Do we know that will? Do we understand it? Are we pursuing it?

That is the only way we will be able to know where we are supposed to be, and what we are supposed to be.

Many are fine and very connected, until visibility becomes an issue. Many are content with the wilderness until the invitations to minister start flowing. Many do not mind the caves until the honoraria start pouring in.

Then you start ‘realizing’ that you are made for more; that you deserve a little more respect. You start wanting more recognition.

That is when the Gospel singer goes to a secular producer so that they can hit the market running without realizing that that in itself has defiled the anointing that was there, especially because the masses will also not realize it.

Then the producers (and congregations for the minister) will insist on a more sanitized message. Or the pressure to deliver hit after another will get you as far from the closet as possible.

And it is not much different with writers, even preachers.

We may fail to realize when publicity calls that it really was not from God. Obedience is the one that will sort out the source of publicity.

Remember the women singing ‘David has slain his ten thousands’ being the cause of David’s woes? God exposed David to kill Goliath. The women’s songs exposed David as a threat to the king and therefore a leader of sedition. Remember it was the same song that exposed him to the Philistine kings?

I have just read a story in one paper that is repeated enough times in ministry circles.

A young singer was from a very successful Gospel group that had broken up due to sin (one of them was caught in fornication). He is therefore starting a solo career, so to speak.

Then he meets an attractive girl who is everything, from a journalist to a marketer. She offers to promote him and help his new career. They slowly get together and finally have a one night stand. And the girl disappears.

Only to reappear (on phone) to tell him that she got pregnant and needs child upkeep or she spills the beans.

The guy stops everything, even sometimes lacking food and rent, to keep this mother to ‘his’ child comfortable.

However, she never allows him to see her or her child; for three years.

He finally becomes fed up and decides he is ready to face up to his sins and gives an ultimatum of sorts.

That is when the girl confesses that the child was not even his.

And someone will say that the girl was not a special program from the devil to emasculate this budding singer!

Incidentally I suspect this is what may have happened with David. Bathsheba may not have known that she was being used by the evil one when she was looking for that opportunity. And many other believers fall under the same or similar situations. And it is worse for the highly visible.

Our visibility places us at a great disadvantage because we become unwitting participants of a war we never even know exists. We will then be felled again and again before we realize what is happening because the enemy is sending general after general, weapon after weapon, all designed to bring us down.

Does it surprise you that no Bible character fell prior to his peak? They became prone to fall when they became highly visible.

That is why it is very important to allow God to reveal and hide us at His leisure (if you will allow me to use that phrase). Then we will be subject to His commitment to protect us whether we are in the limelight or not because we will be seeking to walk in His ways.

But we love those Facebook likes, and those twitter reactions. We love the floods that visit our blogs and websites as they make us feel significant. We love those invites to perform and teach, and of course the honoraria that accompanies them. We love the Oohs and Aahs after our performances and would not exchange them for the world.

Do you realize that those are the same things the enemy will use to let you move out of the straight and narrow? Do you realize that some of those things are sent by the enemy of what you stand for?

Would you trash that smart phone if God told you or will you rebuke that voice? Would you get off social media if God ordered or will you call a prayer team to stand with you against enemies of your elevation? Would you decline that invitation if you sensed God’s displeasure or would you enjoin them in praying against those obstacles? Would you end that relationship if God disproves it or you will ascribe that voice to the enemy of your progress?

You see, many times God does not lead away from the bad, since bad rarely tempts. He many times will lead us away from our best. We many times feel utterly deprived when He so orders.

I look back at some relationships I protested when God closed, relationships that I had thought were perfect, as perfect as humanly possible. The bonding was excellent. They were unquestionably healthy as I was as radical for Christ as I am now. I almost thought God was unfair.

Looking back at where God has taken me, I realize that those girls had no capacity to walk the journey God has walked with me.

They did not backslide or anything of the sort. It is that they are not made of the spiritual matter to be able to walk with me in the path of obedience God has called me. They really, even today, are unable to conceptualize, let alone understand the path God has called me to walk.

It is not about good, better or best. It is His way versus everything else if you must walk with Him.

That is the level our visibility plays at. Many times God wants to take us from the public realm to the desert like He did with Philip the Evangelist in Acts 8. What would you have done if it were you?

It may be a simple command to stop watching or listening to your favorite TV or online pastor. It may require you to stop attending some church you really fancy as it completes you. It may require you to stop supporting a cause you think is the epitome of spiritual responsibility. And many times it may require you to switch off that cellphone or internet for some time to be able to hear your order clearly.

How radical are you in your faith?