Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: (MATT 4:5-6)
The anointing, God's grace and favor aren't just a privilege, but a huge responsibility. This responsibility isn't just limited to touching lives, but being able to combine the anointing and God's grace on our lives with the character that goes with it. Charisma-minus-Character is equal to Disaster.
The greatest crisis plaguing Christendom isn't the absence of the anointing, but the presence of anointing without character. This makes some in the ministry today to look more like rascals; reckless and unruly in the eyes of God and man.
For us to walk in the fullness of the grace of God like Christ, we need to overcome the temptation of using the anointing on our lives to show off. Christ did it; we can do it!
It's very easy for one to use the gifts of God to promote oneself and not God's kingdom. Our Church building programs, congregations, television outreaches, philanthropic activities, healing and miracle meetings, etc, might actually be serving us than Christ. God is so generous, he can allow us use his grace to build for ourselves empires until the day of reckoning.
In our foundation text, the devil was simply tempting Jesus to use the anointing at his disposal to show off. Jumping from the pinnacle of the temple to the ground could have attracted onlookers since the masses are drawn to such manifestations. But Christ resisted the temptation.
The power of God is not for entertainment or for showing off, but for Godly influence and impact, which counts in time and eternity. When God's ministers look more like magicians in their manner of demonstrating God's power, it's a call for alarm. Jesus didn't go about trying to satisfy the curiosity of people by performing miracles and signs. Each time he performed a supernatural act, the motivation was to meet a need, show compassion and above all, to glorify the father. In some cases, he asked those he healed to tell no one, but to glorify God.
There is nothing wrong with publishing testimonies of God's miracles in a meeting if our motives are right, but we need to watch against the carnal competition among ministers of God today for who is the greatest in anointing, and the most accurate in words of knowledge, etc. This carnal competition has reached a point where some drunk with the wine of self promotion have gone to the extent of using mystical powers and charms to perform miraculous signs so as to boost their recognition among the “greatest” in Christendom.
It's very common today to find someone faking prophecies and words of knowledge and forcing people to accept them. Others use information provided during private consultation and counseling to form the base for their so-called prophecy extravaganza. Millions of ignorant Christians are right now under tremendous delusion and some are giving just everything they have to these self style con men masquerading as prophets.
It's time for the truly anointed of God to stand up strong for the truth and for righteousness. It's time to speak out! It's time to put away the altitude of using the anointing to show off. Let Christ be our example! DrBenard Etta
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