THE CALL TO MINISTRY – MY EXPERIENCE – Part 1
Have you been called to the prophetic ministry? Are you going through pain and agony? Are you frustrated and deserted even by your closest people? Has hardship and lack become your companion? Does it look like your world has come to an end and you feel like ending it all by turning away from the Lord? Is Satan telling you that you are worth nothing and will never amount to anything? Is the devil telling you that the prophecies you received six, eight, ten or even twenty years ago of being a great prophet have taken too long and will never manifest?
Do you feel like giving up in totality? Be courageous my brother and my sister. You are not alone in this. What happened to the prophets of old is still happening to those who have been called into the same ministry today. The experience might seem unbearable, but the Lord is true to his promise and will surely bring it to pass at the appointed time, that is if you don’t give up on the way.”
When the Lord called the Prophet Jeremaiah to ministry, he spoke to him as follows:
Jer 1:4-10
“The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” “Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Wonderful, isn’t it? I am sure you agree with me that as a young inexperienced man concerning what faced a true Prophet of God, Jeremiah must have been excited at hearing that the Lord would use him to pull down and build nations. Consider the following again:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
I am sure that if you were the young man Jeremiah, you would be jumping up in the air full of Joy because the Lord had chosen you to do great works such as tearing down kingdoms, uprooting and building as well. That is really a great commission. But in between those words the Lord spoke to Jeremaiah was something hidden, something subtle that I am sure Jeremaiah did not care about in his excitement of being God’s chosen Prophet of the nations. Below is what I am talking about.
Jer 1:7-8
“But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.”
In the eight verse, the Lord asked Jeremaiah not to be afraid of the people he would send him to; assuring him that he would not only be with him, he would also rescue him. The question is, what exactly did the Lord mean by rescuing Jeremaiah? What was the Lord going to rescue him from?
According to the word of God that he received directly from God himself, the Lord had given him power to do and undo. So what would he be rescued from again?
This is what I would like to discuss in this post. Many of us who have been called into ministry, especially the prophetic, deliverance and healing ministry get excited when prophecies start pouring about what the Lord would do through us so much so that we become totally oblivious of the fact that there is a huge price to pay to be a true prophet Of God.
Jeremaiah went through so much pain and so much weeping and wailing he was labelled the weeping prophet. He even accused God of abandoning him.
Elijah, Moses and all the rest of the prophets went through it to the point of giving up. But the Lord was with them all to end. I have my own experience which I would like to share with you here. It is an experience of a prophet still in the making. I am not yet there but the Lord is preparing me for the great assignment. It is not an easy path to tread.
“Have you been called to the prophetic ministry? Are you going through pain and agony? Are you frustrated and deserted even by your closest people? Has hardship and lack become your companion? Does it look like your world has come to an end and you feel like ending it all by turning away from the Lord? Is Satan telling you that you are worth nothing and will never amount to anything? Is the devil telling you that the prophecies you received six, eight, ten or even twenty years ago of being a great prophet have taken too long and will never manifest? Do you feel like giving up in totality? Be courageous my brother and my sister. You are not alone in this. What happened to the prophets of old is still happening to those who have been called into the same ministry today. The experience might seem unbearable, but the Lord is true to his promise and will surely bring it to pass at the appointed time, that is if you don’t give up on the way.”
I am sure my testimony would help you to carry this cross that the Lord himself has prepared for those he has ordained as prophets before they were even formed in their mother’s wombs. If you believe that you are one of us, read this and be encouraged.
The piece you are about to read is not something I read from some book. It is not something I heard someone say. It is not something I have imagined. It is my personal experience as regards my call to ministry. Please read it with an open mind so it can be a blessing to you
Last Monday, someone blessed me with two brand new suits; very beautiful suits that I am really excited about. My excitement is not because the suits are beautiful and a gift. I appreciate all of that. But my excitement is mainly because it was in appreciation of what the Lord passed through my ministry to do for the family of the brother who gave them to me as a sign of gratitude. It was an incident that took place about three months ago. I would share the testimony of what happened later.
But before then, I am led to share how my call to ministry started. I am sure it would bless and encourage someone here who has been called into ministry, especially the healing, deliverance and prophetic ministry which so many people ignorantly desire without knowing what is involved. So many Christians want to be prophets without the slightest idea that the prophetic ministry is a call to death. Whoever is called into this kind of ministry must prepare to die to whatever he is {self} if the Lord must use him.
So many years ago, as far back as 1996, that is about eighteen years ago, I started receiving prophecies that said the Lord was calling me into ministry. I am not sure I even understood what that meant. At that time, I was only a chorister in my church and nothing more. So being called into ministry did not mean much to me and I did not really care to bother about it. I love music, so I was satisfied with being a chorister.
With the passage of time, that is about two years later in 1998, I met a very prominent Prophet of God, Prophet Samuel Akinlolou Adewole whose ministry had a serious impact on my life.
My meeting with Prophet Samuel Akinlolou Adewole gave me a deeper insight of what my future would be like as a Minister in the service of the Lord. The Prophet did not only tell me that the Lord was calling me into ministry like others had said, he opened a complete new chapter when he said that the Lord would use me mightily in preaching the word, healing the sick and also casting out demons from afflicted souls. He also added that it was not going to be an easy journey. But that did not mean anything to me. Being a great man of God was all that got my interest and I wanted it to happen fast.
