Encouragement

ONLY GOD CAN KEEP US FROM FALLING

by Apostle Steve Adonai 
08/28/24
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ONLY GOD CAN KEEP US FROM FALLING.
To God who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 1:24, 25.

We could liken Prayer Power to the power plant hidden somewhere in the countryside far away from the busy, boisterous civilization of the metropolis. The power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit in operation. Generated in secret, in the closet, but extremely powerful in public, even all over the world, in hell and heaven! The power that executes the Word of God.

While God's Word, that endures forever, settled in heaven, which is called the Light of God, should never be hidden under the bushel, but must be preached or displayed for all to hear, see, get direction from the dark path to the Truth, and be enlightened spiritually. The only pathway to God and all His promised blessings. It could be likened to the lighting systems or fixtures and other electrical appliances that function due to their connection to the power plant. Prayer and God's Word are inseparable!

As more electrical appliances and lighting fixtures are added, it becomes inevitable for the power output and supply to be stepped up to correspond to the current power demand.

When our ministry starts expanding, increasing its impact and effect, it's a joyous experience, God's grace is at work, and our expectation is finally being fulfilled. The joy and fulfilment we feel in indescribable. It's glorious! However, it's common to assume that the measure and level of prayer power and God's Word input that got us to this new level should keep taking us further automatically.

It's also common at this stage, to get so busy with the work of the Lord, with new, greater responsibilities, demands and their corresponding PRESSURE, and so get less in fellowship with the Lord of the work. Then we assume that our current success will continue indefinitely because we have an indefinite approval, validation and endorsement from the Lord of the work. Jesus Christ, God's Word ensured He got a DAILY plan, schedule and program as He OFTEN withdrew to pray and have fellowship with the Father, the LORD of the work He was sent to accomplish on the earth. Luke 4:31-44.

Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, OFTEN stole away to pray ALONE until the PRESSURE of the rapidly expanding and potentially colossal magnitude of His ministry and calling required and necessitated Him to ask and request for intercessory reinforcement, to beef up divine power which that new level of increased responsibility and PRESSURE definitely needed. Matthew 26:36-45.

At Gethsemane, the Lord had to request additional intercessory prayer support from His apostles. Though Peter, James and John and the others failed Him, God sent that reinforcement through an angel in the role of the Holy Spirit, the power of God. Luke 22:39-46.

The great Apostle Paul too, who experienced exponential GROWTH, PRESSURE and PERSECUTION very OFTEN asked for intercessory prayer reinforcement - Roman 15:30; Ephesians 6:18-20; Philippians 1:19; 2 Thessalonians 3:1.

To be able to receive and sustain the great, glorious NEW GLOBAL ORDER, THE BIRTH OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST, the Lord commanded the disciples to wait, locked up for 10 days to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, to empower the preaching of the Word He taught them for over 3 years. Acts 1:1-15.

After Pentecost, when the Word and their ministry was threatened because of its RAPIDLY EXPANDING CAPACITY, the disciples wisely and obediently resorted to beefing up the power input to SUBDUE THE PRESSURE AND PERSECUTION that was determined to take them down! Acts 4:1-33.

In reference to our initial analogy, if the lighting fixtures and other electrical appliances like the air conditioning, heating etc. multiply, causing an increase in power demand, and there is no corresponding increase in the voltage or power supply, then breakdown, shutdown and malfunction becomes inevitable!
Great, powerful and successful ministers and ministries fall into sin, dishonor, lethargy, complacency, compromise and apostasy, for inadequate prayer power reinforcement. God hates abuse and `waste of resources in whatever form pertaining to the business of His Kingdom!

Luke 22:40, 46.
Then Jesus told His disciples, 'Pray that you will not be overcome by temptation'. 'Why are you sleeping Jesus asked them, 'Get up and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you.'

The sad, terrible, inevitable consequence of the fall of any member of the body of Christ is that, every other believer on earth is directly affected SPIRITUALLY, because we are all joined and yoked together. We are ALL also affected EMOTIONALLY when we hear of the shameful, disgraceful and dishonorable fall and relegation. We lose the boldness and confidence to stand for Christ, righteousness and justice.

