About Holy GhostTheEvangel

Capacity Building For Maximal Impact

The primary assignment or job description of a ground-breaking minister is disrupting and dissembling the erstwhile profitable machinery and ecosystem of spiritual darkness.

That will surely not happen without a fight. The war is not unwinnable, but God’s victory happens when the correct technique is applied (Mark 3:23-27). The battlefront in the war includes (Ephesians 6:12; 2 Corinthians 10:3-4):

1. 1. Confusing our mandate
2. 2. Sidelining or compromising help from our potential helpers
3. 3. Undermining our converts among other forms of subterfuge

Tying the strongman before entering the battlefield is preparation conducted in the spiritual space. However, we must never forget that in our walk with there is a ‘Me or You’ part, and there is a God part. The ‘me’ part involves listening to the inspiration of Holy Spirit, asking in prayers before wondering why God has not moved, and asking again to confirm our readiness. God will always confirm His written word if we know it and challenge Him at His word (Numbers 21:2).

David had the promise but also the preparation. He was not only used to killing, but he was also used to tearing apart animals more powerful and dangerous than men. Therefore, he was bold enough to convince the king to let him go to take care of the national embarrassment. When he approached Goliath, as Goliath threatened him with incantations to the gods of the Philistines, David knew to counter him with the promise of the Almighty God for Israel. That preparation cleared the way for the Hebrew victory (1 Samuel 17:43-47).

Gaming Your Emotions

A classical act of satanic subterfuge is gaming our emotions. It takes not just the fear of God but also the fear of missing the promise of paradise to escape the wiles of Satan (1 Kings 19: 14; Matthew 4). It is a tough ‘me’ part. If Satan could try it with Jesus, he will crush you if he can. Satan must be interested in you destroying his secured empire. It is rare to find a minister of God that has not been challenged and tested by anger, money, and women. It takes capacity to win these wars. God delivers but man must know what he wants if he were not to fall. Satan promised Jesus a beautiful kingdom in return for accepting the lordship of Satan.

The Bible confirms that what Jesus Christ saw was beautiful. However, Satan did not realize that Jesus had a greater promise. Satan was concerned about the temporary while Jesus knew that ultimately, He owned everything in addition to the world of Satan. That was settled in heaven before Jesus even came to be like man. The job of Christ was to show man that flesh can be pure, just like God. That mystery bothered Satan because he did not understand the ‘send-forth message’ that Jesus came to achieve in the world.

Your ministry does not have to be near a stream or an ocean to face challenges from the marine kingdom. The queens are everywhere on land seeking promotion and/or recognition in their different cohorts. Discernment helps yet managing discernment can equally be challenging. And never forget that these actors also compete for superiority and dominance in your domain. That is, they will pull down each other and get rid of competitors from church whatever it takes to become the spiritual ruler of the church. All ministers understand this concept, but how they manage it matters.

I was familiar with a young family that joined a Pentecostal church from another ministry. This is because there was no branch of his original church nearby. He was already an altar pastor in his own church. He told the pastor of his new church who was in fact much younger in ministry that he needed a place of worship that was why he had come. He had no interest in becoming a shepherd of any potential branch, but he will serve in whatever capacity this new church needs help. He also told the pastor that his wife was ready to serve but not in area that has to do with money. His wife is an accountant and people easily assume that was her best ministry.

But it was really a small church, and when they had shortfalls in people to count money, occasionally they will call on her and she obliges them. Gradually, it became a habit. One day, a lady sent her son to ask the ushers to help convert a $50 bill into smaller units, a habit frowned upon in churches but was becoming common in this church. Later, the woman went to complain that her money was short by $5. And that became a big mess. A big mess that took years to quiet, never settled.

