Therefore I sat before the vetting committee and timidly refused to take up the opportunity to serve God in a higher capacity. Very few things I have experienced in my entire life can be compared to the emotional roller coaster I went through afterward. I felt I had disappointed my superiors. I felt like a coward for choosing the easy way out. Most traumatizing of all, I felt I had disappointed my Maker. But hey, God makes all things beautiful in His own time, doesn’t he? All things work together for the good of those who love God, don’t they? Fast-forward, my roommates and I signed up to attend the Berea Bible Academy that semester. The meeting times of the Bible Academy would have clashed with the meeting times of the executives of my campus ministry. Basically, I couldn’t have attended classes at Berea (as we affectionately called it) had I accepted the nomination. The Berea Bible Academy was such a blessing to me that nobody can convince me God hadn’t purposed it for me at that point in my life. I owe so much of my knowledge of scripture to Berea. Anytime I look back, I think to myself, so what if I had accepted the nomination? Would I have pleased man, my ego, or my God? Was it my calling to be promoted to a higher position or to attend the Berea Bible Academy? Your guess is as good as mine.

Not all “God-sized” visions are from God. Many are from a god-sized ego, and have no claims on God’s provision.

— JR Vassar (@jrvassar) August 18, 2016

The conversation that ensued between Jesus and the woman at the well is one that has enormous relevance to various aspects of our walk with God. Jesus’ response to the woman’s question, for example, is one that carries so much weight. He told her there was a time coming when the true worshipers of God would worship God in SPIRIT and in TRUTH. Often we stress the part that requires us to worship God in spirit. This simply means nothing physical – geographical location, artifacts, paraphernalia, etc. – should determine the quality of our worship. I don’t have to travel from Ghana to Jerusalem to offer worship to God anymore. It used to be like that though. However, we mostly turn a blind eye to the second part that suggests we must worship God in TRUTH. To worship God in truth means to worship God in sincerity and in all honesty. Since worship and sacrifice are synonymous in Christianity, it means we must offer our acts of worship or sacrifice to God in sincerity. Therefore, do not sign up for a task that you cannot do and later resign.

No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God – Luke 9:62

Remember Ananias and Saphira? This is exactly what killed them. They pledged to offer God the full amount of the property they sold. So when they withheld a certain portion of the whole amount, it cost them their lives. What if they had pledged to give half of the amount they sold the property for and redeemed the pledge? Would they have died? Certainly not! All I am saying is, DO NOT BITE MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW. I am in no way promoting sluggishness or laziness when it comes to working for the Lord. All I am saying is, in all sincerity, take up the tasks that you can do and trust in the Grace of God to empower you to do it. It is better this way than to opt to work for God in a certain capacity that your faith won’t allow you to trust God enough to see you through. Our walk with God is based on faith. The just shall live by faith and without faith, it is impossible to please God. We all don’t have the same level of faith. Therefore, if the complexity of the task you desire to do is too much for your faith in GOD to carry you through it, just let it go… maybe for a later time. 

I still have a feeling most people might misinterpret what I have said so far, so here is another reference. In Numbers 11, Moses encountered this very problem. He was leading a rebellious generation of 600,000+ men on foot. They murmured and challenged his leadership every chance they got. One man leading 600,000+ men was certainly more meat in his mouth than he could chew. After Moses complained bitterly, God instructed him to select 70 elders from the tribes of Israel and the Lord himself took of the spirit that was upon Moses and placed it on the 70 also. Imagine the relief that Moses felt. It means he was doing the work of 71 men all that while and didn’t even know it. The stress! 

Undue fame, exposure, and recognition can kill you. That is how David orchestrated the death of Uriah. He ordered that Uriah be positioned at the place where the battle was fiercest. Usually, the soldiers who fight in that position are the ones who come back home with ample stories to tell of their heroic deeds. Uriah wasn’t qualified to be fighting in that position. Nevertheless, it is sad that in his case he couldn’t have declined the order because it was a decree from the king. But here is a typical example of what I have been saying all along. He was killed because he got promoted. In fact, he was promoted to be killed. All was lost because the spotlight was placed on him. God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. 