These were his words, “My son, whatever you are doing now is not your work. It is only a means of survival for you. I see you moving all over the world spreading the word of God. You have a ministry that has to do with teaching the word, healing the sick as well delivering those that Satan has taken captive{casting out of demons} to the glory of God. However, it is not going to be an easy way for you my son. I see sharp stones, broken bottles and nails on your way. You have to be strong to overcome. Stand firm and trust the Lord to see you through,” he advised.
You would agree with me that hearing that the Lord would take me round the world to spread the good news is a wonderful message. Anyone would be excited at such news. So was I. I was so excited that the second part of the message which spoke about sharp stones, nails and broken bottles which simply meant opposition and trials in the likes of hardship, hatred, failure, frustrations, disappointments and all that goes with them did not matter to me at all. My eyes were only fixed on the glamour side of the message, being a great Prophet of God. But I was going to learn with time that God does not work like that. Whoever must carry the name of the Lord and his glory must pass through fire and be refined as gold. There is no compromise.
Remember how Joseph had dreams that meant he would be King and everyone would bow to him? Was he excited? Yes he was and he wanted it to come to pass quickly as much as possible. But what Joseph did not know or what the Lord did not show him was that the road to the throne would attract hatred, envy, an attempt to kill him by his own blood brothers, spending time in a dangerous dry pit, being a slave, being falsely accused of trying to rape his master’s wife and eventually being cast into prison. Like me, Joseph’s eyes could only see the throne the Lord had promised him; the place of fame and power that he could hardly imagine any of the above misfortunes coming his way. Little did he know that the road to that throne was full of snakes, scorpions, sharp nails and broken bottles? But he could not escape going through them. It was all designed by God as part of his making as the second most powerful man in Egypt. What a mysterious God we serve?
Back to myself, I must confess once again that I was very expectant of hearing that the power of God and his glory would be seen me and wanted to be see it manifest quickly. But that was not to be. At least, not as fast as I thought or wanted it. I did all I thought would please the Lord as I got into the ritual of fasting and praying and all kinds of religious activities, but the more I did all that, the more setbacks I experienced, the more frustrated I was, the more disappointed I got, the more rejected I was by my own people.
My frustration was such that I tried four times to commit suicide because life was no more worth living as far as I was concerned. But no matter how much I tried to end it all, the Lord in his mercy and grace made sure he kept me alive. All in all, God’s mercy and grace kept me going.
My experience for sixteen or seventeen years after the prophecies of being a great prophet was rather that of hardship, rejection, frustration, failure and hopelessness. I never saw any manifestation of any healing anointing, neither was I able to cast any demon out of anyone. My life was nothing but stagnant. Nothing really worked for me. All my efforts to make money like everyone else were aborted by some power I could not understand. I was really fed up with life.
However, in the midst of all this, I still had a hot burning desire to do God’s work. I continued my work as a chorister and eventually became the leader of the intercessory team in my church. In between, I noticed that I was growing stronger in my understanding of the word which is very important for anyone the Lord would use to do great works as I was told would happen in my ministry. All the same, the Lord continued to speak to me through his prophets about how much he loves me and cares for me and how wonderfully great his works in my life would be. However, I was still in a serious financial mess. I had no stable source o of income. How I survived is still a mystery. But the Lord kept me going. His grace was and is still so great upon my life that it is very hard to ever believe that I was going through so much hardship materially.
One of the most devastating experiences I had was when I went to see a prophet in 2012; the man of God repeated everything I had heard over the years about how great a man of God I would be. He told me the Lord had not forgotten me, I would soon be all over tv networks teaching the word and how I would travel far and wide to minister to people. The same messages I have heard about sixteen years ago were repeated even in stronger terms by the Man of God. This time, I was not as excited as I used to be. After all, it has been sixteen long years since I heard those words and have continued to hear it. What difference would this make? Those were my thoughts. As a a matter of fact, I had gone to see the man of to pray for some business I wanted to do. Yet he did not say a word about it. Needless to say that nothing good eventually came out of the business since I still went ahead to do it. It was total failure like others I had done in the past.
Instead of telling me something about the business, the Prophet rather released heartbreaking news that really saddened me. The man of God told me that I was going to be sacked from the apartment where I lived. It was a place I had lived in for three years and had a good relationship with the landlady. When I asked the Prophet why I was going to be sacked, he said, “Your prayer is worrying them.” Shocking. I am going to be sacked from my apartment because of prayer and God is going to allow it when he knows I had no money to rent a new apartment? My mother had died within the same period and the little money I had in my bank account had been spent on her funeral. Where was I going to get money to rent a new apartment? What have I done to deserve all this? I did not understand why God would allow such a thing to happen to me. I lamented.
Shortly after that my landlady told me of her intention to reclaim the apartment. I had three months to move and the question was, “to where?” I had no money to rent a new apartment. Again, why would God allow me to be sacked from an apartment because of prayer? Was it not him who asked that we prayed without ceasing? Why would prayer now become a crime?
To be continued……