DO NOT DRIFT FROM DESTINY RELATIONSHIPS
Some few years into ministry, I would regularly attend a monthly ministers’ mentoring session with my father in the faith. It was a commitment I made to him. But life happened, I got caught up in the routine and activities of ministry and I thought I had a legitimate excuse because the road trip was becoming more tedious. Our roads were terrible.
One day, in devotion, after we had studied, I received a rebuke from the Lord about how I had drifted from that relationship. I was already about to make some critical life decisions without telling him. I sent him a message admitting how I had drifted from following and learning. I confessed that the Holy Spirit rebuked me also. He welcomed me with a large fatherly heart. His response was simple, “Naughty Boy! Good for you. See you soon”.
The counsel I got and the direction I received from him afterwards brought a major shift for me in ministry and helped me in settling down as a married man.
When I told him about marriage, he said to me: “Son, there are two things that must be clear. First, be sure you have heard the Lord. Second, do not marry a woman who does not believe in God’s vision for your life. If you do, you will be frustrated for the rest of your life”.
The counsel for ministry brought a clear road map for a decade. It was so prophetic.
There are relationships in your life that you must never drift from. Even if you seem to have legitimate reasons to be offended, deal with it very fast. It is a landmine. It is an attack on your destiny journey. Never allow the devil to attack such relationships.
There is a very instructive illustration about a city that was destroyed in the book of judges. Do you know why it was so easy to destroy the city?
Then they… went on to Laish, against a people at peace and secure. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city. There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else.
Judges 18:27-28 NIV
Dear friends, it is not wise to live life without divinely ordained relationships. If you perceive in your heart that there are men the Lord would have you to travel with in life, do all you can to make such relationships work. Do not drift from them. Do not get angry. Do not allow offence.
If the devil gets you to drift far enough from such relationships, his arrow is already targeted at your heart. It is a poisoned arrow. He wants to ensure that you are vulnerable enough before he shoots.
Think about it: Before David fell to Bathsheba, Prophet Samuel and Jonathan were already dead. He was so exposed that he fell massively. Samuel is a picture of a solid pastoral and fatherly relationship. Jonathan is a picture of a covenant friend. Just a simple question- Do you have a Samuel? Do you have a Jonathan? Is your Bathsheba moment already close?
temilOluwa Ola, Eruwa.