ARE WE REALLY LETTING THE LORD BUILD THE HOUSE?

My life’s greatest calling is to write. Since my first few cracks at publishing professionally mostly failed, I self publish all my books. In my early days most publishing companies wanted to soften my words, change my titles, to make it more palatable. One or two rejected my books telling me it wasn’t “a felt need”. Whatever that means. Like they wanted my words to appeal to the “feeling needy” crowd.

Give me a massive break! I couldn’t do it. So I said bye-bye to the pro publishing world, and the Lord began to open other doors.

I knew to go the route of self publishing I’d have to market my own books and find a means to circulate them, which seems so self-promoting. When the Lord dealt with me about writing I was in disbelief.

“Lord, I have no platform. I’m not on TV. I don’t have a church or big ministry! Who is going to read what I write?”

He responded like He always does with me when I plead my case:

“I have a people.”

And there you go! So brief but so convincing. That’s the Lord!

To date I’ve written 13 books and perhaps 100s, if not 1000s of articles and am pregnant with a ton more.

Now my case with the Lord is:

“Lord, they are not reading what I’ve already written. How in the world are they going to read the other that you’ve put in my heart? Most will not be able to chew it, much less swallow it!”

I’m still pondering His response. Many will miss God and not heed the Lord’s warnings and won’t be ready for His soon return or to face death.

THE LORD’S WORDS ARE WAITING TO BE SPOKEN AND TO BE HEARD

You see, friends, most of the Church is not ready for what the Lord truly wants to say in this hour. For instance, when my wife and I travel, we keep bumping into the same repetitive errors that churches are making in this day. Even good pastors and church leaders are not ready. Honestly, we have no grid for what God is yet to do in these last days.

THE CURRENT STRUCTURE OF MOST CHURCHES NEEDS REVAMPING

The current structure and government in many churches cannot contain the harvest yet to come. One man cannot do it by himself. One pastor. One apostle. One evangelist. One teacher. One prophet. It’s not enough. It’s gonna take teams and streams. Its gonna take city churches working together. It’s gonna take many nets, not one net. Some of you pastors and church leaders are thinking way too small and conventional. A new wineskin is necessary. Old ones are going to burst.

IT’S NOT YOUR CHURCH

Pastor, senior leader, it’s not your church! It’s Jesus’ Church! So let it go! Let His people go! Release them to flow in their gifts. Some of them have such great talents inside of them that would amaze you. I know you’ve been hurt so many times by ill advised and offended rebels and betrayed by Absoloms. So what? You’re in good company.

I know you’re concerned about losing attendance and money, and paying off your building and staff salaries. Forget all that. It’s a new day! Loose yourself from that system of unbelief. Blessed is the man who puts his trust in the Lord! Our own ministry has taken on a new dimension of power and freedom because my wife and I have let go of trusting in man for our sustenance and support.

Oh! I could say so much more, but most pastors and church leaders are not ready to hear it. But do you know who is? The so called laity. I know lay people who flow in the gifts of the Spirit, but their pastor doesn’t. How do you think that will go over? After awhile, they get frustrated. I know lay people that know the Word better than their pastor or church leader. What am I inferring? A rebellion. No! I’m telling you that one man can’t do it all? The apostle Paul and the early apostles established churches and turned them over to elders, in most cases, less than 3 years. You’ve been doing this for 25 years and still have no elders! You’re trying to do it alone.

A NEW WINESKIN

I recently went to a church that was governed by 6 elders. No pastor. No senior leader. No bishop. What??? I quickly turned into an eager student, because it’s actually something the Lord has had me looking at for years. I’m writing more on it all the time. It’s turning into another book. But unless you’ve read most of my other books, you won’t be ready for this one and others I am writing. Yep, I write several at once until I get a release to publish them.

Old school thinking says,”anything with more than one head is a freak!” I was taught that. When I feel myself going a little overboard or getting edgy, I keep hearing dad Hagin’s voice in my head, which so often sounds like God’s: “Stay in the middle of the road. Avoid excesses, abuses, and extremes.” But he also taught us to build on what he poured into us and to stick with the Word.

As a missionary for many years under the wisdom of a great apostolic leader I started to learn a higher wisdom of what it means to make disciples, equip them, and release them into their God given gifts. When I was involved in the debacle at Brownsville many years ago that brought division and shame to its legacy, I saw what a Pentecostal pope trying to control other ministry gifts does, I learned how not to lead. Those two experiences shaped me.

I LOVE THEM ALL, WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES

Listen, I love every servant-leader and minister. I love true shepherds. We all make mistakes. I’ve made my share of them. In fact, far too many. But thank the Lord that He is both merciful and long suffering. I realize most pastors, church leaders, and ministers are doing their best with what they’ve learned and how they’ve been trained. I also realize that there are no perfect churches, and God uses each one as much as He can, because He loves people. Truth must be preached, but love is the greatest. The Lord will eventually remove His blessing from places that proclaim loud truth without love because in the end that does more harm than good. Spirit is always before structure or trying to have perfect church government.

WE ARE IN A MAJOR TRANSITION

But at the same time we are in a major transition in the body of Christ that many are not ready for. Please lay person and believer, don’t give up and quit on your local church and leadership. I have said repeatedly that the Lord is building strong local churches in this hour to contain the great harvest before us. And more than bashing church leaders (that is not my heart at all), that’s really what this post is about. It’s about the harvest!

Conventional pastors and church leaders are going to read this and accuse me of inciting rebellion and a laity coup against them and their churches. Mature people won’t do that. It’s your job to feed the lambs and train the sheep and equip them for greater things than our generation has yet witnessed. This next, and perhaps last, great wave of revival will be maximized by the laity being equipped and mobilized.

The maturing of the saints (Ephesians 4:11-12) has been long ago abandoned, replaced by the drive to expand our ministerial piece-of-the-pie with a guild of salaried professionals. C’mon! Be honest! You are not really building God’s kingdom. You know it and you can quote it, but you wouldn’t be so burdened if you were letting the Lord build it.

“Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it…” (Psalm 127:1)

As ministers, shepherds, and overseers this is what we must all learn to do.

I love you all so very much, and I am endeavoring to be not only the Lord’s messenger, but more importantly, His bond-slave.

HERE ARE SOME OF MY BOOKS FOR YOU TO CATCH UP ON PERTINENT TO THIS POST, IF INTERESTED:

Soulish Leadership

Cleansing The Temple

Passing On The Move of God To The Next Generation

My Son, My Son (raising your children to be a part of a holy generation)

The Supernatural Church of Love and Power (most recent)

The Tumultuous 2020s and Beyond

The Journal of a Journey to His Holiness

The Real Spirit of Revival

The Real Jesus

The Real Gospel

The Real Salvation

Prayer: The Language Of The Spirit (learning to enjoy God)

All are available on Amazon in paperback and kindle for underpriced costs.