One day, I asked myself, “These stories we read about men like Apostle Babalola, St. Patrick, Seymour, Wigglesworth, etc.; how do we know if the things they say are all true?”
I love Pentecostals. I am a Pentecostal. But you see, I’ve found out that one thing is peculiar with this sect: exaggeration.
I spoke about this sect yesterday, very well. I am not lending my voice to fight anything, just in case you think so. I am only trying to help struggling believers.
There was this popular story about one of God’s generals that we all believed for years, not until we later heard that it was not true.
I believe in diverse manifestations of the Spirit. And you should too. But sometimes, in our bid to charge God’s people to be serious with the things of God, we begin to tell stories that are not true. One thing this does is put immature believers under pressure to “perform.”
Now that you’ve heard that someone went somewhere and prayed for days and came back with his eyes on fire, you may want to do likewise.
And then you begin to wonder:
“Why am I not experiencing what this man experienced?”
“Why am I not praying like this?”
“Why am I not seeing these manifestations?”
“Maybe something is wrong with me.”
God told me something many months ago.
He said:
“Focus on the goal and not the method.”
That statement changed something for me.
It is an organic life that we are called to live.
Results may not always follow the verbatim method that your pastor used. The only instructions you have to grow are praying, studying your Bible, meditating, obedience to God, etc.
The method you adopt, such as studying your Bible on Mount Carmel or praying with your head tucked between your legs, is your business. Some have even gone as far as trying to replicate Elijah’s posture in the place of prayer. As my pastor would say, prayer posture is for convenience’s sake and for how best you can concentrate, not for drama or show.
There are many Pentecostal stories about God’s Generals, and while many are true, some are exaggerated. And this is where we have to become more discerning. Before you stand on God’s pulpit and lie to God’s children, making their walk all the more difficult, why not just leave the stories out or tell the ones you know are true?
I understand that their motives are genuine. But it wouldn’t have been much of an issue if the exaggerations had no adverse consequences. They do. And as I’ve already said, unnecessary or inaccurate pursuits are usually what those falsified stories breed, and this is very counterproductive to the growth of young believers.
We must be faithful both to God and to His people at all times.
Sharing experiences that spur people to grow in the Lord is beautiful. Apostle Paul shared his personal story many times as the need arose. But know when and what to share and how you share it. If you can’t manage that, then don’t share. Because your experience is not another believer’s commandment. Your method is not another believer’s method. Your testimony is not automatically a template for somebody else’s spiritual life.
And this is one of the dangers of constantly hearing spectacular stories. We begin to mistake someone’s experience for Scripture. We hear how someone prayed, so we think that is how prayer must be done. We hear how someone fasted, so we think that is the measure of spirituality. We hear how someone received a revelation, so we begin to pursue the same experience. We hear how someone performed a particular spiritual exercise and experienced something extraordinary, and suddenly we begin to believe that the exercise itself contains the power.
No.
The power is not in the method. The power is not in the posture. The power is not in reproducing another person’s experience.
The goal is to know God, obey Him, and grow in Him.
I once struggled for a long time because I wanted to replicate what a man of God shared in his experience.
Until one day, I heard in my spirit:
“What’s your problem? Are you this person? Why not simply do the Word?”
I had to repent and face my life. And perhaps that is what some of us need to do.
Stop trying to become someone else’s testimony. You don’t need to reproduce another man’s spiritual biography to prove that you know God. You don’t need to pray exactly like another person. You don’t need to fast exactly like another person. You don’t need to manufacture manifestations because somebody told you that manifestations are the evidence of spiritual depth.
Follow Christ.
Study the Word. Pray. Obey God. Meditate. Grow.
And allow your relationship with God to develop organically.
Sometimes, the most spiritual thing you can do is stop chasing somebody else’s experience and simply do the Word.