I have ministered to a lot of people over the years…seen God do amazing miracles…and I have learned a lot as well. Most of the ministry I do, is one on one, and no one ever sees it.
I used to get burdens, where I would go into intercession for a long time. Praying and praying. I did not always know who it was…or why I was praying…but then the next day, I would be out and about, just living life and someone would come up to me, and boom. The same feeling I had when I prayed at home would come on me. BUT Still…I waited and asked God to have them ask me to pray for them IF it was HIS will. They ALWAYS did! AND they always got set free!!!! Thank you Jesus!!!
Now, I still let them come to me and ask, even if I already have a burden for them, or have seen things about them by the spirit, and God already has me praying for them… That way, I know it is God’s will.
One time I had a friend, we were part of a fellowship together, and she wanted to be in leadership. When I would get around her, I would “see” her dad molesting her when she was a little girl. Now, I did not go right away and tell her…nooooo…that would have been horrible. I just prayed. One night, we were talking and she said, “I feel funny, all hot.” and I knew, by the spirit, God was going to show her. So I just said to her, “I think God is about to show you something, just wait on Him.” Sure enough she started crying, and talking like a little girl, she was seeing what I had been seeing for a long time. And I was able to minister to her and she received deep healing.
And guess what, later, she attacked me and spoke evil about me to others…why did she do that? I will explain soon…
See, it is very important for me to let God do it, let Him lead me, let Him open the door. Because I have seen so many people LORD over others. Pushing themselves onto others. Trying to fix another. Praying with them without permission. And God was never in it. Ever. It is actually a form of spiritual abuse. It is like they are trying PROVE how spiritual they are, trying to build a reputation for themselves and they are taking a dominant position over someone else.
Sometimes I go to meetings to paint. People will come up, WHILE I am painting, and tell me they have a word from God for me, or God told them to pray for me. Sometimes they ask me to come off of the platform so they can give it to me, right then! Ummmm…really? I do not know them, and I did not ask them to minister to me, AND I am in the middle of worshipping God, doing what God asked me to do. You know, it takes a lot of work to prepare for a meeting, pack my car up, drive and unpack, set up and then paint within a limited amount of time, and this person wants me to stop what I am doing right then, so I can get a word or ministry from them. Do you see the idiosyncrasy of that…?
But, they are SURE they have a word for me. Can I tell you, that is highly unlikely? I have people in my life that I go to for “words”. People that I am in relationship with and trust. People that I love, and they love me. God would not have someone I do not know, come and interrupt me to give me a word when I am right in the middle of painting as He asked me to.
What would make someone do that? I think it is rooted in insecurity, that has made this person prideful. Making them try to prove how spiritual they are by forcing their gift on another. So, not only do I not want these people ministering to me, I do not want to minister to them either.
Yes, I would rather minister to someone that is humble, grateful and loving than one that is proud, because they are usually the most ungrateful, and unloving. See…they still have a reputation they are trying to maintain, trying to build so they have to stay guarded, and will not humble themselves completely. But if they have, been humble before you, as God had you minister to them, they may also feel the need to return and tear you apart later. Like my friend I mentioned above…
Reminds me of Peter, when he said to Jesus…after he just watched Jesus wash the other disciple’s feet.
“Lord, are you going to wash MY feet?”
(like he was different than the others???)
Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
(Peter, please…trust me, you think you know everything, and you have arrived, but you do not, and you have not. There is much to do in you yet.)
“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
(Either Peter was saying, I am above that, beyond that, it is not necessary for ME… or He was saying,
You, Jesus, are too GREAT to wash my feet…but either way, seems to me, the root of it is Pride. Jesus was being a humble servant to all of them.)
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
(Jesus appeals to Peter’s pride, to get him to submit. Wisdom.)
“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
(and then Peter the fisherman, takes it, hook, line and sinker 🙂 )
Oh so much pride still in Peter… Do you see the pride in all of that? Jesus knew that later, before the cock crowed, Peter would deny him and even curse as he did it. See. Peter was still building and defending HIS reputation. He was insecure and still trying to prove, defend, guard, and exalt himself.
|So I understand why the word says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Some people will actually come back later after I minister to them, and thank me because I spent hours of my time with them. Thank me for loving them and letting God use me to set them free. Some even bless me with gifts. Others, though…sadly…will turn and rend me to pieces. People that I have carried in my heart for a long time, people that I have prayed for, loved, and even after God has used me to do amazing miracles in their life.
So I get this scripture too.
Do not sacrifice, give or waste what is holy and sacred on dogs or people that are unholy
(I would add prideful to that, since that was Satan’s biggest problem too )
do not throw, cast or toss your pearls to swine, wild boars and pigs.
(pearls are the places of suffering God has used in your life to make you a vessel of healing)
Otherwise, if you do, they may haply trample the pearls under their feet, then turn and attack you rending and tearing you to pieces, running right through you.
(yes, oh sadly, how many times I have seen this one!)
I love how Elijah kept telling Elisha to go away. I am sure he had seen his share of people coming to him…pretending to be humble…pretending to have love…when their hearts were not pure towards him, or God. But Elisha just said, as Ruth did to Naomi: “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.”
Elisha and Ruth were the real deal and God rewarded them for their faithfulness and humility.
Pride is a prison. We can’t see it in ourselves.
Peter did not see it when he said he would never deny Christ, but then he did that after the cock crowed and he and Jesus’ eyes met. And then that day when he jumped in the water and swam to Jesus,
and Jesus kept asking him, Do you love me? Peter said yes…and each time, Jesus gave him another assignment. He was saying to Peter, yes, you will die for me one day, but you are not ready, these are the steps that you must take before you will be ready to die for me. Each one required a new level of humility.
People that are chomping at the bit to be in ministry, but are not ready will oftentimes make the mistake of trying to force themselves into a position. That is why they love to be seen…praying, giving, prophesying, healing…etc. They love to be noticed, applauded, seen as more important than others. They love the praise of men, more than God.
They do not understand that the word says, what they do in secret will be rewarded by God, and not only that, but God will do it openly!
They will also be the ones that will attack you later, even after you have given them pearls. Think about it, who hated Jesus the most? Wasn’t it the Pharisees? They were all about their reputation. They thought it was something that had to do with their works.
But when Jesus came to earth, “though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich”. He chose to live among us the people He created and loved, to be able to identify with us, ultimately to die for our sin, and carry our sorrows and pain away.
Philippians 2:5-11 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Jesus went from the highest place in the universe to the lowest one. Jesus, being God, came in humility as a servant to rescue prideful men…men who had religion or no religion. He had every right to use what was His by nature but He intentionally put it aside waiting for the Fathers command. He waited on God! He did not assert the power he had for a position that was rightfully His as the King of Kings; He put it aside! Jesus gained His victory on the cross through humility and being a servant. Being a servant brought Him to this point of complete submission choosing suffering to accomplish the Father’s will.
If we have the same attitude, not striving for reputation, or position, to become famous, seen or known…God might exalt us, if He so chooses. But that is HIS decision, not ours. “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, That He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you?”
Eyes2See 