Gehazi’s Harvest 2

Allow me to dwell more on trust placed upon ministers today.

And I do this because I am convinced that it is at that point that ministers most easily get into Gehazi’s harvest.

Have you ever cared to know why people give their offerings and any other gift they bring to church or you? Have you ever asked givers the focus or purpose of their giving?

As a minister who loves and ministers to the grassroots as is said, I am able to listen to the givers at a closer range that pastors.

I am presently dealing with an issue where some people have usurped the leadership the church had elected. Some of the things I continue to hear are very instructive for this topic.

Some people have stopped attending the church simply because they know that they must give an offering amongst other giving because they do not trust that leadership with the moneys given.

Instead of suffering a guilty conscience for the misuse of their gift, they opt to not attending the church.

The truth is that anybody in giving is responding to God’s prompt and so has an expectation of the direction of their giving. And it is guided by the giftings and callings God has placed on each one who has responded to His call.

Allow me to add another element to this.

Each calling has three clear and distinct assignments or teams though many times we only think of the visible one.

Take missions for example.

There is the root, the trunk and the branches that make the ministry we call missions.

The root is simply the foundational and most essential element, the one on which the others build on.

Call it the background ministry. The ministry probably nobody will see.

These are the people who agonise over the lost. The people who are heavily invested in missions in the closet.

They are the ones who secretly and generously give for missions.

Out of that group, and because of that group, come the logisticians and people who give pointedly to missions and administer resources to make missions most effective and impactful.

They are the ones who found and facilitate evangelistic organisations. They will also give designated funds for missions.

These I am calling the trunk.

Then we have the goers; the evangelists, the apostles.

Now look at the closet missionary whose heart beats missions.

Any coin he will give has missions written all over it. But he writes it in the closet.

He brings that money to the offertory basket confident that the closet has done its part as he had prayed.

Then the church board or pastor decides to use it to extend the sanctuary to be able to snatch members from neighbouring churches to be able to increase the offerings.

They will simply have stolen money meant for missions.

Do they know it?

Not directly, unless they have sought God’s counsel on the same. And they can’t risk that because God is about overturning our most cherished apple carts.

And they will pay for that.

It will be made worse by the fact that the giver will take his complaints to the closet where his gift originated from. He will not confront those thieves at any one time since his giving originated from the closet.

As a minister I receive many gifts.

But it is on very few chances that the giver told me to spend whatever they gave on myself and my interests. There are very few instances that the giver or supporter told me to use the money they had given me to pay house rent or school fees.

This means that most gifts are given for the single purpose of facilitating the ministry God has called me to.

That of course takes into consideration rents and food and children’s fees and personal needs for the single purpose of making my ministry succeed and have the right impact.

Focusing on me and my needs is therefore sowing into Gehazi’s garden.

Let me give an example I have given elsewhere.

One time a friend was giving away mattresses, almost a dozen of them and was giving me to take them to where there was need.

At that time, I needed one or two, but these were many.

I have a friend with a children’s home and so asked them whether they needed some mattresses and how many.

The astounding thing is that they needed the exact number I was administering.

That was the clearest indication that I was outside that equation.

I connected them and even more ministry partnership was occasioned by that.

Now suppose I had decided that my needs were more important than God’s direction?

Nobody could have questioned me since it was within my rights and power. Nobody could have known or cared even if they knew because I have ministered anyway.

But I then could have invited Gehazi’s harvest.

Nobody pays a pastor because he is a pastor. A pastor is facilitated to perform the pastoral ministry.

A prophet is not paid to or for prophecy. He is facilitated to function best in that ministry as we see with Elisha.

The Shunammite knew that when she was building a rest house for Elisha.

But Gehazi didn’t, as many of the ministers of our generation do not also.

I have mentioned missions. But the designation of the gifts is as varied as the gifts and callings God has on each and every one of His servants. I just used missions to give the structure against which we can judge any other ministry.

Probably the most dangerous ministry in this respect is the ministry of helps or what many churches call benevolence.

My interaction with the needy is that the most vocal requesters for assistance are very rarely the really needy, most being professional beggars, if I may call them thus.

You see, it is demeaning to confess helplessness and vulnerability. It is very shameful to confess that one is unable to provide for his family even to close friends and family. And that because very few people take kindly to giving assistance if there are no strings attached.

