You have received the divine call and have
passed through the times of training and mentoring. A strong
anointing is obvious on your life and it’s time for you to be sent
out into that great harvest field. Oh, happy day! It’s a beautiful
day in the neighborhood. This is what you have been waiting for all
these years. So with great joy and fervent zeal you run toward your
high calling to fulfill what you know in your heart is God’s plan
for your life and ministry.
But Somehow, things don’t seem to go according to plan. You have the
first meeting and the multitudes don’t show up. Someone brings you
the sickest person in town to pray for and the person leaves sicker.
You receive a call from the religious leaders of the community
asking, “By what authority do you come to our town?” City zoning
laws forbid you to occupy the affordable building on the busy
highway, and you are forced to settle for that little storefront in
the back of — well you know where. The next week a visitor’s car is
stolen during the service and fear paralyzes the remaining few. A
lady calls to say how much she loves you and tells you she will
attend after you get the ministry built.
After a careful heart-searching with the Lord you are positive that
you are being obedient to the Holy Spirit. Months of hard work pass
and you find yourself on the edge of financial catastrophe, all the
while hearing the echoes of mockers saying, “You preachers have all
the money.” Months later, you look at your small group and ask God
if it is possible to do anything great with such a ragtag bunch. The
next service you realize the spiritual climate is hard as nails and
your prayers seem only to reach the ceiling before they fall down,
seemingly unanswered.
During these dark times you feel alone and abandoned. Friends and
family have done all they can to help. You never thought it was
going to be like this. You reflect on how wonderful it was when you
were back at your home church and working for your old boss at that
secular job where things were a pain but you had good benefits. You
are ready to quit. You ask, “What happened?”
The answer is you have just entered the ministry and are on the road
to your destiny.
I am not trying to paint a gloomy picture of God’s awesome world of
ministry. But many times the reality of fulfilling a divine call has
been glossed over by false perceptions of the work of full- time
ministry. Mostly what we see and hear on Christian television and
radio is the fruit of many years of hard work. We see the products
of people who have already passed through where you are today.
The reality is that you have entered the first stage of your
apostolic ministry. This is what I refer to as the Territorial
Entrance of ministry. You have left the nest and it is time to fly.
Sadly, some don’t make it past this first stage before they give up
and return to an unfulfilling, mundane life. “How can the truly
called and anointed fail?” They fail because they have not learnt
how to live through the first stage of their ministries. The good
news is that you can make it. You can do what God has told you to
do provided you are dressed right.
One of the most unique things I have observed over the years is that
many people don’t know how to live spiritually in the territory that
they have been sent to. Let me explain how God showed this to me.
This is a natural example that will explain a spiritual truth.
In South Florida where the natural climate is sunny and warm nearly
all year round, we rarely need a jacket even during the winter
season. One February a pastors and leaders’ conference was held in
Sweden. I very much wanted to attend and to my great joy a Sister
bought two plane tickets so that my wife Rhonda and I could go. So
dressed in the classic American fashion of blue jeans, trendy tennis
shoes and a pullover shirt, Rhonda and I boarded a plane from Fort
Lauderdale International Airport en route to Sweden. Yes, we knew it
would be cold and, of course, we brought along our South Florida
winter wind-breakers.
Never having been to Sweden before, I was anxious to get there and
listen to great men of God and make friends with people from the
other side of the Atlantic Ocean. I shall never forget leaving the
airport that February day; I was greeted by an absolutely frozen
climate. Ice and snow were everywhere. In seconds I knew that my
South Florida clothes, while stylish looking and sporty, were the
wrong choice for a Swedish winter. I thought my ears and nose would
completely fall off my head. It was unbelievable.
“Sweden is a beautiful country but how could anyone live here?” I
asked myself. It was like living in your freezer. Then the wind
picked up and it started to snow so heavily that I could barely see
ten feet in front of me. Rhonda and I ducked inside a warm Chinese
restaurant and ordered a pot of hot Oolong tea. After the currency
conversion, a pot of tea in that town cost us around twenty US
dollars. The lesson was clear: dressing wrongly in Sweden can cost
you a lot of money. Wow, I got a quick lesson in how to dress in
natural climates. Before I left South Florida I was looking and
feeling good. I was comfortable and dressed for the South Florida
climate. But when I got to Sweden, I quickly discovered that my
South Florida clothes would not allow me to survive in Sweden.
With that lesson learned, Rhonda and I bought some clothes that
enabled us to handle our short visit in the Swedish climate. We
attended the conference and were thoroughly blessed, refreshed, and
ready to continue on. This is a natural example that explains a
spiritual truth. Just as you must dress for your real-life climate,
you must dress for your spiritual climate.
After living in South Florida for many years I have seen ministry
gifts come and go. Good people come and start ministries, continue
for about a year, and then pack up and go back to wherever. To me,
this is a sad thing. We can use all the
laborers in this territory we can get. The problem is that ministry
gifts often try to make things that they have seen work in other
areas work in South Florida. However, ministries should dress
according to the spiritual climate to which they are sent. What
worked in Tulsa or Irvine may not work in the territory that God is
sending you. You might have to dress differently. What worked in
Pensacola, Toronto, or Uppsala may not work in the territory that
God is sending you. Ask yourself two questions. Are you dressed for
the city where you are ministering? Are you dressed for the season
you are in? If the answer is yes, you are ready to accomplish your
divine call. But if the answer is no, change your garments.
The first stage of a ministry is an exciting time. It is during this
stage that your calling is made sure and an apostolic grit is
conceived. Be encouraged, you are on the right road toward your
destiny.
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