The best way to kill your ministry or your testimony is to go beyond what God has told you to do or say. To go beyond God’s calling or instruction, is to take into our own hands, what God has already given to us and instructed us in.
Leviticus 10:1-3
Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his own firepan, put fire in it, placed incense on it, and presented unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them to do. 2 Then fire came from the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has spoken:
I will demonstrate my holiness
to those who are near me,
and I will reveal my glory
before all the people.”
God Reveals His Glory To All People
God will reveal His glory to all people, but to those He has given special insight and assignment, he will demonstrate His holiness. We can’t get sloppy or arrogant with what God has given to us. When we take into our own power the things of God, we deny His power and we trust ourselves over Him and His power.
When Nadab and Abihu took God’s clear instruction and calling and began to do things their own way, even after they had seen God demonstrate His power; they were consumed by the very thing they were called into ministry to care for.
Our Gifts And Calling is For God Who Gave Them To Us
We see God’s glory, it is for all people, and when we have been near enough to see His holiness demonstrated, even for a moment, we don’t get to go about our lives the way we once did. We can’t pretend it was for our entertainment, and in our control. Drawing near to God is a beautiful gift; using our gifts to serve Him is an honor. If we move away from God and use what He has given to us for our own glory, it will be a curse.
Jeremiah 17:5-6 This is what the Lord says:
Cursed is the person who trusts in mankind.
He makes human flesh his strength,
and his heart turns from the Lord.
6 He will be like a juniper in the Arabah;
he cannot see when good comes
but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness,
in a salt land where no one lives.
The best way to kill a testimony or ministry is to take it into our own hands and contol it. The greatest way to live and grow in the life and calling God has for us, is to trust Him completely.
Jeremiah 17:7-8
The person who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed.
He will be like a tree planted by water:
it sends its roots out toward a stream,
it doesn’t fear when heat comes,
and its foliage remains green.
It will not worry in a year of drought
or cease producing fruit.
