When I handed over pastoral leadership on campus, I made a decision that helped my relevance with God afterwards. The decision was to continue doing what I used to do while in office. I would wake up at night, intercede for services, pray for people and do the things I was doing in my private as though I was still the pastor.
Friend, there is no mystery about success and greatness. There are rules to obey. There are laws to keep, and there are disciplines to maintain. If you would last long on the road of destiny, you must be faithful to doing these things; you must never allow where you are now to keep you from where you are going (1 Timothy 4:15-16).
Keep on doing the things that made you what you are today. Don’t have an arrival syndrome. The same discipline and diligence that brought you to the top would be needed to move you to the next level. Never forget where God took you from and how He was with you. God does not always remind you of your past. But when He does, it means you are beginning to fail (1 Samuel 15:17).
“Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works…” (Revelation 2:5). It is possible to fall from a great height if you stop doing the things that put you at that height. Great heights are maintained by new disciplines but new heights are attained by old disciplines. There is no height you would attain that prayers would become less important. If you ever nurse such thought, the devil is entertaining you somewhere.
“But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction…” (2 Chronicles 26:16). You need to protect your heart as you remain faithful to God. Since God looks at the heart, then our heart either qualifies or disqualifies us with God (1 Samuel 16:7, 24:5, Proverbs 4:23, Ezekiel 28:15). It is easy to have a corrupted heart as you rise. You need to keep your heart in check by exposing it to God’s word and Spirit (Psalms 139:23-24).
The higher you rise, the more difficult it would be to keep up your growth routine. This is why you need to be brutal on yourself. This is when to differentiate between what is important and what is urgent. This is when to separate intimacy from mere activity. It is when to put yourself in an accountability relationship (Daniel 2:49, Acts 4:23). Here, you don’t need fans who sing your praises, you need the right friends and fathers who keep you on track.
© ‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria