Chairman of the Lagos Chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Bishop Sola Ore has advised church leaders not to be carried away by God’s gift upon their lives noting that the gifts of God are meant for people they minister to and not for themselves.
He gave the advice at the PFN monthly meeting, which held at the Living Stone Builders Ministry in Ikorodu, Lagos today (Tuesday)
The meeting had in attendance top church leaders in Ikorodu and the state executive of the Lagos PFN.
He said, “Placing undue emphasis on God’s gift while neglecting personal character development is counterproductive. Character will last long but gift is for a season. You may have a lot of gifts and charisma, if you don’t have character you may not last. It is the character of a man that will make him last long in ministry and not the charisma and display of anointing.”
The PFN chairman was responding to an earlier message by the deputy Financial Secretary of the body, Rev Frank Erhabor; who had admonished the leaders to spend more time with God than with the people God sent them to.
“You may risk your relationship with God if you spend more time with the people than with God. It is unfortunate that many pastors are busy moving from one place to the other in the name of doing God’s work. But in actual fact spend less time with God.
“You may work for God and God may not know you because you don’t spend time with Him. God requires that we spend time with him. He desires our fellowship. It does not make sense to labour in God’s vineyard without regularly showing up in His presence. We need to get instructions from God to direct our path. He is the owner of the work we can’t afford to despise Him.” He said.
He noted further that the biblical Samson had problem at the end of his ministry because he did not spend time with God. “What I found out from my study of the Bible is that Samson did not spend time with God. There was no record of Samson’s constant fellowship with God. That must have contributed to his eventual fall. He had charisma but he lacked character. We can only build our character in the place of fellowship with God. When there is no fellowship with God we cannot make lasting impact.”
The event which lasted for about four hours also witnessed the 30th anniversary of the wedding of the Provincial Pastor of Ikorodu Province of the Lagos PFN, Rev Folahan Olusanya and also a special prayer session for Nigeria.
Olusanya who was present specially prayed alongside with his wife said, “It is not by accident that the day of our wedding anniversary falls on the day we are hosting the PFN meeting. It is God’s own design and making. I really do appreciate the prayers and the love that have been extended to us by fellow believers and the grace that God has bestowed on us as a family.”
