We have a crop of Christians who want instant wealth, instant spouses, instant blessings, instant anointings etc. They mirror this from the world where they benchmark with flashy worldly persons who seem to have made it big and fast and in a very short time. They then they pressure themselves, blame God for their misfortunes and hoping from church to church to find one with instant results.
Most Christians today feed from the world, they feed from motivational speakers who are so much skewed in their thinking and are so much focused on the what and not necessarily on the how. It is a world of making it big and fast and sadly most Christians do not know that that process doesn’t spring from the throne of God.
Jesus started His ministry at 33 years old. Where was He for thirty years? Frequently, we are taught that He withdrew from the crowds. In Luke 9:58 NIV He says;
Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
Luke 9:58 NIV
We see an Elisha serving Elijah for 15 years (other sources cite 6 years) before taking the mantle himself. A complete stranger from Tishbe comes, finds him ploughing with 12 yoke of oxen and puts a mantle on him. Elisha, a very rich man, left all he had to become a ‘mere’ servant to a man whose origin nobody knew.
The disciples caught a huge amount of fish but they leave it all at the shore and follow Jesus to the wilderness for about three years. They leave their careers to follow a complete stranger who just said, “Follow me.”
God called Abraham when he was 75 years old. He also promised him that he would be a father of many nations but he had to wait for 25 years to get Isaac. How many people can wait for that long today? We see him getting pressured by his wife Sarah and he begat Ishmael when he was 86 years old.
We see an Elijah moving into the wilderness, we see a John the Baptist set apart, why? Because God has a plan. Because He called you, justified you and glorified you. He knows you better than you know yourself and He will set you apart for His good work.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
At this time and age, people are so impatient that they think the Lord is deaf or dead and they will always want their plans to work. They will formulate a new way of life. A way they get from research, from people whose ways are queer or from how the majority live.
They forget the Bible says:
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
Proverbs 16:3 NIV
Most people plan, actualize and then ask the Lord to rubber stamp their plan. They then do things out of season, they become messed up and go back to the Lord with heavy hearts. Some leave their places of worship, others call men of God all sorts of names simply because things didn’t work their way.
Most people want to actualize what is of the world and get the divine to rubber stamp it. They get things out of the Spirit and pattern of God but want the divine to sanctify it. Well, that doesn’t really work.
The devil has skillfully crafted impatience in the hearts of men with his get rich quick, get the spiritual language quick (no wonder the different forms of new age spiritual worship with out of body experiences, etc.)
The devil has skillfully planted in the hearts of men that if you are not at a certain level money wise, you are a nobody. This explains why people will ask others questions like, “Who are you? What is your worth? What do you have? What do you have to say to me and you have nothing?”
Moses, the humblest man to have ever lived was separated by God when he moved in haste to murder an Egyptian in the name of saving the Israelites. We see God making Him a shepherd. From a wealthy palace to being a lowly shepherd in his father-in-law’s home. But the question is, “Do you know what Moses was cultivating daily or you think the burning bush just appeared?”
He spent another forty years moving flock from one place to another. Do you think he was never ridiculed? Do you think people never asked him, “Where is your God?” Do you think from year 1 to year 39 he never felt the pressure? Well, he did. What made him stand? He trusted and walked with the Lord.
We also see a Jacob fleeing his father’s house to become a lowly a shepherd working for a whopping 20 years. He gets tricked but sticks to God’s plan and walks with Him as he labored. We have Christians that want to start healing, driving out demons and prophesying as soon as they are born again.
We get to interact with a Jacob who was hated by his brothers for having lofty dreams. Deep inside they knew that he did not have just a mere dream and they sold him into slavery; a perfect plan to isolate him from the crowd and make him great.
We see Joseph living according to God’s plan by refusing to contaminate himself. We do not know how long he was a slave to the Egyptians before his rising but most Christians assume that it was instant. Most Christians do not know the taste of going to jail. If they were Joseph, they would constantly ask and blame the Lord why that was happening to them.
Most Christians think that David just killed Goliath. He was also a lowly, a young shepherd in isolation where God was preparing him. As a young lad, the Lord brought forth bears and lions to test and prepare him. He had the option to think, “Why is the Lord sending me, the youngest of all to such a dangerous place? Does He really love me?”
If David didn’t see the will of God in his life, he would have given up. Instead, he chose to learn a skill and perfect it. Constantly, he perfected the art of using a sling and soft stones. God used a simple sling and some small stones to slay down a giant.
Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.”
1 Samuel 17:36 NKJV
Most Christians would want to rise to instant fame for killing a threat to the nation. But that wasn’t the case with David. It is estimated that David was around 15-22 years when he killed Goliath and 30 years old when he became king. Literary, the man spends 9 – 15 years running away not from bears or lions but from a king with all the resources to kill him.
David had the option of asking the Lord, what kind of a God He was, why he would would let Him kill bears, lions, giants but make him run for years fearing for his life. Maybe he did, but he stood his course allowing God to showcase his glory and might upon his life and that’s why you are reading his story today.