As someone who has gone through a need after another in ministry, there are times when hunger is preferable to assistance or support from some quarters. There is support one runs away from however bad the need is because it leaves a very bad taste on its reception.

The needy must first establish, not only the genuineness of the help being offered, but the love prompting it.

This therefore means that the giver must be very careful, not only to be seen to be concerned, but to be understood to be doing it from a heart of real concern. He must also be understood to be giving from a point of aiming at empowering instead of offering handouts. No sane person enjoys extending the begging bowl except the professional beggar.

The implications of this is that it is not easy to minister to the needy as it needs, not only very deep discernment, but also a heart that can draw the needy to our help, even feet that can visit to help them open their hearts to receive our help.

But aren’t they the ones who should be looking for help? I know someone is asking.

Who has been called to the ministry of helps? Whose responsibility is it to effectively minister that help? Who is answerable to God for that help?

Jesus did not wait for people to come for help. Many times, he reached out to people who did not even know who He was.

The Bible is full of God reaching out to people who did not even know they needed Him.

That for me describes the ministry of helps.

The reality on the ground is that the bulk of that ministry ends up in the hands of the wrong people, especially people who do not even need it.

Just like we see in the bursaries and scholarships, it is the one who can best package their perceived need who can access it, leaving the bulk of the needy out of something that exists in their name and for their use.

Do you think God is impressed when the resources given by the roots called into the helps ministry ends up in the hands of the professional beggar? Do you think God will ignore your ignorance in the way you administered it?

We need to pray to clearly know what God wants with us. We need to pray to know exactly how God wants to use us. And we need to really pray to accurately know how to manage the gifts God releases our way, and especially whether we should even accept them.

Or we will reap Gehazi’s harvest.

Gehazi’s Harvest

And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. (2Kings 5: 26, 27)

I find Gehazi’s as among the saddest stories in the Bible

And why so?

Gehazi was the undisputed heir of Elisha’s prophetic ministry. He was the one due to receive the double portion of the same when the prophet exited the scene.

Not only that. But he had been very useful in Elisha’s ministry for long. To the point that he went out of the way to look for the background information that would make Elisha serve with the distinction we knew him of. Remember about the Shunamite woman who wanted nothing for her ministry to them?

He had been Elisha’s safe pair of hands.

Yet he blew it so badly.

All because he saw some freely floating money that he was unable to resist, money that Elisha had more or less dismissed with disdain.

He probably though Elisha did not appreciate how that money could have impacted their ministry. He probably thought that he could later use it to procure an ass for the prophet to ride those distances he used to trek. Probably he thought they could use the money to build better habitats for the schools of the prophets.

He probably thought that Elisha was too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good as many accuse some of us of being.

Or he was simply being greedy and thought that that money was the breakthrough he had been longing and waiting for until then.

That seed of greed was able to yield such a harvest as would completely alter his whole posterity.

He planted greed and harvested leprosy for whole generations.

Appears such a dire judgment for a small error until you look at it using God’s eyes; until you look at its impact on the ministry he was serving under.

Naaman was used to serving gods, demanding gods.

To him therefore, the God of Israel was just way bigger than the ones he had come across but not much different. His access was therefore not much different from that of the other gods. Remember Simon in Samaria?

Taking that gift was therefore blocking Elisha’s witness to this general. And no wonder the judgment was so dire.

Allow me now to write about us today. Allow me to apply Gehazi’s lesson to our times.

The other day I was shocked to come close to something many just hear about

A friend was nominated to a political office to represent persons with disability.

The night before the swearing in someone called and said that they had been replaced, and not by someone with any disability but by a relative of some party big brass.

Instead of feeling infuriated as is normal for me, I felt an intense sorrow for that person who chose Gehazi’s harvest.

You see, they probably never really needed that job since the brother in high places earned enough, not just to care for their needs, but to even get a better job elsewhere.

They did not need to fake disability. The kin could easily have procured another job. That is the saddest part for me.

That for me is a joke taken too far.

By their greed, or what they think is their need, they have opened a portal of unending disability for unending generations. They have opened a door for unending and unmeetable need beyond their feeble lifetimes.

