MAN OF GOD! WHERE IS GOD'S GLORY?

he scripture makes it succinctly clear that He will
not share His glory with any man. God shares His
love, power, grace, mercies and all other great
blessings with His people but there is something He
will never share with man and that is His glory.
Unfortunately, some Pastors and people in ministry have
taken the place of God and have usurped the glory that is
due to God. It is a terrible thing to take the glory that is
meant for the Lord.
Dear Man of God, no matter how anointed you are, when
you create an impression amongst your flocks that the
problem of their lives ends with you then you are putting
yourself in the place of God in their lives. You put the
people under 'lock and key' and you manipulate them at
will. You have sermonized and taught them to be more
dependent on you and less dependent on God even though
you don't admit to this. God cannot compromise His glory,
in the old and new testaments, people paid dearly for
usurping the glory that belongs to God. When you fail to
realize that God is the source of all that you are today, then
you are treading on a thin line and heading to your doom.
Your life and ministry is hanging on a balance.
Remember the days when you started in ministry; how
humble and how lowly in heart you are. How you will pray
and seek the face of God tirelessly knowing fully well that
He is your backbone. When people want to help you with
your bible and stand as your 'armor bearer' you maintained
your demeanor refusing to be cajoled to do likewise. You
made up your mind not to be bamboozled by the pressures
of ministry and lower the standard of the Word of God.
You were a truth soldier and your motto was 'others may
but I cannot.' Then the Lord began smiling on you, your
diligence and labor in ministry began to experience a turn
around. Before you know it, you moved the church to
another bigger space. Things changed dramatically for you
and mighty works were being wrought through you.
Then gradually, you get overwhelmed by the successes that
have greeted the ministry. Prayer time begins to drop or
even vaporized completely. You scoop the inspiration and
knowledge of other men to move 'stuff' on the pulpit as
compared to when you hear directly from God. Now, you
have an 'armor bearer' who takes off your coat for you, put
your shoes on your feet, stand behind you when you
minister, wipes your sweat from your brow as you stand on
the pulpit, if it were possible, he could carry you to the
podium if you so desire. The flesh begins to over-ride the
Spirit. You begin to lose your sight of God and see yourself
in His place. Unfortunately, you are in denial just like
Samson that the Spirit of God has departed from you. You
think since the Miracle still happens and the men pleasers
we surround ourselves with always gives us the thumbs up
then all is well. That's why most often I think the pulpit is
one of the subtle routes to hell. You may be on the path to
hell and may never know it.
The modern day church has drifted. A lot of practices that
are alien to the church has been introduced in a bid to be
millennium compliant. You hear phrases like 'the world is
changing and as a result the church must step up her game
too,' it has become a rat race, the church competing to
become like the world but the world drifting far from the
reach of the church. Now, don' t misunderstand me, there is
nothing wrong if the church introduces changes that will
help with accomplishing her mission but this should not
mean adapting ungodly method all in the name of
expanding our reach.
What has happened to you Man of God, you now put a
price tag on the gifts that God has graciously bestowed on
you. If an invitation to preach does not include a first class
ticket, 5 Star hotel (or even higher), expensive continental
dishes to be prepared for you and categorically stating what
your honorarium should be otherwise you won't honor such
invitation. Some will even tell you to your face that you
cannot afford them. They reject invitations that will not pay
them more and accept those they are sure of the financial
outcome. They have failed to realize that God made them
who they are and He knows every motive behind our
actions. That's why I believe there will be a lot of surprises
on the final day.
My dear Pastor, "Let him that thinks he stands, take heed
let's he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12). Make every conscious effort to
glorify God before the people. Moses suffered for this. God
will not lower His standard, if He did not do same for
Moses who was considered the meekest man on earth in his
time. My deepest prayer has been, ' having done all, to be
found standing.' The Lord will help us all. Bless you.