God cares for your soul as much as he cares for the souls he will save through you. This is why sometimes we see very anointed men and women of God serving in lower capacities (than WE would expect them to) or away from the public eye. Stephen is a typical example of this. He was chosen together with 6 others to serve food on tables to widows. He was assigned to serve food like a waiter. Meanwhile, the bible describes him as  “… a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit”. Yet he was ordered to serve food on tables. Stephen was the first martyr ever! The first person to be killed for his faith in God after the death of Christ. His knowledge of scripture was impeccable (Check out his speech to the Sanhedrin in Acts 7). He understood the things of God and operated in spiritual gifts. Still, he was assigned to serve food on tables.

If you’re desiring for God to grow your platform… just understand what you’re really asking is to increase your capacity to serve others.

— Ezekiel Azonwu (@wordsbyezekiel) August 16, 2016

Not every opportunity to minister in a certain capacity is the will of God for you. Sometimes we accept these opportunities to tickle our egos. We may have genuine reasons why we would want to serve God in a higher capacity, but we need to understand that a higher capacity is just more grounds to serve more people.

How will you know if an opportunity to serve God in a certain capacity comes from God himself? I believe one sure way to know this is when you don’t desire to get noticed, recognized, or rewarded by a man for your work in that capacity. In all this, it is imperative to trust that God can promote any and everyone and still work on them to fit into that position. Would you still do what you do if you wouldn’t get noticed by men? Knowing that your father who sees you in secret will reward you openly is enough motivation to serve God in any capacity. It is the motive of your actions that matter and not how visible they are to man.

References: Numbers 11, Acts 6 and 7 and John 4

There were ushers everywhere: directing traffic; welcoming people; and some were running here and there like headless fowls. Senyo whispered something about the organizational structure of the church. I didn’t quite get that because I was distracted. There was a humming sound coming from the church auditorium. People were praying. That made me smile. The moment the usher opened the door for us, the prayers didn’t sound like humming anymore. They sounded more like a multitude of people having a conversation on top of their voices. Well, that was just what it was. The room looked filled to capacity, nevertheless the usher managed to find two empty seats for us somewhere in the fifth row. We didn’t sit down when she took us to our seats. Everybody else was praying and we were supposed to be praying too. I felt Senyo shove something into my pocket. Before I could ask what it was he whispered into my ears ‘Dela, that’s a deodorant. Prophet asked us to bring one each for today’s service. I got you one too’.’ A deodorant? For what?’ I quizzed myself in my thoughts. But I didn’t protest; I let that thought slide away. Right after that, Senyo zoomed into prayer. He was praying on top of his voice. I could hear his voice over the multitude of voices in the room. It warmed my heart to see young men praying fervently. Just in front of the pulpit, a group of five men had circled one short man. They were praying to a rhythm by swinging their waists two times and then clapping twice. They repeated the cycle over and over again. Who on earth prays by alternating between pelvic thrusts and claps? Anyway I thought it was very funny. I literally had to cover my lips with my palm to contain the pending outburst of laughter.

The young man leading the prayer was spotting an oversized long-sleeved shirt; a hugely knotted flying tie; a white belt and a white shoe to match it. He was sweating profusely as he prayed – swinging his left arm here and there while holding onto the microphone with the right. He suddenly uttered an extended hiss, indicating that he was about to change the prayer topic. ‘Hallelujah! Oh Hallelujah!’ he said with an extremely hoarse voice. Even before the congregation could respond he went on to elaborate on the next prayer topic:

‘Brethren, we are going to pray against the shpirit of doubt: the shpirit that compels many of us to doubt the anointing on the head of the Prophet. You see, in the bible, Paul refused to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Until Jesus appeared to him and the rest of the disciples in the room they had locked themselves in…’