Like Gehazi they have got much more than they had bargained for or anticipated.

But I am not stopping here.

Have you ever looked at yourself with God’s eyes to see how similar you may be to Gehazi as I like doing once in a while?

I am a minister and so will dwell on ministry and ministers to put God’s message across.

Have you ever been given something and told to give to someone in need because as a minister you are better placed to do so?

What did you do, especially when there is no requirement for accountability since the giver trusts you?

I know many ministers who decide that their need is the purpose of that gift and decide that there is nothing wrong with making that gift theirs.

I have been in churches that seasonally give towards the needy in their community. They give food, clothes and many other things a family in need may require.

Yet many times the leaders will pick the best and offer the remnants to the needy and none will be the wiser because the ones who gave have no business managing the distribution since there are ministers and church staff better equipped to do it.

I know of pastors who have been given a vehicle to help someone in their congregation who needs it and they own it or give to their best friend who may even have a better one.

Gehazi is not as far removed as we may think.

How many really needy people access the bursaries whose sole purpose is to make the needy able to access education? How many scholarships go to the truly deserving? How many jobs end up with the people who not only need them but are best qualified for them?

It is a small thing to think that the position you have is the ticket to whatever may pass through it.

Yet was that not Gehazi’s error?

Trust comes with responsibility, a responsibility to do the right thing without any supervision or accountability.

The truth is that it starts with God.

When God entrusts us with a responsibility, He has the expectation that we will do only what that trust entails without seeking personal reward.

Elisha refused that reward, not because he had no need, but because he was content with the little God had given him.

The fact that the Shunamite pitied him to build him a room to rest is telling. I believe she must have seen him weary for the journeys too many times to count.

You do not build a house for someone who passes by once a year, or even once a month.

That money could have done him much good. I am sure it could have bought him a horse, or at least a mule to ease his long journeys.

But he waited for God to release it when or ever He saw fit. And He does the same to us all the time.

When I was paying rent, God would sometime bring me money enough for rent and tell me not to pay my rent. And He would bring somebody He had prepared that rent for. Interestingly, He did that before releasing my rent.

But He would eventually release my rent.

But suppose I had taken Gehazi’s route as many of us are wont to take?

I could easily have released need into my composition. I could have harvested the need God had brought for me to overflow into. I could, like Gehazi, have become the curse the giver was running away from.

God is just and must reward our faithfulness as He punishes our rebellion.

I will write about other aspects later

This is just meant to make us reflect.

 

 

Whose Church?

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1: 16 – 18)

I was watching a music (nowadays called worship) video with my children.

I chose it because the singer was an old man who has been at it for a long time and so was sure there would be some solid ‘vibes’.

He was ‘performing’ at the invitation of a pastor (I don’t know his title) across the oceans and so it was a different audience he was singing with.

But this is not the reason I am writing this.

In the video, at least in the first thirty or so minutes before I became fed up, the video could not run for a minute without showing the superstar pastor, his wife and two grown daughters who were dancing in front of him.

Though he was doing nothing in the performance apart from his introduction and invitation of the guest singer to the pulpit, the cameras would always zoom in on him all the time.

You could be mistaken for thinking that he was the only reason for that session, probably he was.

Though it was in a stadium sized church auditorium that was full to the balconies, there was very little footage of the congregation, unless of those who appeared as the cameras were zooming on the superstar.

Even the guest singer did not receive as much footage as the superstar.

As a musician (former of course), I would be interested in seeing the backup singers and instrumentalists since it was a musical performance.

But I was disappointed, as were my children.

As a former media person, also, it would have been good to see the extent of the congregation and the lay of that huge stadium. It would have been of interest to see how the extremities of the congregation were taking the session.

But it was all about the standing and then sitting man of God. And sadly so because he was surrounded by throngs of very excited dancing crowds, even some prostrating themselves in worship.

Lest you think it was for lack of equipment, there were over thirty cameras. And from the footage they were very good ones, able to zoom very well. Ther were even those remote-controlled boom ones that could perform wonders if used properly.

There really was no reason to restrict the shooting to one person and his family when there was a myriad of options, better options, richer options, more enriching options and an abundance of equipment.

The problem was something so rampant in the church today.

The church has been converted into personal property only using Christ as a prop.

