clcgh.org Building The Capacity Of Christian Leaders, Equipping The Saints For The Work Of Ministry, Redirecting Straying Christians To The Sound Knowledge Of Christ
By James Quansah, Pastor
When Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit came as the authority of the Church. Ministers of the early Church realised this truth so they served under the direction, instruction and leadership of the Spirit of Christ. (John 16: 12- 13, Acts 5: 3, 9; Acts 10: 19- 20). The apostles learnt to hear and obey His commands for the building of the church.
It is shocking, however, that these days, many ministers especially those in Africa have no regard for the authority of the Holy Spirit. Some Pastors now determine how the Holy Spirit should move in the affairs of the churches they oversee.
They determine when, why, where and how a programme, deliverance, healing and soul winning should be carried out. They set dates for these activities. They decide when the Holy Spirit should operate in the churches. May be ministers who do these things own the churches.
A few years ago, my attention was drawn to some church bill boards in Kumasi which indicated specific days for teaching, deliverance and healing. And services on Sundays follow rigid order of activities, starting with opening prayer followed by praise and worship, testimonies, announcement, songs ministration, Word ministration, offertory, benediction and departure.
Similarly, most evening services including teaching services are usually held on Wednesdays while deliverance, healing or prophetic services are held on Fridays. This manner of conducting church meetings seems to be orderly and appropriate but it is problematic.
The arrangement does not allow most churches to trust the Lord to deliver or heal a sick person who may come to a church meeting during the Wednesday and Sunday services.
In other words, these churches decide for the Lord the days He is allowed to do good to people who are oppressed by the devil. As I indicated earlier, a good number of ministers often conduct healing and deliverance services mostly on Fridays.
Now, where in the Bible does God command that healing, deliverance or prophecies should be ministered only on Fridays? Check the billboards of most churches for their programmes, and you will see that almost every church conducts healing, deliverance or prophetic services on Fridays. Why should this be the practice?
One day, I heard a prominent pastor of an East African country on TV, telling his church members that he had no business conducting deliverance on Sundays. “You know, Sundays are not meant for things like deliverance in this church. There is a specific day we do deliverance. We follow strict order of service on Sundays”. The pastor said.
What do the East African pastor’s comments mean to you? This is a great mistake and error and must be corrected immediately to allow the Holy Spirit to operate freely in His churches. When Jesus Christ gave authority to His disciples to heal and cast out evil spirits, He did not mention a specific day in which these things should be done.
“Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness”, (Matthew 10:1).
Clearly, the early ministers did not go about ministering healing and casting out demons on particular days as being done in Africa today. Rather, they were used by the Holy Spirit to minister to meet the needs of the people any time and any day as the Lord willed (Acts 5:12; Acts 3:1-10 etc).
A church may be mega but without the Holy Spirit having an absolute authority over it. Men full of pride are resisting the Holy Spirit if not attempting to overthrow Him just as it was in the days of the foundational apostles.
“You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you FOREVER RESIST THE HOLY SPIRIT? That is what your ancestors did, and so do you! (Acts 7: 51).
This is the reason many pastors of our day have become preachers and teachers of God’s Word without the genuine corresponding power to change lives, heal the sick and cast out devils.
However, in a church where the authority of the Holy Spirit is respected, regarded and upheld, God’s power manifests as the Holy Spirit moves as He wills. You see, we must understand that the Spirit of God does not only recruit apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists and teachers to work in God’s kingdom, but also exercise authority over them.
May we pray for our pastors to repent and be in divine alignment with God. May they be under the absolute control of the Spirit of God. May Christ’s true servants gladly obey the voice of God so as to be in His perfect will. Amen!
