God is “Intentional” about Your Life and Ministry (A Must Read) – Believers Digest

Dear Minister,

One major truth to know about divine operations is that God does nothing as an afterthought. Everything about His plans and purposes for us is always DELIBERATE and INTENTIONAL. For those of us in ministry, it’s important we realize that early and key into it.

Ministry is very deep. There are many things in ministry that we cannot simply REASON OUT; we can only PRAY THEM OUT, and then the Holy Spirit will begin to interpret them to us and guide us step by step along the way. Knowing God’s plan for your life and ministry and following it without reservation is the most beautiful experience you can ever have in ministry.

Never you think that life is all about coincidences. No, God is very DELIBERATE and INTENTIONAL about our lives and ministry, and that’s why we always require the Holy Spirit to lead us every step of the way. God is the Master Strategist, and there’s no planner or strategist like Him.

Whereas most humans only think of THE IMMEDIATE while making decisions, God thinks of THE ETERNAL. He takes into account eternity past, present, and future before giving us directives on the earth because He dwells in eternity (Isa. 57:15).

Because God is really INTENTIONAL about your life and ministry, that’s why you can’t just make any decision on your own without consulting Him; it may set your life and ministry many years backward. The moment you as a minister begin to see God’s eternal wisdom and discretion in every thing you do in ministry, your life will take an upward swing and you will always walk in the plans and purposes of God for your ministry.

Remember: PROVERBS 3:5-6
– Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
– In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

It’s, therefore, important to start seeing the INTENTIONALITY of God in every aspect of ministry operation that you’re involved in. This helps you to appreciate the majesty of God’s eternal wisdom and also enables you to do ministry at its finest.

I will, therefore, highlight and briefly talk about 12 aspects of ministry experience that reflect THE INTENTIONALITY OF GOD so as to better cooperate with Him to fulfill His purpose for your life and ministry.

(1) God is Intentional about your Ministerial upbringing:

Although He may not determine the time when you make a decision to become born again because that’s exclusively based on human will, volition, and readiness, He, however, superintends your ministerial upbringing so as to really prepare you for the assignment He has for you in ministry. This will involve His choice of your disciplers and handlers in your early days and formative years of ministry. You know; Paul got born again on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-6) where he had an unusual encounter with Christ, but from there Christ brought Ananias into his life (that wasn’t Paul’s decision) and then others came into his life by divine arrangement such that he had the kind of ministerial upbringing that would synergize with his calling (Acts 9:10-19). So, never regret or despise your ministerial upbringing; God was INTENTIONAL about it.

(2) God is Intentional about your geography and location:

By geography, we mean location. For John the Baptist, his main location was IN THE WILDERNESS based on Bible prophecy (Isa.40:3), and from there many traveled down from the city center to listen to him (Jn.1:19-23). But the moment he began to meddle with palace affairs, he got into trouble (Matt.14:1-12). Location is a very critical component of God’s plan for your life. You can’t wake up as a setman and just decide any location for yourself. At the tale-end of my National Youth Service many years ago, I was having a 7-hour prayer (7pm-2am) in the presence of the Lord one night when He spoke to me around 2am, “GO BACK TO IFE; I HAVE APOSTOLIC ASSIGNMENTS FOR YOU.” God doesn’t just send a man of God to a location for fun; there’s a divine purpose behind it and it’s up to the man of God to find out. Also, it’s possible that God leads a minister from one location to another from time to time (it’s God’s prerogative); the minister only needs to stay sensitive in God’s presence and know that God is very intentional about the geography of his calling.

(3) God is intentional about the people you’re sent to:

Peter was sent to THE JEWS while Paul was primarily sent to THE GENTILES (Gal. 2:8). God was intentional about this and He’s still very much intentional about issues around demographic structures for the minister. Find out the demographic structure of your calling — the people you’re sent to — the sick, the oppressed, the youth, womenfolk, menfolk, ministers, the ignorant, the commoners, the students, the aristocrats, professionals, the married, PLUS LOTS MORE. You’re not sent to everybody. For instance, not every minister can organize a Ministers’ Conference because it takes more than having money or a good auditorium to do that. If you’re not sent there, you will end up being schooled and tutored by those who came for your meeting. This will then lead us to the next point.

(4) God is intentional about your message/emphasis:

Yes, we’re all called to preach and teach Christ, but there are SPECIFIC MESSAGES that reflect the revelation of Christ that each minister has been committed to emphasize. Find out yours. Dad Hagin taught Faith. Dr. David Yonnggi Cho taught Church Growth. Kenneth Copeland taught Prosperity. Bishop David Oyedepo teaches Faith and Prosperity. Pastor W. F. Kumuyi teaches Holiness. Dr. Myles Munroe taught Purpose Discovery and Fulfillment, and at the tale-end of his earthly life, he taught The Kingdom. Find out your emphasis and stay committed to it, and the sky will be your beginning.

(5) God is intentional about your spiritual covering:

By spiritual covering, I mean the people you’re submitted to, chiefly your spiritual father. You don’t just handpick your spiritual father and mentors. There’s something they must carry upon their lives that’s required by your calling to function optimally, and all the carnal considerations folks put up today in this regard will never hold water in the eye view of eternity. Peter, James, and John who were pillars in the early Church interpreted Paul’s calling correctly and gave him and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship (Gal. 2:9). And then Paul took Timothy up as his son in ministry and the rest is history (Acts 16:1-3, Phil. 2:19-22). We don’t trivialize such matters like spiritual fathering in the Kingdom and follow some vogue. No, if God should open your eyes in the Spirit, you will see how weighty these matters are in the sight of God.