That church is about the superstar and nothing and nobody else, even the One supposed to be the head of the same.

I do not care for the theology of that church. Their doctrine may be as solid as Martin Luther’s.

But he has surely stolen the limelight from the One who is supposed to be the core of everything in and concerning the church. He has stolen the glory that should be directed at Jesus. It has diverted the worship from Jesus to the superstar pastor.

Could this be your church?

 

Delusive Appetizers 2

I know some who read my post about heaven wondered why all the fuss yet we will go to heaven anyway. Or is it not promised?

Won’t we just roll into heaven when we close the chapter that is this life?

Allow me to burst some of those doctrinal balloons by this

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7: 13, 14)

Heaven is not a default setting. Heaven is not a destination we reach by autopilot or something similar.

In short, heaven is not easy to reach. It is actually very difficult to get there as Christ taught.

You see, it is not only that the road is straight and narrow. It is actually very difficult to find. We can comfortably say that it is deeply hidden in such a way that only a diligent searcher can find it. Nobody can to stumble on it.

I must diligently look for the road to be able to find it. Then I have to lose weight to be fit to travel it.

I must therefore greatly desire it to be able to fit in it. I must be continually thinking about it to be consistently able to walk it.

Heaven is therefore not just what will happen when we die. Heaven is about how we prepare for it.

For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. (Luke 18:25)

No wonder the disciples wondered who then could fit on that road. Because it is not easy.

I am not therefore advising us to just consider heaven.

I want us to reflect on what God through His word says about heaven.

Only then can we crave it to the point that we will be shaped by that reality.

You cannot be able to get to a heaven that does not consume your spirit. You cannot get to a heaven that is a by the way in your life. You cannot get to a heaven that you do not crave.

It means that those who are preoccupied with what God will do for us here are not going to heaven.

Allow me to fetch some oblique verses

Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6: 2 - 4)

We cannot harvest here and expect to continue harvesting in heaven. We cannot enjoy the rewards of here and expect the same in heaven. Remember He talked about prayer in the same vein.

But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. (Luke 16:25)

What is this talking about?

I believe it has everything to do with focus.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6: 20, 21)

I cannot lay my treasures where my heart isn’t. my heart determines my investments.

I can’t pray for the here and now and expect to harvest from a heaven I have invested nothing on.

I hope I have placed such a damper on all the motivation about the here and now to set your heart free to consider the purpose of your salvation. And I am not sorry I have rattled some of you in the process.

Delusive Appetizers

Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:20)

What between eternal life and the present one is of greater worth?

What between an appetizer and the main dish is more substantial?

Yet when was the last time you heard any preaching on heaven? When was the last time you heard a song about heaven? When was the last time you read a book about heaven?

This is the clearest indicator that the church has swayed too far from God’s purpose. That the church as presently is has no similitude to the church Christ died for.

There is nothing wrong with breakthrough. There is no problem with increase and favor. And it is not a sin to succeed.

But those are the toppings on God’s gift, eternal life.

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. (1Corinthians 15:19)

Have you ever heard a preacher read or quote this verse in his sermon?

Yet that is the clearest comparison we have between this life and the next in Christ.

If the present life is all there is to God’s gift, we could then be the most lost people the world over simply because we are choosing the icing instead of the cake.

We could actually be like the swine trampling on the pearl to be able to eat the wrapping it came in. We could be like the toddler who will choose a sweet or cheap toy instead of a wad of cash.

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26)

Yet the preaching of these days is all about this world and all that it can and does offer.

We are so fixated on this world that I know many would faint if they had the smallest glimpse of heaven, because of God’s presence and glory.

Yet you find many believers who are scared even to read about eternity (or the end of this life) because they think it will put a damp on the pursuits of this world, as it surely will, only that it will not be for the reasons our popular preachers advance.

You see, you cannot compare the temporal with the eternal. You cannot compare this life and eternal life.

The disparity between earth and heaven is more than that between light and darkness.

And it is not simply because eternal life is endless as I wrote in a post not so long ago.

Heaven is the desire of any true believer in Christ.

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)

Can you imagine a mansion God, who created the world as it is in six days, has been preparing for two millennia and counting?

That is not a reality to glide over. It should be an all-compassing reality guiding everything I am and do.

