I guess one of the greatest fears in life, is the fear of failure. Failure is defined as cessation {stoppage} of the existence of something. It could also be defined as the omission to do. It means to default or a shortcoming. Basically these definitions give a sense of an assignment or direction towards a set goal.  In other words, failure cannot be defined without a clear definition or direction of your set mission in life. The issue is how you understand or come to accept your present mission; this certainly defines how you conclude success or failure.  I deliberately introduce this definition to show you the relativity of failure and success.

Your judgment or understanding to what is defined to be accomplishment naturally defines how you see God, yourself and the world around you. With the same breath, your view of failure will certainly describe how you pursue success and relate with others around your life. Please note, I am not suggesting you stick with mediocre here. Mediocrity is not the culture of sound biblical Christianity and it must not be encouraged whatsoever. however, we’been shouldered  with the responsibility to systematically teach and lead people out of the vicious circle of poverty.

Poverty must be dealt with from the three dimensions of the fallen human nature; the spirit, the soul and the Body. Most time we tend to start by dealing with the body {material} aspect, instead of first dealing with poverty from its root source and then gradually move towards the outer dimension of its manifestation. Success and failure must be clearly and accurately defined by today’s Christian leaders so they can make the right spiritual and mental adjustment in their perception and representation of God’s purpose.

The next point I’ll like to mention is whoever or whatever defines your development or advancement in life defines your failure or success. Remember the definition of failure? If God is the one who has mapped out and defined the parameter of your destiny, he should definitely be the person defining your failure or accomplishment.  Defining your success or failure from the world’s popular opinion is doing great damage to your restored image and identity in Christ. Getting to define success from God’s kingdom perspective should be a fundamental doctrine within the core structure of the present day apostolic reformation initiative.

Our paradigm towards success and achievement must shift if we are going to represent the Lord before the saints and the world.  It should be ok for your brother to lack money or other forms of {ministerial} achievement and still be able to relate with those who have.  It should be right for you to move your resource to assist a struggling ministry without expecting a return.  People should not have to be in your camp or network for them to be helped.  Your brother should not feel less successful because his got a ministry with the membership of 20 while you’ve got 200.

What defines superiority in ministry is not the ability of the one who gathers the most but the access and proximity of one before the throne of the Father. Blessed are those who have been invited.   We have had teachings on your cairus time. May I announce to you that we all live in a perpetual cairus time before the presence of the Lord; whatever time the Lord chooses to interrupt the human calendar only gives people the opportunity to see what has always been there.

One’s calling should not be about your so called cairus time while your brother is anxiously waiting for his so called season of manifestation due to what he sees around. No, this should be about understanding the pattern of kingdom culture in regards to relationship. The truth is, some will never level up as they assumed. You and I will have to remain their covering until the last trump.  My brethren, there is a calling that precedes what is defined to be ministry today and that is the shared life of the community of the Saints-those who will inherit the kingdom. Christ centered relationship surpasses all ministry achievement. If you are building anything outside this you are building your own kingdom and it will fail.

Using success as a key to leverage yourself amongst a company of people the Lord has not prepared you for is like exposing yourself to high level satanic deception that will cause you to lose all you’ve built. Most time our physical material achievements do not equal the sustaining inner spiritual capacity required of us. the truth is, most Christian failure began when they tend to start succeeding. This is one of the reasons why the Lord deliberately withhold certain things we desperately think we need even in ministry. He knows our thought from afar, the prayers and unending fasting are only motivated by the needs to prove a point.  One who has not journeyed the road of wisdom will be quick to judge the request of King Solomon, yet this is one of the greatest prayers anyone can pray.

Prov 30:7-9  Two things have I asked of You [O Lord]; deny them not to me before I die: 8 Remove far from me falsehood and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,  9 Lest I be full and deny You and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal, and so profane the name of my God. [Deut 8:12,14,17; Neh 9:25,26; Job 31:24; Hos 13:6.] AMP

Do you understand why the Lord instructed the Israelites to take of the daily portion they can eat of the manna except the day before the Sabbath?  He was teaching them the concept of truth and obedience.  The community of God’s people is not defined to be independent; rather we are called to inter-depend on each other. This means that spiritual relationship must be the driving force of the engine of the Church’s advancement.

This is one of the reasons why the enemy takes advantage of our pride and selfish attitude to perpetuate his evil act amongst members of the Body. We pretend and say things we don’t mean only to gain face. It is said the maximum span of most relationship in the body don’t last more than three years, why?  Our motive and desire is to use and dump each other as we climb the so called success ladder.

Like Saul, most can’t wait for the set time of the Lord; we need to do something to secure our success image lest we fail. The fear of failure made Saul step into an office that was not ordained for him. He decided to offer God a strange fire because he saw the people leaving him. When it seems you are going to fail by the look of things do you compromise God’s prophetic order or do you wait on the promise of his coming?  We have plunged ourselves and the people around us in an unnecessary spiritual warfare all because of our insecurity and lack of accurate self-esteem.  Our prayers are the result of a misguided or misdirected spiritual exercise we call spiritual breakthroughs.  It is time to go back to the ancient path and find the direction to the city of rest.  Many church leaders have found themselves in the house of compromise because of the fame they are looking for. What is Jehoshaphat doing in the house of Ahab?   The search for glory and power has brought you to the place where your life, family and ministry has been exposed to the place where you are targeted by the arrow of the enemy.  

Are you secured in the God or in what you have built in his name? This is a question the Lord is asking his servants all across the globe today. Many have been derailed from the approved way that leads to ministry rest while they are deluded that they are on track. In most cases the drive and rigorous passion we see Christians and some of our church leader’s exhibit in trying to achieve, especially in ministry, is not because they so love God and are ready and willing to do anything to see the glorious eternal purpose of the Father come to pass.

Their drive for success might just be a deep inner cry for help because their entire world is caving in. The lack of security and rest in the invisible one pushes our leaders to constantly seek for fig leaves to cover up those naked areas of their lives. It has become an enigma not to be seen building or doing something all in the name of God. It’s amazing how people folk to the approval of what is seen with the naked eyes as success without understanding the foundation of the so called success.

Christian leaders can’t understand why they must wait and do nothing of their own strength. They are not secure in the Father’s eternal process and concept of success. They can’t afford to be seen not to be producing or like we usually say today; advancing. So they must fashion out breaks for building towers that God will still bring down at the end of the day because it’s all rebellion in his sight. The book of Hebrews gives us the precise apostolic pattern of what ministry is and how we ought to engage our heart in this sacred calling lest we become a rejected vessel. God is busy looking for a faithful priesthood who will not only do all that is in his heart but will also walk away from what he the Lord has not called for. how many time Jesus walked away from people who needed his healing power? yet it was the will of the Father.

Can you walk away from sacrifice the Lord did not call for? It’s time we stop trying to impress the world and ourselves with our fig leave type of ministry and rather start producing the abiding fruit of righteousness. The quest for success has turned many church leaders to beasts. They will do anything to maintain a false ministry ground. Mind you, God’s definition of success is completely different from the worlds view and you should be on Gods side in the kind of tools and skills you are using to build. You can’t import the world’s value system to drive the building of your life and ministry oh man of God. I hear the Lord whisper to my ears, the storm is coming and everything that has been built in my name without my approval will become debris.