Recently, my daughter asked me an important question. I gave her the answer and she shouted, “Yes, I know! God told me the same thing, I only came to confirm from you.” Wow! I was dazed. She has taught me a great lesson; hear God for yourself, the best that pastors and prophets should do is to confirm what God has already told you.
Friend, you must never delegate divine direction to someone else. Listen, nobody has a monopoly of God. In Christ, we are all children of the same Father, God; nobody is a grand child of God. You have as much access to God that anyone else has; Christ made this possible via His finished work on the cross (Ephesians 2:13-14). You can now come boldly to God and get direction for your life and destiny (Ephesians 3:12, Hebrews 4:16, 10:19). Hallelujah!!!
The kind of ministry that would impact you greatly is one that helps you to access God personally, not the one that makes you dependent on the pastor or someone else. You must be taught to take responsibility for your personal walk with God. There must be no middle man. The best a pastor should do is to encourage and supply you understanding, he must not replace God in your life. In this dispensation, you now have access (Romans 8:10-11).
A young man once told me this; “pastor, my marital life is in your hands o. Whatever God tells you, I will go by it.” I responded; “you are not serious. I’m already happily married, your marital life is in your own hands. Get God for yourself.” He was shocked, but he got the lesson. Dear pastor, there is no point proving super man before your congregation. You are not their ‘Elsha-Dad’, you did not die for them. Christ did; He is their Elshaddai.
Leaders must be careful not to raise followers who are overly dependent on them. Your leadership is the most effective when your people can do without you. Followers must also be taught never to abdicate their personal responsibility to their leaders, else they would not grow and would eventually become victims of wolves. This is why you must know God for yourself. You must take personal responsibility for your destiny while leveraging the helps that God has provided for you in your pastors and leaders.
As you go into this new week, I want to remind you that God has granted you access to His throne (Hebrews 4:16). He longs to have you come directly to Him, not by proxy. He has answers to life’s questions readily available with Him. You only need to come boldly to Him and learn to ask. You need to leverage the teachings and leadership of your pastor to develop in your personal walk with God. If you do this, you will never fail. Amen!
© ‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria