Unfortunately, today, many of our ministers do not regard the Spirit of God.
ONE DAY, Peter was sent to the house of Cornelius to preach the Lord Jesus to him and his household for the salvation of their souls. Who do you think sent Peter? The Bible says the Holy Spirit sent him. The Spirit of God spoke to Peter when he fell into a trance.
“And while Peter was pondering the vision, THE SPIRIT SAID TO HIM, “behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, FOR I HAVE SENT THEM (Acts 10: 19- 20).
Do you see how the Holy Spirit powerfully directs the affairs of His church? He ordered Peter to rise, go down and accompany the men without delay. As a servant, Peter had no option but to comply with the order from above. He went down to the men. This is the beauty of how Jesus builds His church. It is His will that must be done but not ours.
Unfortunately, today, many of our ministers do not regard the Spirit of God. Some do not even know Him at all. I mean, many of us are ignorant of His lovely soft voice. You agree with me that many pastors of our time are not even sincerely born again let alone be baptized in the Spirit to relate with Him.
Yet they have the courage to order the Holy Spirit around when ministering. But it is He who should rather instruct and order us around. I have never read anywhere in the Bible where a minister, a servant sent His Master, asked the Holy Spirit to do something for him.
But during revivals in many churches, some ministers command the Holy Spirit during what they call prophetic ministrations. For instance, a pastor may say, “I have seen 15 people who are being given money or babies.” Then, they give the order, “Holy Spirit, bring them to me at once, bring them to the aisle right now. I am counting one, two, three; bring them right now in Jesus name!”
What a ministration! Ministers commanding and ordering around the Holy Spirit who is God! Do ministers have the authority to instruct, control and order the Holy Spirit? Are we not His servants? Is He not the One who decides how things should be done in the Church?
There is so much pride in the pulpit than in the pew today. Many ministers have no regard for the leadings of the Holy Spirit. Do you not agree with me that in many churches, nowadays, pastors are those who determine how the Holy Spirit should move? We determine when, why, where and how deliverance, healing and soul winning should be carried out. We have set dates for these activities. Does this not restrict the move of the Holy Spirit, the Builder of the Church?
One day, I heard a prominent pastor of an East African country on TV, telling his church members that he had no business conducting deliverance on Sundays. “You know, Sundays are not meant for things like deliverance in this church. There is a specific day we do deliverance. We follow strict order of service on Sundays”. The pastor said.
What do the East African pastor’s comments mean to you? A church may be mega but without the Holy Spirit having an absolute authority over it. Men full of pride are resisting the Holy Spirit if not attempting to overthrow Him. This is the reason many pastors of our day have become preachers and teachers of God’s Word without the corresponding power to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils.
However, in a church full of the manifested presence of God, the Holy Spirit moves as He wills. He speaks and the Pastors obey Him gladly. Look at the Holy Spirit’s directive in the church at Antioch:
“Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers…While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, THE HOLY SPIRIT SAID, SET APART FOR ME Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13: 1- 2).
Because the Spirit of Christ chooses and appoints men as vessels for His use, He has control over them. He tells them what should be done in the Church and it is carried out without questioning. His true servants gladly obey His voice so as to be in the perfect will of God the Father.
Sadly, however, in most of the present day churches, the manifested presence of the Spirit is absent. The gifts of the Holy Spirit rarely are manifested. Carnality has taken over the Church, giving Satan and his demons the leeway to fool around – stealing, killing and destroying precious souls.
It is high time, servants of Christ and ministers of the mysteries of God woke up from their slumber and went to God and bowed their knees in prayer for spiritual reawakening. We need to repent and plead the mercy of God and the blood of Jesus for thorough cleansing.