THE BURDEN OF THE APOSTLE BY APOSTLE JOSHUA SELMAN
21
The apostolic ministry is a very dangerous ministry.
The apostolic ministry is the kind of ministry that when you understand the demands spiritually, it may not be as attractive as it looks in the physical.
In the physical, the apostolic ministry may look flamboyant because you get to operate in all the other ministerial offices: prophetic, evangelical, pastoral, teacher..So it’s like they are usually ‘stand alone people.’.
Then you get to flow mightily in the gift of the Spirit.
You command tremendous influence and it beguiles many people to think that the apostolic ministry is just as easy as it looks.
Believe me, Believe me…when you understand the scope of carrying an apostolic and prophetic anointing, you will run away from it.
Occasionally you find out that the burden of the Spirit rests on you.
The apostolic ministry is such that you sacrifice your life literarily.. You don’t just sacrifice your time..YOU SACRIFICE YOUR LIFE…
GOD can interrupt your life and your activity any day and any time because he puts upon your spirit the burden that he is carrying for the season , for a people.
.And you must stay in the secret place until you are able to articulate what he is communicating and to birth it properly and trust me, BIRTHING SPIRITUAL THINGS ARE PAINFUL .
SO you get to a point where you will have to choose whether or not you really want to carry this mantle.
That’s why apostles and prophets in the bible were lowly people..
They were abnormal human beings ..They were controversial human beings.. That’s why many of them did not marry..
Am sure God looked and said, let’s save women from heart attack from the madness of these people.
The mantle will change you..It literarily will reconfigure you into something you may not want.
You are like a puppet under the influence of an agency you cannot stop.
That’s why the Bible says the church was built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
Do you know how thick a foundation must be to carry any structure, any structure at all..
So sometimes when you find out that I retreat like this away ,it’s not just to go and play around. It’s an intense communication of the burden of the Spirit.
Brothers and sisters let me submit to you, if you want to do ministry God’s way, you must not just love God but you must stay on course at all times.
The bible says:” I will stand upon my watch and I will set myself upon the tower and I will see what the Lord will say..”
Because you cannot afford to say the things that are not truly communicated by the Holy Spirit.
There people inside and outside of this place just because God draws them to hear the precepts of the Spirit.
By the grace of God, in every city and every region, God will always raise apostolic and prophetic platforms to not only regulate the Spiritual climate of that region,but to also serve as the gatekeepers within that region.
They serve as the envoys, the communicators of divine truth .
They serve as the ones with whom divine realities can be communicated. And so it is very very important that we realize and appreciate it.
Truly let me tell you brothers and sisters, the apostolic ministry is a strong ministry.
You can decide to do ministry men’s way, but if you truly want to carry the mantle and grace of men like Smith Wigglesworth, Williams Symore, if you want to become a continuation of this system of God’s kingdom advancement, then you must stay..it will cost you..
I have told us again and again that not everything in the kingdom is a gift..there are some things that are rewards..
Listen let me tell you something,
It is on account of this sacrifice that he says “he suffered no man to do them wrong”.
He reproof Kings for their sake saying touch not my anointed..