Jesus a very young man amazed the Pharisees and the Bible says that He spoke like one with much authority why? Because He had build his stature to greater heights. He had a custom. A pattern, a rhythm which he followed.
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
Luke 4:16 NKJV
We see Paul having the same custom;
Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
Acts 17:2 NKJV
Well, a Daniel is taken into captivity. He was a boy so soaked in the word of God but he is taught to worship the devil; a nasty experience. He is taught to teach others about the worship of Baal but he doesn’t defile his spirit. He refuses even the delicacies of the king’s table.
We see Daniel having a custom as well;
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.
Daniel 6:10 NKJV
The question is, how far can you go in nurturing the anointing upon you? Let’s say you are called as a prophet, do you want to prophesy the very instant you are called? Elisha is called as a prophet but serves first. Why do you want popcorn results?
The child of God today has got no identity, his identity comes from the world, his emotions, his career and his level of education. This is why you would ask someone who they are and they would tell you of their name, career or level of education. If you probe further, they will get confused and dodge the question.
The child of God wants houses that they did not build and vineyards that they did not plant all by sitting and wishing that they were someone else. They think that because their God is stronger than the owner of the thing they are wishing for, they will keep praying against them because they are holding their wealth.
Most children of God are into wishful thinking fantasizing on how one day they will be rich because the Lord restores. For some reason they think that their man of God is working for them in the background forgetting that even the sheep follow the shepherd.
Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
John 5:19 NIV
Most children of God keep telling their men of God, “Keep praying for me.” A quick question is this, “When will you also have a personal journey with God?” The reason why God will at most times separate you is because He wants to grow you, He wants to have a personal walk and journey with you.
Inasmuch as your spiritual father is your covering, the idea is for you to catch up, to follow the pattern of your spiritual father as much as possible but children of God think that so long as they tithe and give some good cash to church projects that’s it. You cannot buy the anointing.
Modern Christians do not believe that the Lord who healed or the same Lord who parted the Red Sea still lives. They think that He died with Pharaoh’s army. Most believe that He gave up on man and He is just waiting for the rapture to take His own and kill those He dislikes.
Others think that He manifests Himself through technology, modern medicine, and nature. They will not believe that He has an effect in their lives. They believe that nobody today can be told to take their mat and walk. Ironically, they believe in witchcraft 100% of the time. And that’s when they will rush to their pastors for cleansing or protection.
We have a church that has relegated the power and potency of heaven and has exalted the world. This has in turn created pressure amongst children of God. They have the pressure to make it big and quick and that’s why they fall into temptations and snares of the devil.
The modern church is always comparing and competing against each other. They will celebrate those with bigger cars, those adorned with amazing clothing, those with great business deals etc. On the other hand, because this is what has been praised, the ones without will take loans to show off. They will even try to ‘assist the Lord’ by lying in their testimonies in order to showcase His glory.
The pressure to make it big and quick has made so many people fail to see God in the little. They cannot see the Lord in that drying brook, they will just complain and fail to see that He has already prepared a widow in some land. They cannot see God in the break-up they just had forgetting the ex had to leave for the spouse to come.
They cannot see the Lord in daily simple things. They will constantly complain that their peers have made it big in life but they are still maybe wiping chairs in Church.
The Bible talks about discernment;
And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
Philippians 1:9 ESV
But children of God today cannot discern, because they don’t take time to have communion with the Lord. They just spend a lot of time to watch Netflix, browse through TikTok, go to church on Sunday and listen to ‘worship’ music. They merely do things as routine.
They do not understand when the Lord says, draw near to me as I draw near to you. They in turn draw near to things that do not build them. They draw to things that distance them from God. Because they cannot tell whatever is happening in their lives, they will settle for less. They will say that their misfortunes are God’s plan for them.
I love what Prophet Elvis Mbonye says:
If at times I do not see the results in a hundred percent, then I have not totally yet explored what is at my disposal as far as the operation of the Spirit of God is concerned.
If for some reason I can live on with a need, today and tomorrow it’s still the same need, the other day it’s still the same need, one week it’s still the same need, then I have not explored a certain area.
Now if I found myself at some point when a problem is lingering then that would be a witness that I have not explored the fullness of what is available for me as far as walking in the realm of the Spirit is.
So what does that do to me? Now for me, I do not sit back and accept it. Now that is why you have to be very stern with some of these things. You don’t play games with a life that is costing you a measure of the blessing. You don’t accept it. You totally don’t accept it.
Prophet Elvis Mbonye
Look around, all genuinely great people have a story. They have been tested by fire and have been refined.
Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.
1 Corinthians 3:12-13 NKJV
Why are you having the pressure to make it big and quick? How about you transferred that pressure to the one who owns everything? The pressure to know Him, the pressure to have communion with Him and the pressure to be like Him. He draws all things to Himself, you will draw everything to yourself.
Every person’s work will be tested by fire. Job’s wealth was tested by fire and it doubled. Fire either consumes or refines. Trust the process, trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding so that when fire comes to test your works, they will refine it not consume it.
