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DANIEL KOLENDA MAIN WRITTER

EDITED BY ONESMO GREEN

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ENEMY WITCHCRAFT OF REBELLION

After I finished preaching recently, two young men approached. They said the Lord had called them to be evangelists, and they asked if I had any advice for them. I said, “Yes, I can give you my advice in one word: obey!” I think this is perhaps the single greatest word of advice anyone could have for discovering and remaining in God’s will. Unfortunately it is also one of the areas of greatest difficulty for so many of God’s people. We are like sheep—prone to wander and amazingly stupid. We are like donkeys—stubborn and willful. We are like peacocks—proud and vain. We are quick to analyze and rationalize but slow to obey. We are masters of procrastination and experts at justification. Making excuses comes naturally to us, but simple obedience seems so difficult.

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?” (Deut. 10:12–13, nkjv, emphasis added). Notice that God’s commands are not given to make us miserable; they are for our own good. This might sound like a cliché, but please do not dismiss it and simply go on to the next paragraph. Stop to consider this thought for a moment. God is all knowing and all wise. He knows the future. He knows the past. He can see what is ahead in your life and in the lives of everyone around you. He knows what is going to happen in the economy, in politics, and on the world stage. When He speaks, He is giving you insider information for your advantage, and your obedience is the most profitable thing you could do for yourself.

I could point to many examples in my own life of times when God spoke to me about something, but because obeying required some level of personal sacrifice, I struggled and wrestled in my own heart and mind, sometimes for far too long. In the end I discovered that His instructions were meant to save me mountains of heartache, pain, and expense. If we could only learn to obey, we would be fulfilled, happy, and blessed in every way. John H. Sammis’s famous hymn says it well:

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Consider Israel’s first king, Saul, who always thought his idea was better than God’s command. Each act of rebellion led him deeper into trouble and farther from God’s will. It was to Saul that Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king” (1 Sam. 15:22–23, nkjv).

Just as rebellion blocks God’s blessings, so obedience releases them. Consider the widow of Zarephath, who experienced an extraordinary miracle of provision. A terrible famine was ravaging the land. God spoke to Elijah in 1 Kings 17:9 and said, “Arise, get thee to Zarephath . . . behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.” Notice that God did not send Elijah to a woman living in a mansion with huge storehouses of grain from which she could provide for the prophet. Instead, the Lord sent him to a poor widow who didn’t have enough food to provide for her own family.

I emphasize this because God could have sent Elijah to anyone. For that matter He could have continued to send ravens to feed him. The point is that Elijah didn’t really need this woman’s food. God didn’t send Elijah to the woman so that He could provide for Elijah. God sent Elijah to the widow so He could provide for the widow. Why would the Lord command a poor widow to make such a costly sacrifice? It must have seemed cruel and senseless. But it was for her own good! Her obedience unlocked a fountain of provision that she could never have anticipated. “The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah” (1 Kings 17:16, nas).

Allow me to become extremely practical at this point, if I may. I once preached about answering the call with urgency, and afterward someone came up to me and said, “God called me to the mission field, but you said I should obey now. Does this mean I should quit my job and move to another country right away?” These particulars are where matters become very personal and highly customized. Ultimately only you can know what God is saying to you, and only you will be accountable to God. But for most people I think it’s safe to say that when God calls you, He doesn’t expect you to go to the airport immediately or sail with the next tide.

This may sound like a contradiction of what I previously said, but if there is any confusion about this point, it is because of a failure to distinguish between the “call” and the “commission.” When Jesus called His disciples, He didn’t call them to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers. He simply called them to follow Him. And as they followed Him, Jesus promised that He would “make” them into “fishers of men.” Now the disciples left their nets immediately to follow Jesus, but they were not made into fishers of men immediately. There was a season of training between when Jesus called them to follow Him and when He commissioned them to preach the Gospel.

Obedience to the call of God is about following Jesus. If you have heard the call of Jesus and you think you need to be on the next plane to the mission field, then you probably misunderstood what He said when He called you. He probably didn’t say, “Go and do.” He most likely said, “Come and follow.” Don’t worry about the commission. It will come as you follow Jesus.

THE SEDATIVE OF EXCUSES

Jesus said, “Seek, and you will find” (Matt. 7:7, nkjv), and this is especially true of excuses. If you are looking for an excuse, you can always find one. Some people are too young. Some are too old. Some are not smart enough. Some are not experienced enough. Some are not privileged enough. Some don’t have enough money. Some don’t have the right abilities. For some it’s not time yet; for others it’s too late. Excuses are a penny a pound, plentiful and cheap—and God does not buy them!

