Apostle Paul said, if there be prophecy, they will fail” (1st Corinthians 13:8). In other words, gifts don’t outlive fruits. It’s the other way round. It is still possible to end in hell with all your encounters on earth, if you choose to abandon your faith and the word of God, and choose to pursue signs and manifestations. Jesus said, “a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after signs” (Matthew 16:4).
Let’s come back to Nigeria to glean a different type of lesson from the sacrificial humility of one of God’s dearest servants in Nigeria: Gbile Akanni.
God’s servant, Gbile Akanni was once invited to a conference in a part of Nigeria. While he was speaking, there was a sudden commotion. It was a major distraction. What had happened? A famous preacher in Nigeria, who was also one of the guest ministers, had arrived with a retinue of personal assistants. There were these rumblings and movements in the facility. The host minister had also stood up to meet up with the “famous” guest minister, contributing further to the chaos that had now enveloped the once quiet facility, while the man of God was already in the middle of an important ministration. They walked the popular minister into the auditorium, and just before the “big man of God” sat down, the host pastor walked up to the podium while Daddy Gbile Akanni was still speaking and requested that he should take his seat because it was time to welcome and celebrate the “big man of God” who had just arrived.
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Daddy Gbile released the microphone, picked up his Bible, and went back to his seat. The host pastor took his time to introduce and celebrate the “big man of God.” In fact, he invited him to come up to the podium to greet the church, to which he obliged. After the “big man of God” was done, the host pastor returned to the pulpit to bring back Daddy Gbile Akanni to the podium to continue his message. The man of God did exactly just that. But to the amazement of the audience, he didn’t say anything about what had happened. In fact, it was as though nothing had happened. He actually greeted and celebrated the big man of God too, and continued from where he was interrupted.
Daddy Gbile laughed and said to them, “I died to the flesh a long time ago.” The men were shocked. Then they told him clearly that they had been looking for a servant of God who would be invited annually to their church conference in a particular state in South-West Nigeria. According to them, “now we have found the man we are looking for.” This was what opened Daddy Gbile Akanni’s ministry to this particular state in Nigeria, which is still thriving till date.
After the meeting, Daddy Gbile was taken back to his hotel, and that was when he knew what had transpired across a section of the congregation. He had barely taken off his clothes and relaxed when he had a knock on his door. It was a team of some guests who had attended the meeting from another state. They were at the hotel to connect with Daddy Gbile Akanni and apologise to him, because, according to them, they had never in their lives seen how a servant of God could be embarrassed like this without saying a word after the episode. They told him that they saw all the drama that happened, and as shocked as they were with what the host pastor had done, they were more intensely shocked at Baba Gbile’s calm and humble disposition to the situation.
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Daddy Gbile laughed and said to them, “I died to the flesh a long time ago.” The men were shocked. Then they told him clearly that they had been looking for a servant of God who would be invited annually to their church conference in a particular state in South-West Nigeria. According to them, “now we have found the man we are looking for.” This was what opened Daddy Gbile Akanni’s ministry to this particular state in Nigeria, which is still thriving till date.
A genuine servant of God is not solely known by charisma, but most importantly by character. He is not known solely by miracles, but most importantly by godliness. In the Bible, character trumps charisma and gifts. Sadly, Satan has shifted the focus of the church to the charismatic status of ministers, to validate every one of our actions and decisions, forgetting that a genuine servant of God can still fall into the flesh and make bad choices that could potentially bring severe consequences to not just him, but the entire body of Christ.
…the move of the Spirit does not violate the fruits of the Spirit: love, humility, meekness, faithfulness, self-control, joy, perseverance, endurance, and peace. God does not and will not contradict Himself. In all situations, we, ministers or believers in general, must always be overtly fruit conscious, and not be overtly encounter and power conscious at the expense of fruits.
It seems like as long as there are manifestations such as the prophetic, miracles, revelations, and inspirational teachings, nothing else is worth our attention. In certain remote cases, the Holy Spirit could lead a servant of God to take certain actions in response to a specific dire situation to restore order to the body. But the move of the Spirit does not violate the fruits of the Spirit: love, humility, meekness, faithfulness, self-control, joy, perseverance, endurance, and peace. God does not and will not contradict Himself. In all situations, we, ministers or believers in general, must always be overtly fruit conscious, and not be overtly encounter and power conscious at the expense of fruits.
Apostle Paul said, if there be prophecy, they will fail” (1st Corinthians 13:8). In other words, gifts don’t outlive fruits. It’s the other way round. It is still possible to end in hell with all your encounters on earth, if you choose to abandon your faith and the word of God, and choose to pursue signs and manifestations. Jesus said, “a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after signs” (Matthew 16:4).
It is better to fail with the fruits of the spirit than to succeed with the works of the flesh.
Ayo Akerele is the Senior Pastor of Rhema Assembly and the founder of the Voice of the Watchmen Ministries in Ontario, Canada. He can be reached through [email protected]