Why did Jesus overcome?

He had the big picture. He was clear of His assignment. He knew where He was going.

He therefore was not living from one day to the next. He was doing everything with a destination in sight.

Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go. (John 8:14)

That is why we see Him repeatedly saying that His time was not yet

And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. (Luke 9: 51 – 53)

It is the focus of where He was going that made His complete focus set on enduring the cross and the shame and pain it compassed.

Heaven defined Him and shaped everything He said and did, and how He said and did it.

And it was not only Him. Believers of all ages have demonstrated the same.

From Stephen who appeared to be rejoicing at his stoning because he had had a glimpse of heaven to Paul and Silas who could sing and pray in a prison under immense pain and wounds and the restriction of their painful shackles.

And over the ages we have enough examples of those who sang through the flames of their burning at the stake for their faith.

No breakthrough on earth can make us undergo such suffering. No rewards on earth have even the smallest spark or fuel to allow us to enjoy deprivation and persecution true faith is sure to attract.

And it is for the single reason that it is temporal. In short, there is no reward beyond what we can experience.

A student deprives himself of sleep and comfort to prepare for exams because he knows that a good grade will offer him better prospects. A person may deprive himself of the comfort his contemporaries are enjoying because he is saving for a piece of land. Tourists deny themselves so much for years to be able to save for a holiday.

Heaven is such a prize. It is worth everything, and more.

Then comes the modern preacher and his believer.

You tithe because God will make the 90% remaining do more than the 100% would have done. You give so that God will hit you back with more and better. You give yourself to ministry because doing so will open doors that would not have opened otherwise.

In short, everything we do has to have a here and now reward.

But nothing could be farther from the truth.

Stephen did not gain anything this side of eternity from his stoning. Paul gained nothing for the suffering he underwent as part of his calling. Even Jesus gained nothing earthly for going through the cross.

For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; (Philippians 1: 23 - 25)

According to Paul, heaven is far better, a greater destination that he longed for with all his being.

The only thing holding him back was the assignment Christ had for him, and for that he was willing to suffer so that his assignment is complete.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2Corinthians 4: 17, 18)

I hope you are grasping what I am saying.

We should for a moment be still and focus on heaven. We should focus more of our effort and resources on heaven.

Heaven should dictate our whole existence.

Think about the secret agent or undercover investigator.

They will be given everything they will need for the success of their assignment. But the focal point is the assignment and nothing else.

It will be a tragedy of incredible proportions if they can be bribed to abandon the assignment. In fact, should they even attempt that, their end is many times worse than that of defectors.

Getting comfortable with the perks of the task and neglecting the assignment makes one worse than a deserter, even worse than an enemy.

Yet is not that the way the church is for the most part?

Why have we stopped preaching against sin for the longest time?

We have simply forgotten about heaven.

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6: 9, 10)

The focal point of the Lord’s prayer is heaven.

It goes without say that if heaven is on my cross hairs, I will be living a markedly heaven-leaning life.

As I said about the fear of God, the view of heaven will ensure that I will live in such a way as will reflect or radiate heaven to those beholding me.

Heaven will dictate how I look at life.

Sin is rampant in church because preachers have forgotten about heaven, meaning that the congregation has no idea it even exists.

I can’t have a view of heaven and lie, however white the lie might be, forget about those big sins. And we will avoid even those sins because we fear the shame that we could attract if we get caught. We are therefore more scared of shame than we are of sin.

But the reality of heaven will very easily reverse that order because we will be more scared of behaving in an unheavenly way even when we know we will not be caught.

Heaven is the clearest antidote to sin and temptation because an eternal reality is the stopper of everything enticement brings. And the clearer that reality is the better.

Will we pray that God brings our hearts on what His Son went to prepare for us?

This is a very short message on a very expansive topic.

I therefore want us to treat it as an awakening call. A call to God’s people to refocus on heaven, where God is.

It is very sad that we are all the time talking and calling upon God’s presence in our events when we have lost interest in His abode, the place where His presence is the reigning reality.

May God help us.

Biblical Worship 3 (Updated)

Many times when we see the appearance of an angel in the Bible, the angel will normally start by telling the witness not to fear.

What is there to fear about an angel?

I know someone is wondering why I am such a fool.

But I am asking so intentionally.