‘Paul? Paul doubted the resurrection of Jesus Christ? That was Thomas’ I thought to myself. But I shook off the thought and generously handed him the benefit of the doubt. I began to whisper a few words under my breath too. About two minutes into this prayer session I heard a few voices from behind me chanting ‘Baino! Baino!! Baino!!!’. Soon the entire auditorium was electrified as many began chanting ‘Baino!’ too. I couldn’t understand what was going on. I asked Senyo, who told me the prophet was making a majestic entry into the church from the back. I looked very confused. But with a smile on his face, Senyo explained, ‘The name is actually Prophet Binoculars. Many call him that because of his exceptional ability to see that which the naked human eye cannot see’. ‘So it is some sort of a nickname’, I retorted. The chanting went on and even gathered a lot of energy with each passing second. One could tell that this was a church tradition. The entry of the prophet was obviously more important to them than the prayer. I turned around to catch a glimpse of this glorious sight only to be surprised by the fact that it really was what I expected it to be: a glorious sight. He took slow steps as if he had no cares in the world. With raised shoulders and slightly pouted lips he waved his hands at the people who were cheering now. Prophet Bino looked angry – maybe just pompous. As he made his way past our row, I realized that the white velvet robe he wore swept the floor after him. The atmosphere was charged now. Many ran back and forth in the aisles as if possessed by the ‘Tazmanian devil’.

He motioned, and the room was as quiet as an examination hall. The very moment he took hold of the microphone he said with a deep voice, ‘you are welcome to the Christ Resurrected Nazarene Calvary Church, be seated’. ‘Christ what?’ the name of the church defies every single semantic rule in grammar. Just there and then he pointed at a woman in the front row. Ushers rushed to wrap a cloth around her waist. He said something about some yellowish liquid that had been oozing from the woman’s nether regions. She nodded in agreement – at this point she was standing right in front of the prophet. His thick left hand landed on the woman’s head in what appeared to be a struggle. He kept twisting and turning her head roughly while praying. After a while he declared, ‘I HAVE DELIVERED YOU!’. The cheers that followed this declaration were louder than the one that heralded his entry into the church. He shrugged and kept that posture while turning around: as if to say ‘you know me. This is nothing compared to the other mighty things I am known for’. Wow! I had never seen such a display of self-glorification before.

Prophet Bino instructed the congregation to take out their deodorants and rub it in their armpits. I didn’t want to be a part of what was going on at all. Many were mumbling a few words of prayer while doing it. Senyo was doing it with a special kind of zeal that he didn’t even notice I wasn’t complying with the instruction. At this point I was lost in thoughts. But I could still hear him say – well I heard it faintly – that anybody who was tickled by the rolling ball of the deodorant would know no sorrow and would laugh for the rest of their lives. The entire congregation roared with laughter at this point. I was far away from them. I was nowhere near the church. I could see scenes from my village square playing in my head. When I was 12 years old my mother took me to the village square for the very first time to witness the ‘Trogbor festival’. ‘Trogbor’ means ‘the return’ in Ewe. It is celebrated by the people of ‘Etodzi’ to mark the return of the spirits of dead relatives. Every year, these spirits paid the villagers a visit by possessing the fetish priest and his subjects. The fetish priest and his subjects would display several magical skills to the admiration of many as a result.  And when those gathered there clapped, he shrugged and kept the posture for a few seconds (so this was where I had seen that pose before). It was believed that the spirits of the villagers’ dead relatives possessed the priest and his subjects but one couldn’t tell whose relative was controlling which of them. They ran up and down like they had no sense of direction; occasionally crushing into each other and falling in the process. The villagers waved at them, in hope that they were waving at their departed kinsmen

I guess this was the connection between Prophet Bino and the fetish Priest: the conceited demeanor he exuded. I was literally deaf and blind to what was happening around me. Suddenly, I remembered the day I gave my life to Christ. I could almost still feel the rain water dripping down my face mixed with my own tears as I stood in front of the crusade grounds. The Evangelist who made the alter call spoke with such passion and fervency that many gave their lives to Christ that day. Somewhere in his sermon, he spoke about the eruption of false prophets and teachers especially in the cities. He spoke about how most of them are shepherding millions to hell. Anytime he mentioned ‘hell’ it was as if he was about to break down and cry. You could tell that he was grieved by the fact that some people would end up there. I now understood that that part of the sermon was about Prophet Bino and the many like him. I wondered if his followers ever read their Bibles to know what it said about such Prophets. Prophet Bino is nothing like Jesus. He isn’t meek, gentle or driven by compassion when he sees the multitude of people. Heck, from what I hear, he rarely preaches a sermon; he only shows up to display his ‘super powers’.

My heart was broken. I told Senyo I was leaving and handed him the deodorant: while trying to get up he held my arm, but I yanked it from his hands and walked away never to return.