You Have Not Lost It

As you look back on your past spiritual experiences and ministry, it often looks like the Lord changed His plans for your life.

Gifts that used to function before no longer work the same way. And even your desires for ministry have changed.

How can you be sure where to go from here? Is it possible to get back to where you were and move beyond?

All of these questions are answered in this timely message.

Outro Song

https://gbmsom.gbmi.co.za/view-songs/?songno=68

Audio File

Text Transcript

You Have Not Lost It

When You Were Used By God

At what point are you right now in your spiritual life and in your ministry? I don’t know how long you’ve been serving the Lord or what your previous involvements have been in doing ministry and the work of the Lord. Each of us have had different experiences. But as you sit right now and you look back over the past, Can you think back on times when the Lord really seemed to be blessing you when he was using you, when you had a great experience of his anointing, and perhaps as you flowed out in ministry to others, there was like a real sense that God was with you and was working through you.

But over time, some of that seems to kind of fade away, and circumstances change. We move location. We get involved in different things in life and somehow along the way things seem to change. And whereas perhaps at the beginning you had a very good idea of what you thought God was going to do with your life or what your calling was even maybe and what he was going to use you in, somehow along the way it just kind of begins to fade away and you begin to wonder and doubt because Things don’t happen that way anymore.

The great anointing that you had in the past doesn’t seem to be there anymore. There was a time when, if you shared the Lord with people, there was such a power and a sense of the anointing of God upon you. Or if you were given an opportunity to stand up and speak to a group or any kind of ministry, the anointing always seemed to be better back there.

Things Have Changed

But, this is life all around, isn’t it? We always speak about the good old days. Do you remember, do you have some good old days when there was a time in your life that God was really moving in you and things were going great? But somewhere along the line, things change. Perhaps your idea of what God wanted to do was a mistake, or God changed his mind.

And, you know, although maybe God wanted to use you in a certain way back there, the whole focus changed and his calling on your life changed. And now you feel that you’re moving in a very different direction. Perhaps at one time, you moved very powerfully in the power gifts and in the supernatural, and then God began to move you into more of a ministry in the Word, and now you feel that your main ministry isn’t so much to move in the supernatural.

Perhaps there was a time when you laid hands on people and prayed for them. There was great anointing and power. People even got healed. Things happened. That just doesn’t happen anymore. If you try it now, it just kind of feels flat. Are these some of your experiences? And perhaps you’ve come to the conclusion that, well, you know, the Lord seemed to use me back there and there was a time and a season for it.

But that time is over and I can’t go back there again. I’m a different person now. I’m in a different situation and God is obviously going to use me very differently. And in fact, you’ve probably come to the conclusion that you really don’t seem to function in these gifts anymore.

At one stage, I thought I had a gift of the spirit and God could use me. But it doesn’t seem to work anymore. I don’t have the confidence to flow in that ministry anymore. And somehow along the way, it’s just disappeared. I don’t do that anymore. So obviously God didn’t want me to continue. And although he gave me that gift for a short while, he’s taken it away now, and I’m not operating in that anymore.

Experiences With Fivefold Ministry

Perhaps as you look at the higher level ministries. You may have felt called to one of the fivefold ministry and maybe you had great zeal and went out with great enthusiasm, but it just didn’t pan out. And eventually you had to come to the conclusion, well, perhaps I ran ahead of the Lord. Maybe I wasn’t really called or anointed to flow in that ministry.

Or once again, Perhaps the Lord changed his mind. Maybe He had a purpose for me back there when I was a bit younger, when I had more energy and vibrancy, but now I’m old and it’s gone. I can’t do those things anymore. Is this some of your experience? Well, if it is, you’re not alone because all of us go through these things.

We were going on a road on a very clear track that God is leading us. And then suddenly it seems like we hit a detour or the Lord just says, I’m putting you on a new road now, a different road. And then you look at everything that you’ve done previously. And you think, Well, was that all a waste of time? I know I’ve experienced this myself several times in the not too distant past.

My Own Experience With This

But the Lord has said, I don’t want you to go in that direction anymore. I faced this after years of preparing myself to be a teacher in the word and in the body of Christ and eventually rise up to training. the leaders at the highest level. And then suddenly God seemed to say, hand that over to somebody else.

It’s not yours anymore. When it comes to the apostolic ministry, we use the word mandate and a mandate is really very similar to a calling, but it usually relates more specifically to the apostle and different apostles are given different mandates. I came to the conclusion that God had changed my mandate and he’d moved me into something new.

Or he told me that that old mandate was now fulfilled and I no longer needed to walk on that path and I needed to change the emphasis of my ministry. And so I did that for a season and I turned my back on the years of being a trainer of the leaders, expecting to never go back there again. And then suddenly God changed his mind again, at least that’s what it looked like.

Suddenly he said, okay, I’m taking you back there again. Now I’m resurrecting your old vision. And we’ve taught on this concept of birth, death, and, and resurrection of a vision. But How do you know where you stand? How do you know whether God changed his mind and has something different for you now from what he had back there?

The Word Cannot Change

Well, God never works contrary to his word. And the word is very clear. And one powerful little scripture in Romans 11, 29 says this,

Romans 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God [are] irrevocable [GBMV]

They cannot be reversed. They cannot be revoked. They cannot be taken back again. The gifts and the callings.

Well, what gifts can God give you? Well, the very first, most important gift he gave you was the gift of salvation. Scripture says we are saved by grace through faith and this is not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. Your salvation is a gift from God and once God gives you a gift the scripture says he’ll never take it back again.