We become extremely creative when we want to make an excuse. Our excuses can often sound very noble and even spiritual at times. We use excuses to fool others, but they are especially effective at helping us to fool ourselves. We use them as a sedative to soothe our conscience and to make us feel better about our own disobedience and laziness.

My friend, God has a wonderful plan for your life, and He invites you to partake of it, but excuses are a dangerous enemy that can keep you from possessing what God has for you. I have seen how excuses have kept so many wonderful people from realizing their God-given potential. This is a great tragedy because life is so short, and time wasted can never be recovered.

This book has been written to help you discover God’s will for your life, but the discovery of God’s will for your life is never going to be enough in and of itself. Knowing God’s will and fulfilling it are two entirely different things! The reality is that many people already know what God has called them to do. Even if they don’t realize it or won’t admit it, God has already revealed His will to them in one way or another. But they never achieve all that God has given to them to accomplish. And they never enter into the fullness of the blessings God has prepared for them because they comfort themselves in disobedience and laziness through excuses.

Although there are far too many excuses to mention, I would like to address a few that are especially common. As you read through the following list of excuses, I would like to challenge you to allow this to be a sort of diagnostic test. Examine your own heart to see if you are allowing these excuses or others like them, to keep you from walking in the fullness of what God has for your life.

BUT I’M WAITING ON THE LORD

This is one of those excuses that sounds so spiritual. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying there is never a legitimate reason to wait on the Lord. But remember, we use excuses to soothe our own conscience, and the more sincere they sound, the better. Yes, there might be a legitimate time to wait on the Lord, but this can also be, and often is, nothing more than an excuse not to do what we already know to do.

In Exodus 14 the children of Israel had just come out of Egypt and had set their faces toward the Promised Land. But between the land of their captivity and the land of their destiny there was an obstacle that seemed insurmountable—the Red Sea. With no way to cross this body of water, they looked back toward Egypt and saw a cloud of dust stirred up by a thousand horses’ hooves—and it was hurtling toward them. The armies of Pharaoh were on their way to wipe them off the face of the earth. As you can imagine, the children of Israel began to panic. They ran to Moses, their wise leader, for his advice, and these were his instructions:

And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.” —Exodus 14:13–15, nkjv

“Stand still,” Moses said, “and see the salvation of the Lord.” Have you ever heard a sermon about standing still? I know I have. In fact, I have preached on this very subject in the past. And then one day I heard Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke speak about this passage in a way that changed my view forever. He said: “Facing the Red Sea on the one side and Pharaoh’s army on the other, Moses said to the people, ‘Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord’ (v.13). But God was not happy. He gave a counter-command: ‘Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward’ (v. 15, emphasis added). When you hear ‘stand still,’ it’s Rev. Moses, but when you hear, ‘Go forward,’ it is God.”

The word of the Lord is “Go forward!” Begin to move in the direction God is leading. Even God cannot steer a parked car! Get moving for God, and you will find that He will begin to guide your steps and direct your path.

BUT I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY

This is another spiritual-sounding excuse, but to think that we can outrun God seems a bit silly to me. Can you imagine God in Heaven huffing and puffing and leaning on Gabriel’s shoulder as He says, “Man, I wish that guy would slow down. He’s so quick I can hardly keep up with him!” More than likely God has been waiting on you to catch up rather than the other way around.

Any one of these points could be qualified with a list of caveats, but rather than thinking of all the instances when this concern could be legitimate, ask yourself, “Am I using this as an excuse in my life?” And if it is indeed an excuse, no matter how spiritual it sounds, you need to drop it and get moving in Jesus’s name!

Financial needs are one of the most practical barriers to fulfilling our dreams. Many times the money issue boils down to a faith issue. We make excuses because we are not fully convinced that God will provide for our needs. The next few sentences will change your life and even your destiny if you will allow them to sink deep into your heart.

God is not poor, and He has no need of anything. When He orders something, He will always pay for it, and He never expects us to finance His will on our own. When God wants something, He never asks “How much?” because cost is no issue to Him. The only thing that governs what God can or cannot do in our lives is our willingness to believe Him, trust Him, and obey Him. Never decide what is or isn’t God’s will in your life by looking at the money that is or isn’t in your pocket. Check God’s pockets! They are filled with more than enough!