An angel is a being endowed with power beyond the natural. He is a supernatural being.

His appearance in the natural must therefore arouse a dread, though we know them as servants of the divine towards those submitted to Him.

We also see several times that persons facing an angel have to be stopped from prostrating before (worshipping) them.

If an angel is that terrifying, what then do we expect from an encounter with the One who created that angel? What do we expect when we encounter the One whose errands the angels run?

There simply can be no comparison between encountering an angel and encountering God, which is what worship is.

Yet we think worship as a fun event.

In the Old Testament there were rules and guidelines whenever God was concerned, whether it was His worship or presence.

‘Lest you die’, is something you will read time and again because God is not anywhere close to our normal.

I find it scary when I see people talking to God as if He was at their service instead of being their Lord and King.

To imagine that Daniel’s companions fled the scene when God was showing His servant a vision!

And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. (Daniel 10:7)

And he was not alone as we see in our scripture intake.

Where is the fear of God in our worship?

Are we really worshipping God or is what we call worship our own thing?

I will add something else that must accompany fear in our relationship with God.

And it is compliance with ALL His demands.

Just like we do not deal with electricity flimsily, it is not in doubt that God, who is infinitely more powerful than electricity must demand much more compliance.

That is why it is an outright lie when someone talks about worship even as their conduct says something even slightly different from God and His demands.

Joseph and Daniel and his friends were known for something that made them stand out.

The spirit of the holy gods was in them.

You see, many people had the spirits of the gods, different gods.

Practitioners of witchcraft undoubtedly operate under the control of spirits.

But those young men had a different kind of indwelling that produced holy living. Their lives were not only so different from the ones operating in the spiritual, their lives represented a standard infinitely higher than that representing any other spiritual reality.

The fear of God simply means not only living in awe of God, but that fear dictating how one lives their life here, or simply speaking living a worshipful life.

The world does not care how full of whatever spirit you are. It is concerned by the kind of spirit running your life.

Manifesting whatever gifts as can be attributed to the Spirit means pretty little if that spirit does not make me able to live a holy life.

Our level of worship is therefore proportional to our level of transformation towards God.

No wonder Jesus said that we will be known by our fruits. Or what Paul said here

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5: 22, 23)

The fruit of the Spirit is simply speaking the overflow of the nature of the divine

Unless His grace, justice, hatred for sin and many other attributes the Bible says God has are part of our lives and nature, we cannot be worshiping Him.

That is what the fear of God represents.

We deceive ourselves when we are comfortable with sin and sinners and still talk of being worshippers of Christ. We are deluded when our resources are not totally surrendered to God’s express and unquestioned use (I am not talking about tithing and other man-directed giving) yet confess to being led by the Spirit as worshippers.

The long and short of what I am saying is that one can never worship God aright if His nature is not running in every aspect of our existence.

Worship is a surrender that gives God glory. No wonder it gives Him great opportunity to manifest as He did in the lives of the young men I have mentioned.

Plastic Praise, Plastic Worship

In our era, a success card was a very precious document to someone sitting a national examination.

To the point that some would be depressed if their collection of such was very small as compared to others.

Looking back, the picture on the front was many times completely removed to the whole mood of the candidate and examinations, a majority featuring a young couple in Uhuru Park, KICC or some other picture-centric location of our city.

Even the writing on those cards was as brash, consisting a little more than the basic wishing you success in your examinations.

Very little thinking went into the design of those cards. And I am saying this as someone who has been in printing for some time.

Incidentally, very little has changed in that direction.

Do you realise that with all the progress we boast that apart from the fact that many are now manufactured overseas and have uncreative music and lights, there is little, if any, creativity involved in the design of those cards

Look at get-well cards. And congratulations cards. Or any other cards.

We will pick a card and look at the message resonating with how we want the recipient to think we feel.

The marketer who can come with a message that resonates with most is certain to have a bounty harvest.

I hope you still understand I am talking about praising God.

How much of our praise and worship is directly from our heart? How many of it is the actual overflow of our relationship with God?

Where is the originality of our worship experience?

Time and again I have said that God gives new songs to His worshipers. And by new I am not talking about newly released songs.

I am talking about each believer singing a new song of praise to God, the Object of his praise. Not for recording purposes. Not for performing purposes. Not for entertainment purposes.