(6) God is intentional about your Ministerial Relationships:

God connected Barnabas and Paul together (it was God’s own prerogative in Acts 13:2) but Satan separated them in Acts 15:36-40 through a third party issue, and from then on, we didn’t really hear much about Barnabas again. God connected Mary to Elizabeth through an angelic message and that relationship was a prophetic springboard for the fulfillment of God’s purpose in the Birth of the Messiah (Lk 1:36-56). God connected Apollos to Aquila and Priscilla and his ministry exploded for it (Acts 18:24-28). See; God is very intentional about the people He’s bringing into your life, and rejecting them or rejecting the order of that relationship is calling God’s wisdom to question. There are people God has called to you; they bear and carry the treasures that you need. You miss them and your life and ministry remain stagnant.

(7) God is intentional about your gifts and anointing:

Jesus gave some Apostles; some Prophets; some Evangelists; some Pastors and some Teachers (Eph. 4:11). There’s a purpose for the gifts and anointing of the Spirit of God in your life — it’s designed to meet a need in your generation and to also fulfill a divine role in the entire value chain of overall God’s agenda on the earth. Never despise your gifts and anointing. Cherish it and fan it to flame for greater expression.

(8) God is intentional about your generation:

Every minister is put in a generation by God — you can’t belong to two generations, so stop wishing that you did ministry in the days of Peter and Paul. The generation God puts you is the best for you, and you’re to fulfill the will of God in THAT GENERATION, just like David did in HIS OWN GENERATION. **ACTS 13:36** For David, after he had served HIS OWN GENERATION by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: Abraham, David, and our Lord Jesus Christ belonged to different generations IN THE FLESH (Matt. 1:1,17) but they all fulfilled the will of God for their lives. So, God is very intentional putting you in your generation.

(9) God is intentional about your marriage:

That’s very straightforward. God is the One Who joins people in marriage (Matt. 19:6). For Isaac to get a suitable wife for instance, it required divine leading and divine favor (Gen.24:3-7,12-67). Note this fact: IF YOU’RE A MINISTER, THEN GOD IS VERY INTENTIONAL ABOUT YOUR MARRIAGE — YOU CAN’T JUST MARRY JUST ANYBODY, EVEN THOUGH THEY MAY BE SPEAKING IN TONGUES. Wrong marriage will frustrate and destroy your ministry but right marriage will facilitate the fulfillment of your ministry.

(10) God is intentional about your specific assignments:

God will give you SPECIFIC ASSIGNMENTS which sometimes may not make sense to you, but He’s up to something. Even though others may not appreciate or celebrate it but stick to it, knowing the One Who gave you the assignments. You’re gonna make a terrible mistake if you’re always looking for human approval or validation because God is leading you through the unpopular path. Imagine a widow tarrying day and night in the temple just fasting and praying for the Messiah to be born (Lk. 2:36-38). On face value, that’s not attractive but it carried every seal of divine approval.

(11) God is intentional about your consecration:

This will involve God’s private instructions to you which include your dos and don’ts. Don’t let anyone talk you out of it. For Samson, it was that no razor should come on his head but he violated it (Judges.13:5, 16:17-19). For Dad Hagin, part of it was that if he could pray in tongues for one hour per day, Jesus told him that he would have divinely-granted appearances and Dad stuck to that, and even went far more into praying for hours. I know my own personal consecration too but it’s not meant for public consumption. Don’t let people who are only driven by theory but lack depth of fellowship with God talk you out of your consecration.

(12) God is intentional about your times and seasons:

The Lord Jesus once told me in a vision where He appeared to me on Thursday 8th of August 2013, “Son, there are certain things in your calling which you think are meant for tomorrow but are meant for today. And there are others which you think are meant for today but are meant for tomorrow. Therefore stay in My presence and be sensitive to My leading per time.” That changed everything for me. Friend, God is always intentional about our TIMES and SEASONS because every purpose under Heaven has a time and season of manifestation (Ecc.3:1).

When a minister misses his season, a journey of 5 years can take 50 years, and when a minister jumps ahead of God, rather than becoming a BLESSING to his generation, he becomes a BURDEN. I often say this, “YOU CAN DO THE RIGHT THING AT THE WRONG TIME BUT YOU CAN NEVER DO THE WRONG THING AT THE RIGHT TIME BECAUSE NO TIME WILL EVER BE RIGHT FOR ANYTHING WRONG.” Friend, follow His CALENDAR, not your own AGENDA, because He’s always intentional about your life and ministry. That’s why like David, everyone of us should say to the Lord: **PSALMS 31:15** MY TIMES ARE ARE IN THY HAND: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. Say it loud and clear, “MY TIMES ARE IN YOUR HAND, OH LORD.” Hallelujah to the Lamb of God! May the Lord give us understanding! Amen!!

I hope this is a Blessing Sirs and Mas?

Enjoy The Rain Of God’s Blessings!!!

Pastor Bimbo Animashaun