I realize that not everyone reading this book is called into “full-time ministry,” but let me take a moment to speak to those who are, because for them the matter of finances is perhaps one of the biggest challenges and sources of confusion. Ministry today is often viewed as a profession. We have been reminded quite often that “the labourer is worthy of his hire” (Luke 10:7) and that we should not muzzle the ox when he is working (Deut. 25:4). When I preach about the call of God into the ministry, the first thing most people think of are paid positions, and they immediately begin to wonder about what level of financial support they might find. It seems many people automatically think of “ministry” as a paying “full-time job,” and I wonder sometimes how much interest there would be if there were no possibility of financial reward.

When God sent Malachi to Jerusalem shortly after the temple had been rebuilt, he was appalled by the apathy of the people and especially of the “clergy.” He observed that the priests seemed to be motivated by what they could get out of their service rather than by sincere love for God and a desire to build His kingdom. They were hirelings and mercenaries working for pay. God wondered if anyone would still be there to light the fires on the altar or even shut the doors if there were no promise of financial compensation (Mal. 1:10). I have no problem with ministers who make a living from their work in the ministry. In fact, I am one of them. But if financial remuneration becomes the incentive or prerequisite for ministry, there is a real problem.

I started preaching when I was fourteen years old, and ever since then I have always worked in “the ministry” in many different capacities. Most of the time I have been in ministry, it has been totally volunteer and has even cost me dearly. I have had to work secular jobs to support my family. Even as a senior pastor I took no salary and never felt entitled to anything.

If there were no money in ministry, I would still be doing it today and for the rest of my life. Why? Because I love Jesus and because it is what He has called me to do. I cannot imagine not ministering. Ministry is not my job—it is my life. I am a minister—it’s not just what I do. I am amazed sometimes to think that today I am able to make a living doing something that I love so much.

Jesus told His disciples, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me” (John 4:34, nas). This is reward enough. It is remuneration enough. And then He gave this exhortation: “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life” (John 6:27, nas). As ministers we work not for money or for food; we work for Jesus. Money will follow ministry, and as we seek first the Kingdom of God, all these things will be added to us.

There are many people who wait until “they can afford it” to do the thing God has called them to do. They have somehow convinced themselves that funding God’s will for their lives is their responsibility. They’re wrong about that. It’s God’s responsibility, and He is more than happy to take care of it. In the meantime do what He is calling you to do, in whatever way you can, and stop using money as an excuse.

BUT I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TALENT

Whenever I hear people use these excuses, it reminds me of when God called Moses in Exodus 3. The Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a burning bush and said, “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt” (v. 10). Immediately Moses’s mind filled with excuses—all the things he didn’t have and couldn’t do.

Moses was not a general—he was a shepherd. He was not a polished orator—he had a stuttering tongue. He was not equipped to lead a nation—he had his hands full leading a flock of sheep. How could he possibly do what God was asking him to do? “Who am I,” Moses asks, “that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exod. 3:11). And here we see Moses’s mistake. He made the error of thinking it was about him—about his talents, abilities, and gifts. But God quickly corrects Moses over and over throughout the rest of the chapter:

• “I am the God of your father” (Exod. 3:6, nas, emphasis added).

• “I will send you to Pharaoh” (Exod. 3:10, nas, emphasis added ).

• “Certainly I will be with thee” (Exod. 3:12, emphasis added).

• “I am that I am” (Exod. 3:14, emphasis added).

• “I will bring you up” (Exod. 3:17, emphasis added).

• “I will stretch out my hand” (Exod. 3:20, emphasis added).

• “I will give this people favour” (Exod. 3:21, emphasis added).

By the end of the conversation Moses had learned a very valuable lesson. The great I am is the Great “I will.” God is the fulfiller of His Word. He is not looking for the most talented, the most intelligent, the most beautiful, the most articulate, the most educated, or the most charismatic. He is looking for those who will follow, who will yield, and who will obey.

If you don’t feel qualified for one reason or another, take courage from the disciples. When Jesus chose them, He didn’t go to the University of Jerusalem. He didn’t select the brightest young minds from the synagogue. He went down to the fishing docks and chose some roughneck fishermen. This motley group of ragtag laymen was certainly not the “cream of the crop,” but Jesus made a deal with them. Jesus said, “If you will follow Me, I will make you.” (See Matthew 4:19.) My friend, that is the same deal Jesus makes with every one of us. If we will follow Him, He will make us. Following Jesus is so simple because you don’t need to know the way. You don’t need to be the miracle worker. You don’t need to be the savior. You don’t need to be the healer. Your job is to stop making excuses, let Him lead, do whatever He tells you to do, and follow!