It is a soul afire for God exploding in praise to God in the best way he knows according to the way he is feeling at the moment.

Just like each bird has its song, I believe each believer has his series of songs to praise God with that are released freshly all the time.

Some will be sung once and be forgotten. Some will be sung in prayer. Some will linger long so that God can spread the aroma of that praise to the rest of His body.

But no song is given by God for recording or performing purposes.

They are recorded because they resonate with the rest of the body of Christ.

Incidentally, many are recorded because they resonate with the goats because they make the goats feel good. They are not therefore songs sung for the purpose of lifting God high or even giving Him praise.

At the heart of what we call secular songs is exactly that; songs that will make people feel good whatever their station in life. They resonate with the base instincts and lusts.

That is why we have liberation songs for those under difficult situations. And we have the war songs that breed discontent and rebellion.

Their purpose is making man move in the direction of the master of the song who directed the composer, instrumentalist and singer of the song.

Drunkards never become completely drunk in those liquor dens because the songs (and lights) in those dens release a spirit (if I may call it that) that will make the drunkard asking for more as long as they are under its aura.

Or have you ever seen a drunkard being carried from a bar because he became too drunk in the den? Why do they always become comatose after they have left that environment, many times a few steps from the den?

Why is it that even those whose drinks are spiked never succumb in those dens?

Where am I taking us?

Authentic worship is completely different from this because it never leaves us where the encounter was. It leaves lasting impact on our person.

Jacob’s encounter left him limping for the rest of his life.

What does this have to do with plastic worship? And what is plastic praise anyway? Someone is asking.

I call it plastic because it is prepackaged. I call it plastic because it is taken as it was brought. I call it plastic because it requires no depth from our side. I call it plastic because it costs us nothing. I call it plastic because we love it because ‘everybody’ loves it. And I call it plastic because many times we do not even know the language it is sung in and so really have no idea, not just of the message, but the tenor of the same.

We think that by making the moves the composer made we will be able to recapture whatever kind of worship they were part of, many times without seeking God to know whether it was even worship they were part of.

I have been to places where I heard a popular ‘worship’ song sung in its original context and language and the feel of the same is completely different from the feeling you get elsewhere. And I have had that experience a number of times.

You see, the worship that produced my song was predominantly mine and was personal, a personal worship experience.

That is why Jesus elevated the closet since it is the source of all authentic worship

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

Worship that does not originate from the heart is at best plastic. Praise that is responsive to external prompts is also plastic.

A heart in tune to God’s frequency will resonate with the throbs of heaven and not of the earth, however heavenly they may appear or sound.

I am not trashing all music.

What I am stating very boldly is that praise and worship should be coming from my heart and fueled by the heart.

How it connects with other praise or worship will therefore be determined by my heart and not the authenticity or lack of the same from any other source.

How real or otherwise of any other praise should never affect my praise since it is an external input.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38)

It is the fellowship of those rivers that make corporate worship and corporate praise.

Talking praise or worship without stressing the importance of personal and private praise or worship is what I call plastic praise and worship.

You remove the closet and the only thing you are left with is plastic with a zero chance of being acceptable to the One we seek to praise and worship.

And it is the same with corporate prayer, and even fellowship.

It is a kinship of like hearts resonating with the same devotion to God that can become a prayer meeting or fellowship.

Anything else is a pretense that has no capacity of drawing anybody to God, however much it is psyched or made to appear real and spiritual.

Look at sports fans to get a classic case of what I mean.

It is not the stadiums or games that makes them so.

It is their passion for their game that brings them together.

You will listen to fans discussing a team and game on the opposite side of the world better than they would discuss what was happening in their neighborhood. They will follow the progress of their team to the smallest detail when the have no idea how their employer makes the money he pays them to follow their team.

That, in very simple terms, is the closest we can come to praise or worship.

Two worshippers coming together should be like having two fans of the same team coming together.

They do not need any introduction. They will just need to learn that they support the same team and become family without any fuss even when they do not share a language or culture. The game becomes their culture, whether they are in the stadium or following the game through the media.

That is similar to what should be happening in the church of Christ.

But that is not what is happening and this is the reason I am writing about plastic praise and worship.