1 Corinthians 12:26.
And if one member of the body of Christ suffers, is dishonored or falls, all the other members are affected and share in the suffering, shame and dishonor. If one member is honored, all the members share in the enjoyment of it.

But even more tragic is the fact that since we are joined in the body of Christ spiritually, the fall of any of us DRASTICALLY SLOWS DOWN and even IMPEDES the advancement of the rest of us, since the rest of the body must DRAG the fallen along to make any progress until the fallen is restored back to the faith and initial position in the body. That's why we are commanded to restore the fallen HUMBLY AND GENTLY lest we fall into sin, or into that same sin. Galatians 6:1-3.

Physically and socially, our reputation is dented and so our influence on the ungodly weakened, making it far more difficult for sinners to get convicted by the Spirit of righteousness that lead to repentance. The Church gets scattered, unstable and barely committed, and young and weak believers get confused, discouraged and disappointed, lose their faith, fall back and fall away.

Zechariah 13:7.
Strike down the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn against the lambs (little ones).

A definite plot and design of the Devil, the thief, killer and destroyer. After the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd, all the disciples were scattered and went into hiding.

Apostle Peter, an anointed leader, influenced the other apostles to go with him back to his fishing business. John 21:1-25. Thank God, the Lord Jesus Christ resurrected and restored them, as a result, the Church was not aborted before the arrival of the Holy Spirit who gave birth to it on the day of Pentecost. On that day, the POWER OF GOD and THE WORD OF GOD preached, TEAMED up to give birth to the Church and bring 3,000 new converts into God's Kingdom. THAT'S TEAM WORK! Acts 2:1-47.

Any leader, especially one chosen and raised by God, is a highly valuable eternal asset and investment, and a highly conspicuous target to the enemy. That's why the loss or fall of any leader is always a huge and an all-encompassing loss, pain, damage and disruption to the well-being of the Kingdom of God program on earth. It's far more than our minds would ever comprehend.

To avoid this very costly, painful and deplorable position and situation, we must promote and project the intercessory ministry in the local Church and the body of Christ, alongside the preaching and teaching ministry. We are at war against the kingdom of darkness. Ephesians 6:10-20. We are losing too many great leaders and potential leaders in the body of Christ to death, sin and dishonor, lethargy, apostasy, selfishness, mediocrity, unproductivity, despondency, distraction, and so many other subtle and perverse manipulations of Satan to oppose the victorious advancement of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Because of the enormous time that intercessors spend abiding in God's awesome presence, they're endowed with a prophetic grace that grants them the divine capability to foresee and intercede for issues and conditions ahead of time. Through prayer based on God's Word, they PRESERVE, PROTECT and PROMOTE the cause of that segment of the Church and ministry within their domain through prayer. They foresee and PREVENT the diabolical and catastrophic intentions of Satan through intensive intercession ever before they occur.

The early Church was forced into intensive intercessory mode only when Apostle James was murdered and Apostle Peter was next! Acts 12. And God intervened in response to the prayers of the righteous, preventing the termination and elimination of the leadership and eventually the entire Church in Jerusalem.
However, a functional, faithful intercessory team is ALWAYS on intensive intercessory mode, to stop Satan's plots before they are hatched. That's why they are known as WATCHMEN in the scriptures.

Isaiah 62.6,7.
O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray to the LORD day and night for the fulfillment of his promises. Take no rest, all you who pray.
Give the LORD no rest until he makes Jerusalem the object of praise throughout the earth.

Let’s make prayer and God's Word the bedrock of the ministry. As soon as possible, invest wisely, boldly and generously in making, training and equipping intercessory ministers and preaching/teaching ministers for full time ministry activities. Employ and pay well an intercessory minister and a preaching/teaching minister, (to enable them stay focused, totally committed and productive 1 Timothy 5:17), thereby harnessing prayer and the Word of God to usher in the global mega revival that God desires right now.

Acts 6:4.
But we ministers will continue to devote ourselves fully and steadfastly to prayer and the ministry of the Word of God.

Acts 6:7.
As a result the message of God kept on spreading, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and besides, a large number of the priests were obedient to the faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, through whom is obtained eternal salvation in the Kingdom of God.

Hallelujah!