Your Counselor, Your Destiny!

Childhood stories have uncanny ways of yanking us back to the time when essential truths were first drilled into our innocent brains. As we kiss year 2022 goodbye forever, let’s revisit an old tale of ‘the man, the boy, and the donkey.’ In this story, tragedy was the result of trying to accommodate everyone’s views into a private business. Whichever fashion you heard, or whatever conclusions were derived from the tale, one fact stands out. If you don’t make up your mind, someone else will happily do it for you.

The gospel is multidimensional; it covers different aspects of life. An effective preacher, for instance, may explain baptism so clearly that the audience is mesmerized. Among those who grasp the lesson, some will view that single facet as the very essence of the gospel. From then on, baptism is the gospel, and the gospel is baptism! Anything else presented to that zealot will be filtered through the lens of baptism. (NB: we are using ‘baptism’ only to explain a point).

While the dying days of 2022 are yet in sharp focus, and anticipation is high about the coming year, let’s be reminded that passage of time makes us older, puts bigger burdens upon our shoulders, and brings us closer to our deaths!

I grew up in the countryside where parables were a natural method of relaying vital lessons. Now a Bible student, I notice how effectively Jesus utilized this method of communication. The man-boy-donkey allegory is rich in imagery, and we’ll apply it here to point out that context is king in all forms of communication. When information is taken within its context, lessons are learned, otherwise miscommunications ensue, leaving folks worse off.

A Multidimensional Whole

If you take a survey around Christendom, you will realize that denominations are centered around a few tenets of the multidimensional whole. Doctrinally speaking, tenets that churches clasp tenaciously aren’t necessarily erroneous as much as they are incomplete in relation to the entire package. But the Good News is more than one item. It encompasses salvation, forgiveness, water and Holy Spirit baptism, tithes and offerings, holiness, communion, accountability, prayer, fasting, upright and orderly leadership, evangelism, welfare, and many other areas of concern.

Problem is, when emphasis is laid only on select doctrinal items, believers become lopsided in the neglected areas of faith. It’s like feeding people a constant diet of select ingredients while disregarding other necessities. However vital a particular nutrition, it cannot substitute missing dietary essentials. The body will be deficient of what it is deprived.

Today, apostacy poses a real threat to the stability of Christian faith. Yet, many believers who view themselves as mature resemble professionals in diverse disciplines. They may know a whole lot about one area of life or another, but nothing else besides. It’s not uncommon to find believers who swear by grace, tolerance, prosperity, divine healing, tongues, confession, sowing and reaping, prophecy, etc. While some are remarkably proficient in areas of their exposure, you can try to point out truths they are ignorant of until you are blue in the face. But their crystalized skulls won’t permit new info to penetrate. The little they know is enough for them. Tragic as that may sound, it is the reality around many professing believers in Christian circles today.

A Fivefold Ministry

Jesus Christ is Head of the church. His goal is to make a Bride that resembles Him. He alone embodies the fulness of what every believer needs for our earthly sojourn. He is the High Priest, Apostle, Prophet, Shepherd Teacher, Evangelist. But Jesus is not walking on earth today. At His departure, the Lord distributed spiritual responsibilities so His disciples could carry out gospel assignments. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As My Father has sent Me, even so I send you.”

The ministerial giftings required to carry out wholesale assignments are never heaped on single individuals. Instead, as Paul explains in his epistle to the church of Ephesus, ¹¹ He [Jesus] gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, and for the building up of the body of Christ.What that means is that Christ is much more concerned about the welfare of the church as a whole, not merely fragmented groups of believers. But He is aware of the diverse fellowships of His people. Upon these, He has placed certain giftings to facilitate care and growth of His flocks. It is called the fivefold ministry, comprising of the listed ministry offices.

Do you understand what that means? To equip believers for service to God, Christ distributed apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral, and teaching ministries among the churches. No single church has all these ministry offices in operation in one place. There may not be a single prophet or apostle or even a bona fide teacher within miles of a church belt. So how do believers in that region get built up or equipped? They must collaborate with others in order to benefit from God-ordained, God-anointed ministries in their midst. No, this isn’t about sampling messages from this or that reverend once in a while. It’s about cherishing the vessels that God Himself has dispersed and allowing them to operate freely for maximum output.

Spiritual Endowments for Release of Power

Genuine God ordained ministers are like customized machines. They are specifically built to carry out defined tasks. When used adequately, customized machines work marvelously. But power machines need fuel to run on. A hundred-horsepower engine is nothing more than a sculpture without the fuel that runs it, whether gasoline or electricity. Likewise, a minister without the anointing of the Holy Spirit is nothing more than a skillful entertainer. When the Holy Spirit runs His ‘machine’, so to speak, mighty works are accomplished.

There are at least two types of spiritual endowments, aka anointings, for believers. For lack of better terminology, let’s call them General and Special. In Acts 1:8 we read the parting words of Jesus as He ascended back to heaven following His resurrection. He told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from on high before attempting to evangelize the world. “…you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This is what we are referring as general anointing. It is the baptism that emboldens believers to pray effectively and to witness to the lordship of Jesus Christ. No theological training can come close to preparing a believer for effective service as this baptism does. Sure, God doesn’t promote ignorance, and studying is a vital step in preparing for Christian service. But Holy Spirit baptism is an absolute necessity.

The other is a special ability that the Holy Spirit imparts on a person to carry out specific tasks at specific times and places. This is different from ministry gifts that reside in ministers. There are nine endowments of these special anointings, commonly termed charismatic gifts.

⁴ There are various gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. ⁶ There are various operations, but it is the same God who operates all of them in all people. ⁷ But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for the common good. ⁸ To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ But that one and very same Spirit works all these, dividing to each one individually as He will. (1 Cor 12: 4-11 ~MEV)

As you can see, these gifts provide divine capacity to carry out special tasks. The Holy Spirit assigns them to individuals as He desires, not as the minister decides. A pastor, for instance, is always a pastor, not just when he is ministering. But a spiritual gift, like the word of wisdom cannot be activated any time someone wishes to. The Holy Spirit imparts these divine endowments whenever, wherever, and on whomever He chooses.

If you carefully scan the verses above, you will notice that these special gifts fall into three categories, as follows:

Ministry Offices like evangelist, pastor, etc are often accompanied by at least one of the listed charismatic endowments. A prophetic ministry, for instance, is often accompanied by constant manifestations of the gift of prophecy, special faith, etc. A person serving in an evangelist’s office becomes extremely effective when the gift of working of miracles is in operation. This is what enables God’s vessels to operate powerfully and to fulfil their assignments effectively. You probably know examples of ministers who’ve operated in these capacities. It is crucial that God’s vessels be continually in tune with Him for guidance and strength. Without that vital connection, it becomes a game of trying to please diverse voices that seek to influence missions they do not understand.