Of course, with the aura of accusation of dishonesty hang around the visiting pastor’s wife among other rumors of various kinds against the husband. Consequently, his influence in the ministry waned. People ran away from his groups and others left the church completely because they could not stand hypocrisy. Knowing and understanding the source of the problem the visiting pastor refused to leave the assembly despite the active efforts of the shepherd to malign him to get rid of him. Unfortunately, the congregation has waned to less than a quarter of its real size, yet the accuser remains the chief adviser to the shepherd.

This is a summary of cumulative events that coursed over seven years. Nothing else can be more frustrating than the refusal of a business to grow, in this case, the church of God. However well-intentioned the pastor may be, Satan knows how to use subtleness to frustrate his ambitions. After all, deception is only a tool of satanic subtleness (2 Corinthians 15). Even Jesus had to pray to save Peter (Luke 22:31-32; 1 Peter 4:7). No one knew when the conversation took place. If Jesus did not mention it, Peter had no idea that his future was actively been jeopardized by satanic subterfuge who was already negotiating the next steps with God. It takes being upright to win those wars on our emotions.

Protection From The Adversary

The challenges of Daniel were not just spiritual blockage of answers to his prayers resulting in war among the angels. He also faced plots by men who were jealous of his achievements. Stepping on powerful groups in the church can cause problems for the pastor. However, when it becomes a decision to stand on God’s principles men may not feel very comfortable with that. Satan likes to feed off such grounds to intensify conspiracies against the men of God. The only diplomatic passport to salvation from these evil agenda is one’s commitment to the truth of the gospel (Daniel 3: 28-29; Psalms 91; 2 Timothy 4:17-18; 1 Peter 5:10). Daniel’s devotion to God was not questionable. Peter may not appear to be so fanatic about religion but his fastidious commitment to the gospel earned him the nickname – the Zealot. Since, they were material to God’s plan for the future of mankind, security from satanic conspiracy was earned.

Can the ‘me’ part be challenged despite all our efforts? Certainly, yes. Or better still we should ask Job. Like Job victory can be ours if we do not allow these challenging times to weaken our resolve. Job refused to give in to the victim psychology despite all the losses and physical illness that he suffered. It may be time to rise like Mordecai and Esther who encouraged their people to rise with fortitude and face the enemy head on. There can be no better explanation of the scripture in Isaiah 54, which claims that God himself made the blacksmith and the locusts that destroy. God has unchallengeable ability to abrogate any agenda of evil against us. Therefore, when times of trial and temptations come even though we fall, we must not succumb. Therein lies the strength to enjoy the victory. To recant the moments in testimonies of God’s salvation (Psalm 50:23).

The warning may be that a good sergeant major, is not a brigadier yet. Therefore, there are more stripes to conquer. Affliction from arrows will not overcome us. God raised up, anointed and enabled Cyrus to defend Israel. He will not leave us for Satan to disgrace (Isaiah 45). God battles for the apple of His eyes. Just like any human being will not allow any foolish pranks near one’s eyes, God will not oversee our downfall (Zechariah 2:8-9). He will be there to pick us up, always. In other words, as they may be cooking evil in their covens, God will intervene to destroy the agenda because He is able (Psalms 35:1).

Deliverance From Satan

We agree that there are forces including gods, who roam the earth and will waste no time in pursuing legalities against anyone including the children of light. Light causes an attraction anyway but legalities such covenants are spiritual rules that need enforcement. When Jesus encourages us to exchange our current yoke for His lighter yoke, it sure indicates that we are all bound by certain evil memberships or principles. Submitting to the plea Jesus Christ relieves us from the strangle hold of these satanic yokes.

Our behaviors are totally all learned, our DNA influences our reaction to our environment, hence, our beliefs about life. God clearly said that He visits the sins of father all the way up to the fourth generation of the disobedient. Therefore, we can suffer from what we know very little about. These are the types of covenants that these gods love to enforce. Certainly, that includes curses. It also includes punishment for rejecting ancestral altars to worship God as a Christian. We must obtain deliverance from all these phenomena to be truly free.

