Misplaced Priority
I was meditating yesterday when I had a revelation.It came as flashes of thoughts:
I was invited to a church to preach.As I mounted the pulpit,I asked the congregation to get a sheet of paper and a pen.I asked each person to write three prayer requests,starting with their most urgent desire.Afterwards,I asked them to raise their pens up while they listened to the next instructions.
Preacher:If you wrote something about the salvation of someone in your prayer request,step forward!
They were bewildered.Maybe they thought I wanted to start prophesying on their requests before…I had to explain what I meant.
Preacher: I meant if one of your requests to God is for Him to save someone from sin the way He saved you,come forward!
Very few people stepped forward.Then I continued with the instructions…
Preacher:Out of those of you that have come forward,if what you wrote as number one in your prayer request is about the salvation of someone’s soul,move to the right side of the altar!Don’t lie,I will check what you wrote on your paper!
Like the Gideon’s army,the number reduced to an insignificant percentage of the whole church!
If you were in this church,where would you be standing?Among the congregation? Among those on the left side of the altar? Or those on the right?
The above revelation described what is happening in our midst today.
It is good to be prosperous…No doubt about that.
It is fantastic to overcome your enemies…
It is excellent if you pass your exams and excel at your place of work…
It is a welcome development if there is an expansion in your business, ministry etc…
All these bring glory to God and ultimately lead to the expansion of God’s Kingdom.God is interested in making us comfortable and victorious.However,not at the detriment of what He prioritizes as number 1.
Let the Scriptures speak to us on this matter:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”-Matt 6:33
What are ‘all these things’?
“…What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?”-Matt 6:31
Christ has not said we should only seek ‘the Kingdom of God and his righteousness’,He expects us to also seek ‘all these things’.But when ‘all these things’ have become number 1,2 and 3 on our list and there is no place for the ‘kingdom and his righteousness’,such pursuit is called a misplaced priority!
Do you want to know the number 1 desire of God?Do you want to know one thing that is number 1 on the priority list of God now?
Let’s search the Scripture:
“This is good and pleases God our Savior,who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”-1Tim 2:3-4
It is God’s desire that the same way He saved you,He also saves everyone! That is the heartbeat of God!Every other thing is secondary to that.
“…He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent”-2Peter 3:9
God is not after the death of many of those people you ‘kill’ with your prayers!He wants them saved! He wants you to intercede for them to be saved.
“In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!”-Luke 15:7
Brethren,we have seen the healings,the breakthroughs,the promotions,the upliftments,the prosperity,the expansions etc.They are our rights.However,it is time to focus on the heartbeat of God.
God would rather want us to have five saved souls in a building with no roof than put 1 million sinners in a cathedral with state-of-the-art facility!
I hope we shall hear testimonies like these in many of our services henceforth:
‘Praise the Lord with me,my neighbor used to be an atheist.I started praying for him in January this year.Today,being the thanksgiving service(1st of Dec),he is here with me as a child of God’.
‘Praise the Lord,my son used to be wayward.He was a cultist and an enemy of God.I sought the face of God concerning him for more than a year ago.Today,he is a Christian’.
‘My husband used to be a womaniser and a sinner.He went away from the faith 5 years ago.I kept praying for him despite his resistance to God’s word.Today,he is a changed man’.
God says there will be more joy in heaven over this type of testimonies!
I still heard some of these testimonies while growing up.These days,there are not only rare,they are no longer in vogue because salvation of soul is no longer our priority!