MINISTRY IS NOT A MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD

The Lord told me something and I think I should inform you all about the same thing.

I was in conversation with Him and then He said “Ministry is not a means of livelihood”, I asked Him again if He meant what I just heard Him said, He said “I can say it over and over again because it’s the truth”. Now, what the Lord meant is that, Ministry is not supposed to be what gives you your daily bread, it’s not what should supply you with income that you will depend upon to meet your needs

I have to say this because some of you here are ministers and some of you are still going to be ministers

Then I asked Him another question, I said “but the Bible says those who serve at the altar should eat from the altar”, He said “yes, what if the altar fails to bring them food or enough food”, then He showed me this, He said some churches couldn’t function at the time of Covid—19 lockdown and it affected so many ministers that depends on the altar to feed them

Also, there are cases where the people in your ministry or church will not allow God use them to bless their pastor or minister, So, if the people fail to bless their spiritual leader or to bless him enough, does that mean the man of God or woman of God will starve or should start begging?

So, the Lord said He Himself is the means of livelihood for His servants and ministers, He said He can use the ministry to bless them and can decide not to, but what is constant is that, He will surely bless them and take care of them

There were many instances where the people of Israel will turn from serving God and offering sacrifices to Him and will start worshipping other gods, the question is, at this period, how does the priests (levites) survive? Because the priests get their benefits as people come to offer sacrifices at the altar! The truth is, God is the One who takes care of his servants and this is why his servants should depend on Him and not the people they are leading. Also, if God allows you to be a blessing to His ministers, that is, God used you to bless them financially, don’t count yourself so special because you are actually doing yourself good, God can decide not to use you to bless them

Numbers 18: 20. And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.

What God said in the above verse is actually greater than the other verses where He said they should give tithes, offerings and gifts to the levites, God said He Himself is their inheritance, and that is the best inheritance ever, meaning that, if the people under their leadership fail, God will still be with them to take care of them.

There are cases where God stirs up unbelievers to bless His servants that depends on Him

Therefore, do not place a charge on your ministry, Jesus said freely you have received, freely give. Don’t expect gifts from the people God has called you to lead, if they give you, that’s fine and if they don’t, bless them more, don’t get offended in anyone

The Lord told me that Ministry is not where you make financial profits from people, He said it’s a sacrificial service, meaning that you are supposed to give more into the ministry than the ministry will give to you. Ministry is where you lay down your life and everything you have for the Kingdom of God to prevail in the earth!

When I newly stepped into full-time ministry (that is, I left my job to serve the Lord fully), I thought to myself that “since I am not working, I should be the one receiving from people, I’m not supposed to give out” but the Lord corrected me and I repented, I began to do a lot of giving such that I even give to help those who are working, and the Lord has been blessing me since then (2014) till now, I lack nothing (before I run dry, God would have provided). So, you are a minister to give out so much than to receive

In conclusion, have you ever asked yourself, Why would God give the old testament prophets such power and grace to speak whatever they need into existence and such thing will appear instantly before their eyes, even our Lord Jesus Christ made food items multiply to feed thousands…Why would God open the portal for such miracles to happen on earth? Is it not because He wants to show us that He is our means of livelihood and not anyone else!

Let us learn to depend and trust God completely for our needs and let us stop depending on people!! Amen

©️ A. A. Emmanuel

t.me/apostolicwondersfamily