Salvation Is a Irrevocable Gift

He doesn’t ever change his mind where our gifts are concerned. So God’s never gonna take back from you the gift of salvation that he’s given you. After that, you moved into the anointing of the Spirit, and you began to experience some of what are known as the gifts of the Spirit; Nine of them.

Are these gifts from God? Yes. Are these things God gives to us? Yes, by His Spirit. Well, Can God back one of those gifts? Can he stop using you in a particular manifestation of his spirit and lead you totally in a different direction now and say, sorry, that’s not part of your ministry anymore. Well, not according to the scripture, because it’s still a gift of God and it’s irrevocable.

Your Own Personal Calling

And then the calling of God, the calling of God is the purpose that he has mapped out for your life before you were even born. Now that’s not because he chose it. It’s because he knew you, he foreknew you. He knew which direction you were going to go. He knew the things that you were going to desire and he formulated a plan, especially for you, a plan for your life.

And that is your calling and for each person that is totally unique. That unique calling, will never change. It will never be taken back. It is irrevocable. So yeah, you are thinking, well, I don’t flow in those gifts anymore. Obviously God’s taken them back. I don’t have the same passion for ministry that I had before.

Obviously God changed his mind. No, he hasn’t. Everything that he’s been doing in your life has been leading you up to your ultimate calling and as an apostle, your ultimate mandate. I had to learn myself to take back the mandate that God given me. At one stage, I thought I should hand that mandate over to somebody else.

You Cannot Give Your Mandate Away

And so I handed that over to someone and expected them to continue to fulfill my mandate while I walked away. That’s a very big mistake, because he only gives a mandate to one person, and the only time a mandate may ever be taken up afterwards Is if that person dies without fulfilling that mandate. God may place the same mandate on somebody to take your place.

Very often, it can be one of your own children, as it was when Moses handed over to Joshua, David handed over to Solomon. But that is not the norm. And while you are still alive and breathing, that mandate will remain yours until your time is up. So What do we do now? You stop and you look back on all the blessings that God’s given and all the awesome things that he’s done.

And maybe you need to ask yourself this question. When did I stop moving on that road? And perhaps more importantly, why did I stop walking down that road? And you can blame the Lord as much as you like at the end of the day, the chances are the road became too difficult for you and you felt it was just too much. And you put it aside and you put your goal on something more secular or something that you’re more comfortable with.

Get Back Into The Flow Again

God didn’t change his mind. You did. So don’t you think it’s time to get back to the original call, to the original gifts and callings that he’s placed on your life? Get back into that flow again and move on upwards. Because he’s got even greater things in store for you that you haven’t even seen yet. I trust that you are inspired by this and that you are challenged.

I hope you’re feeling guilty and I hope God’s going to stir you up to get back on the road again and fulfill the calling that he’s given you with the gifts that you still have.

9 comments on “You Have Not Lost It”

  1. Nakia says:

    This is good and timely for me. It’s speaks to exactly where I’m at. The way I flowed before and the ministries that I was once a part of became a struggle.

    Yes, I did get busy trying to work and pay bills forgetting God’s promises and also working harder than I should have.

    I have been given mantles to use and I stopped using them although I saw great results.

    But no more! I’m back on my road.

    Thanks for this message. I am encouraged.

  2. Tsebo Thaathe says:

    Wow,so blessed indeed.Thank you Apostle of God

  3. Dr. Nichelle says:

    The best is yet to come!

  4. Morake Ricks Mooketsi says:

    Thanks a lot Apostle Les for this powerful article. Very encouraging and uplifting words. I am ready to look back on what the Lord Has been doing in my life in the past. Thanks reminding me that I have not lost what He gave to me in the past, iam looking forward to reviving all that He has blessed me with. Thank for this timely message.
    Sometimes we feel guilty and we afraid because we think that we have failed Him, and as a result, He has taken what he has given us, and gave it to someone who is serious as compared to us.

  5. Morake Ricks Mooketsi says:

    Thanks a lot Apostle Les for this powerful article. Very encouraging and uplifting words. I am ready to look back on what the Lord Has been doing in my life in the past. Thanks reminding me that I have not lost what He gave to me in the past, Iam looking forward to reviving all that He has blessed me with, and use it to bless others.

    Thank for this timely message.

    Sometimes we feel guilty and we are afraid because we think that we have failed Him, and as a result, He has taken what he has given us, and gave it to someone who is serious as compared to us.

  6. Dinah says:

    Yes indeed a lot happens in the walk with the Lord. Sometimes you just feel like He is not there. Sometimes you feel everything is so quite you wondered if you have moved away from the Lord or if He has left you.

    But it’s encouraging that we can still go back if it is us who has left Him, or perhaps it is the Lord who is busy new a new thing in our lives and retraining us for higher dimensions.

  7. Mark Stalnaker says:

    This speaks to me. I have gotten so busy with things for work and other demands of my time. I have been blessed abundantly in these things. But this is not the purpose that the Lord has given for my life.

    As I look back, when I moved, He moved. It is not Him who stopped moving; it is me who stopped moving, getting caught up in things that were not necessarily bad but were not profitable to the call of the Lord.
    Thank you for this “wake up call” and true encouragement.

  8. Gloria says:

    Thank you very much, Apostle of God, I’m so encouraged
    This message is for me

  9. Sophie says:

    Thank you for this timely word Apostle.

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