BUT I’M NOT READY YET

Delayed obedience is disobedience! I have found this to be one of the most common reasons people fall short of the will of God in their lives. So many people are continuously waiting for the “right time” before they step out and do what God has called them to do. Reinhard Bonnke once told me, “Those who forever seek the will of God are overrun by those who do it.”

We all recognize that there are times and seasons in God and that sometimes God will tell us to wait. We can’t be impetuous and go off the deep end, doing whatever we please, whenever we please, and just hope God will somehow work it all out. That can prove to be a fatal mistake! But it can be just as big a mistake to wait and wait forever until everything is just right before we act. When God speaks to us, no matter what we think, we must obey because it is He, not us, who always knows the right time. As I said before, even God can’t steer a parked car! The enemy will see to it that there are imperfect circumstances in our lives if he knows we will just keep waiting and waiting until the timing seems perfect. We must allow the Holy Spirit, not our circumstances, to determine what that right time is.

In Luke 9:59–60 we read the story of someone whom Jesus called to follow Him: “And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.”

I’ve known this scripture for as far back as I can remember, and I must confess that for most of my life I did not understand what was going on here. In the back of my mind I had this feeling that Jesus was not fair to that poor young man. The man had not responded negatively to Jesus’s call. He didn’t say, “No, Lord, I will not follow You.” Actually he was quite positive and made only a simple request, “Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.” Was this so much to ask? After all, which of us would not want to attend our father’s funeral? Which of us wouldn’t want one day off to bury a dead loved one? Which of us would not have made the same request if one of our parents had just died?

One day I was reading this passage over and over, trying to understand it. Finally I put my Bible down and said, “Lord, why were You so impatient with that young man? Why couldn’t You have given him one extra day to bury his dead father?” The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart so clearly. Rather than answering my question, He asked me a question of His own. He said, “What makes you think this man’s father was dead?” I looked at the passage again and realized it does not say anywhere that the father had died. It says only that this young man wanted to wait to follow Jesus until he had a chance to bury his father.

My eyes were opened, and suddenly I realized what was happening here. This young man wanted to put off obedience to the call of Jesus until a more convenient time. Perhaps his father was old and surely would not live much longer. The young man thought, “After my father is dead, that will be a much more convenient time to follow Jesus.” He probably figured Jesus would be around for the next fifty years preaching and teaching. Surely he had plenty of time. But within three years Jesus would go to the cross, and the chance to walk with Him and learn from Him one on one would have passed forever. This young man had no idea how precious, how rare, and how fleeting was this invitation. He missed the opportunity of his lifetime because of two costly little words: “But first.” Can you see it? This is what so many of us do!

Jesus comes to us, perhaps in our youth, and He says, “Follow Me.” We say, “Yes, Lord, I will follow You, but first let me finish my education.”

Time goes by, we graduate, and then He comes to us again. “Follow Me,” He says. We answer, “Yes, Lord, I will follow You, but first let me get a job and save up some money so I have something to fall back on.”

We get a job, time goes by, and He comes to us again. “Follow Me,” He says. We say, “Yes, Lord, I will follow You, but first let me put my kids through school.”

The kids grow, leave the house, and have children of their own. He comes to us again, “Follow Me.” We say, “Yes, Lord, I will follow You, but first let me retire from my job so I can collect my pension.”

The years fly by faster than we expected. The young become old, and soon life has been spent. One day they lower our bodies into the earth to return to dust, and in the end so many never followed God’s call. My friend, the greatest tragedy in the world is a wasted life. Real life, in its fullest sense, is not merely having a pulse but doing the will of God. Many are dead while they live. “Let the dead bury their dead,” Jesus said, “but go thou and preach the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60).

We are all familiar with the twelve disciples. These were the ones who responded to Jesus’s call. But I wonder how many people did not respond. This young man might have been disciple number thirteen. There might have been a book of the Bible named after him. His name might have been one of those written on the foundations in the New Jerusalem, but today we do not know his name. We know only of his epic missed opportunity. Let’s see the difference between his response to Christ’s call and the response of those who actually became Jesus’s disciples.

Matthew 4:18–22 gives the account of Peter’s and Andrew’s call. “Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him” (nas, emphasis added).

I love the way Luke describes this same event in his Gospel. “And when they had brought their ships to land,” he says, “they forsook all, and followed him” (Luke 5:11). Immediately they left their nets. Immediately they left their boats. They forsook everything and they followed Jesus. What a response! Something stirs in my soul when I read this. I want to jump up with those men and abandon everything to follow the Lamb wherever He goes. This is what that other unnamed young man was missing. It was not for him to decide when was the right time to obey. He should have immediately forsaken everything and answered the call.