"HERE I AM. WITNESS AGAINST ME [Samuel] BEFORE THE LORD AND BEFORE HIS ANOINTED [King Saul]: WHOSE ox have I taken, OR whose donkey have I taken, OR whom have I cheated? WHOM have I oppressed, OR FROM WHOSE HAND HAVE I RECEIVED ANY BRIBE WITH WHICH TO BLIND MY EYES? I WILL RESTORE IT TO YOU.”
1 Samuel 12:3 (NKJV)
• Every assignment or Ministry is important. There is no Ministry, assignment, or gift, given by God, that is less important.
- If the work or assignment given you seems to be insignificant in your sight, that is, you are not enthused by the assignment; then ask God in prayer to put the love of the work in your heart.
- You cannot define a Ministry for God! In other words, you are not the one to tell God what you want to do, what He should assign you to do. WHATEVER you are assigned to do, you should do it. You cannot assign yourself nor commission yourself. You have to do whatever He tells you to do, not what you have chosen to do.
- Whoever wants to tie you in a place, assigns you against God's Plan or Will, would be separated from you.
- God would sever you, take you away from those who might not agree with the move of God or plan of His, in your life and Ministry.
- If you want to establish what God has not commanded, you will suffer for it, and you may lose your life in the process.
- Do not carry any excess luggage in the journey of your life. YOU cannot box God in, regarding the matters of your life!
- God will do for you whatever you desire, if you first and foremost obeyed fully, And faithfully carried out the instructions given you in your assignment.
WHATEVER you do desire would eventually be given to you by God, but may not be the way you have thought it would be. - Samuel remained focused in his assignment. Do not deviate or derail from the work or the assignment because of the mundane—the material things.
a. You are not called to do your wishes or Will, but His.
b. You are not building your Ministry, but His.
c. And, you cannot define Ministry for Him.
• You have a part to fulfil through your assignment, out of the overall, the general purpose of God for His Kingdom on earth.
YOU are not assigned to do all, everything; you have to know your part.
ALSO, stop looking at someone else's assignment, concentrate on what you are assigned to do.
- If you get about complaining on the challenges you are facing or the problems you are going through in the process of fulfilling the assignment, you may be counselled against God's Plan for your life.
SOME well-meaning people might counsel you to consider doing other things apart from what God has given you, instructed you to do. - Do these:
a. Get to know the real Plan of God for your life, although it may take awhile before you get to know or discover it fully and in details.
YOU have to be painstaking in getting the accurate picture of it. Do not be in a hurry! Follow Him, it would be unfolded as you progress in the work.
b. If you are sure that you have discovered it, stick to it.
THE instructions given at the initial stage of the work would always be adjusted or slightly altered as you continue building. Thus, do not be rigid and myopic!
YOU have to be able to see the way God sees, have His point of view. If you resisted His bidding or command, as you walk with Him, the progress may be truncated, in which stagnation and dryness would set in.
c. Accept whatever pattern God may have chosen to bring the vision to the Fulfilment. In other words, let the pattern with which the vision would be actualized be His (Hebrews 8:5).
DO NOT try to use or copy another person's pattern, it may not work, but rather causes a set back for you.
d. Beware or be wary of those who will not believe and agree with your God-given vision—assignment.
• Embrace what you do believe and convinced that God has communicated to you with all your heart, as you assignment.
- Set or inquire to know more about the assignment.
- Move closer to God and be more intimate with Him because He is the only One WHO can help you in the fulfilment and actualisation of the assignment, after all, He gave you the vision to begin with.
NO one else can interpret or explain the details of the vision clearly to you as God would.
• Note the following on Focusing:
(i) You must know your area of concentration, what your focus is (Ephesians 3:7,8; Philippians 3:13,14).
READ: Galatians 1:15,16; Ephesians 3:7,8; 1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11
(ii) You must know your audience, those whom God has sent you (Acts 22:17-21; Galatians 2:7-9).
(iii) You must give priority to your primary assignment. Give everything in you to the work, for the fulfilment of the assignment (1 Timothy 4:15,16; 2 Timothy 2:4-6,15).
(iv) Pay the necessary and needed prices for the fulfilment of the assignment—to get the work done (1 Corinthians 9'19-23; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18; 2 Timothy 4:5).
(v) Establish a line of action to get the work done. Do not wait until you have gotten everything set or accurately and excellently well, before you get started. THAT may bog you down!
GOD will keep modifying, and keep re-modifying the work as you progress in it, until the actual picture of what He purposes emerges. So, start with what you have or know and keep improving as you progress in the works.
(vi) God will take you from one phase to another, and a stage to another stage. No level is permanent, you keep moving until you get to perfection (2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 4:13).
(vii) Everything you need is in your assignment, you discover, receive, or realize the desired blessing, when you focus on the work and remain faithful in doing it.
(viii) Know that you will have to endure hardships and afflictions as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3; 4:5).
• Ministry leadership and Glamour.
- God has decided to add glamour to the work of Ministry leadership. God is not a user, when He uses you, He rewards you as well.
- Glamorous aspects of the work come or made visible and evident, after a long period of faithfulness and obedience in the work.
- Do not be after money, nor be greedy for money, in the fulfilment of your assignment (1 Corinthians 9:16-18; 1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 1:7).
- If you made money or material things your goal, you might derail or lose focus, and may eventually lose the anointing on your life (1 Timothy 6:6-11).
• Samuel started well and finished well. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, YOU will finish well.
- Remember, for you to finish well in your assignment:
a. You must have integrity.
b. You must walk in close fellowship with God.
c. You must grow in Word; in the knowledge of Him, prayers, And fasting. - Doing or practicing the above mentioned points will task you, but they are rewarding.
- Do not disappoint God in the assignment given to you by Him.
- Do not look at Man, humans, but God, that you may prosper in the work.
• It is my prayer that you will fulfil in the assignment in Jesus' name.
Peace!