THE FULFILLMENT OF THE VISION AND THE GROWTH OF A MINISTRY

"And say to Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, THAT YOU MAY FULFIL IT."
Colossians 4:17 (NKJV)

• Growth of a church or ministry can be hampered by the devil through human beings who yielded themselves to him—to be used for such a purpose.

• If you as a minister have applied all the biblical principles for the growth of a church or ministry yet your Church or ministry does not grow: then you need to go back to God and ask Him what He actually called you to do, and where have you gone wrong?
  COULD it be you have not been building according to the pattern given to you?
• And if you did not miss it in some of the things highlighted above, it probably means the problem has spiritual undertone.
• God operates through human beings, and the devil does also.
  IF a leader is not sensitive enough, the devil might influence some of the people who work with him or her to hinder what God has planned to do (Mark 8:31-33).
• Some of them who are carnal, body ruled, might yield to the devil and hinder what God has purposed to do (1 Corinthians 3:1).

1. "From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
2. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!"
3. But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, FOR YOU ARE NOT MINDFUL OF THE THINGS OF GOD, BUT THINGS OF MEN."
   Matthew 16:21-23 (NKJV)

• If you pioneered a ministry, you founded a new work, you should know that you have a price to pay; for the vision, the work, to stand.

• In fact, the devil has plans to abort every God-given vision, it is you, the visionary, who will not allow him.
• Your vision is a threat to the kingdom of darkness; hence the devil would not want the vision to stand.
• For your vision to stand, you have to be strong, especially in the place of Prayer and the Word (Acts 6:2,4).
• And you have to focus on your assignment—what God has called you to do, His plan for you.
• As I said earlier, there are people around you, among the members of your congregation, who might yield to the devil, be manipulated by him, to stop your vision.
• Thus, you must have the eyes of an eagle 🦅, and you must be able to see farther, see beyond the physical, beyond what can be seen with your physical eyes.
• You must be able to think and ask questions, know about things that are happening around you in ministry—and that comes through your intimacy with the Holy Spirit.
• Jesus in His earthly ministry already knew the person who will betray Him, how Peter would deny Him, and some other things that would happen in His ministry (Matthew 26:21-25; John 6:70;17:12; Luke 22:31-34).

• You should know there are vision killers.

• The devil thrives through ignorance.When another dream is given to a leader apart from his God-given dream, the devil will have a field day.
• The truth is, If you do not know where you are going, another vision would be given to you by someone else.
• Even if you know your assignment, that is, your vision, you need to hold on to it, and fight the fight of faith to get it fulfilled (1 Timothy 6:12).
• Fight of faith is not about fighting the demonic powers in the heavenly, but about pressing home what God has spoken about your assignment, vision; and pressing ahead in the face of the opposition without being deterred (Psalm 23:5).
• Vision fulfilment is not done without dealing with the opposition, resisting the devil, through the Word, prayer and fasting: "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
• You deal with the devil by declaring the Word of God and resist him, tell him to desist from his operation—you tell him what the Word of God says about the situation at hand.
• Jesus defeated the devil when he came to tempt Him by declaring what the Word of God says (Matthew 4:4,7,10).
• Paul in his experience about the churches he planted shares:

1. "in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, IN FASTINGS OFTEN, in cold and nakedness—
2. besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: MY DEEP CONCERN FOR ALL THE CHURCHES."
   2 Corinthians 11:27,28 (NKJV)

• You resist the devil, the adversary, who would not want the vision to stand or materialize; or may have stirred someone up to give you another vision that you may derail.
• If the devil sees that he cannot stop God’s call on your life, then he would want you to derail in fulfilling the vision.
• He would want to give you another vision, want you to be busy with what you are not called to do.
• You must guard against distraction; it is a bait of Satan.
• Guard against weights, excess luggage, that you may fulfil your assignment: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, LET US LAY ASIDE EVERY WEIGHT, and the SIN which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).

• For the sake of emphasis:
GET clear direction from God through discovering of purpose, knowing of God's plan, and receive clearly from Him on how to go by it.

• Be willing to pay the price needed for your vision to be fulfilled.
  No price should be too much for you to pay—for the fulfilment of your vision.
• You cannot do much without a consistent prayer: "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Thereforeask the Holy Spirit to give you supernatural prayer life—ability to stay long in the place of prayer.
• Let some relationship be called a quit in your life: relationship is by choice not by force.
• You should also know that it is not everybody who started the vision with you will stay and stand with you to accomplish the vision.
• Some are with you for a while, thus allow God to weed out the people around you that would not allow the growth of the work.
  WEEDING gives space for growth.
• If you keep with you those whom God wants to let go, you may not experience growth—it would be a mirage.
• If you have wrong people strategically planted around you, you may not get to where God is taking you.
• Therefore you must define your relationship with everyone around you.
  JESUS Christ in His earthly ministry had different levels of relationship: His relationship with the multitude is different from that of the twelve disciples, and that of the twelve is different from the three—Peter, James, and John.
• What He shared with the twelve disciples would not be shared with the multitude, and what He shared with the three might not be shared with the twelve disciples (Matthew 13:16,17; 17:1-9; Luke 10:23,24).

1. "Then He turned to His disciples and said PRIVATELY, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see;
2. "for I tell you that MANY prophets and kings have desired to SEE what you see, and have not seen it, and to HEAR what you hear, and have not heard it."
   Luke 10:23,24 (NKJV)

"Now as they came down from the mountain, JESUS COMMANDED THEM [Peter, James, and John], saying, "TELL THE VISION TO NO ONE UNTIL THE SON OF MAN IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD."
Matthew 17:9 (NKJV)

• EndeaVour to work with those who believe in your vision and are ready to make sacrifices for the vision to stand or fulfil.

• Dissenters or traitors should be released to go because they can contaminate or influence others negatively: "... know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump" (1 Corinthians 5:6).

"CAST OUT THE SCOFFER, AND CONTENTION WILL LEAVE; Yes, strife and reproach will cease."
Proverbs 22:10 (NKJV).

• You will not fail in Jesus' name.
Peace!