The prince of Persia is an acronym for an angelic being. There was a reigning king who Daniel interacted with physically, yet there was a supernaturally ruler over the kingdom. Certainly, he was not happy that the children of Israel were about to be delivered. However, he pursued legalities to delay the freedom of the Israelites for whom Daniel was praying. There must have been an effective Beelzebub in the vision of the people before they could be bold enough to challenge Jesus about the source of His unimaginable abilities. But as always, Jesus convinced us that God is always the mightier power (Jeremiah 31:11; Luke 11:21-23). Able and always ready to deliver His servants.

The story is told of a man of God whose evangelical prowess troubled servants of darkness to the extent that they summoned his spirit to an occult meeting to kill him. However, instead of the pastor’s face to appear in the bowl of water when his name was called, a huge rock fell from the roof scattering the altar of sacrifice. That sounds like Dagon and Ark of Covenant’s story. The Pharisees and Sadducees who dared to accuse Jesus of using Beelzebub must have been familiar with capabilities of that god. The implication being that they must have been consulting with that god in addition to their synagogue duties and status for them to be confident enough to point fingers at Jesus. Essentially, even enemies within can be used against us. However, we cannot afford to lose focus of the purpose. Therein lies our insurance and confidence in the God that delivers.

Hence, even when we are locked up for truth’s sake, we must envisage that God is about to glorify Himself once again in our work. We cannot lose focus on God, that is the great lesson from Job (Jeremiah 1:6-10). Joseph, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego as well as Peter, John The Baptist, Stephen, Paul, and Silas, all found themselves in traps not of their own making. The outcome in each of these cases were different from each other because of the demand for intervention and knowledge of a God who delivers. Not only do we have power to exploit, but we also have a covenant keeping God who saves (Jeremiah 20:11-13; Jeremiah 31:11; Luke 10: 17-19).

Put On Your Armor

About every minister of God preaches the Paul’s admonition about the armor of God at least once a month. However, is it that easy to understand and to practice? If all Christians were obedient, why all the trouble in the world and a need to repeat it ever so often? It is a certainly sure coat of defense if we had it on all the time. But that is the problem, we may have it, know, and memorize all the relevant scriptures, yet may not apply them when it is of the essence. Certainly, we are all compromised to varying degrees, hence, the need to refresh ourselves all the time. For the minister charging into a new definition, not donning the armor is exposing himself to great risk. Just like a dog checks out every new face to pick their body odor our new community identifies us as new and foreign until we blend. Essentially, we stand out while everyone is watching and waiting, teasing, and testing until we find fit or define our own territory. Therefore, we will discuss it here for sake of completion.

To remain standing firm at the end of the battle, we need to wear our armor. Certainly, we have the freedom of personal choice to depend on the anointing and training for the work in disregard of veteran mentorship of the Apostle Paul class. That is, to voluntarily sacrifice oneself on the enemy’s altar, such confidence is suicidal. Using the Bible as a pillow is not the same as memorizing the scriptures and being ready to quote it even in our dreams. When I was in training, the expectation was that I quote from memory at least five scriptures during a 40-minute sermon. This does not include other references written down but scriptures relevant to the topic that flow into your spirit as you deliver your message.

My classic on the Word of God which we have shared somewhere else is Elijah’s understanding and use of the written word of God to cause manifestations that remain eternal legacies. That same Word of God has been declared as being a guide and more importantly, the discerner of spirits, that is, the inner thoughts of the deeper thoughts of men. In other words, we do not rely on our wisdom or using our personal knowledge of the scriptures to interpret the challenges and the management of those challenges that face us. Even in our routine interactions, we begin to see how the Holy Ghost interprets words of parishioners from embedded words in our spirit and guides our reactions and speech in situations including when evil spirits challenge the Holy Ghost (Ephesians 6:17; Luke 11:21-23; Jeremiah 1:10; 1 Corinthians 3:16). Man of God, find instruction and follow it.