Two nights ago, I had a dream where I saw a person who represented some of the Saints in the Body of Yahshua (Jesus), talking to his boss, who represented the Father. This person was taken by surprise when his boss reassigned his duties and gave him some tasks that were very menial. It seemed like the boss was preparing the other person to take over for him entirely. The person didn’t even know that this replacement was going to happen. It caught him totally by surprised. He was very disappointed.
The Father spoke to my heart that this person represented some in the Body of Christ that are not careful of their relationship with Jesus and the performance of their duties for Him. They are forgetting that we are to serve Him as profitable servants. They could be in danger of losing their "candlestick." Their "candlestick" is their purpose or their assignment from God. It is also their spiritual relationship with God, which could be damaged . So many ministers just think that everything is O.K. because they have a good amount of people in their church, miracles are happening and tithes and offerings are still coming in. They don’t realize that they are failing in their duties for God. They are not allowing the Father to minister to His children through them. They have pre-arranged sermons and already "picked out "the people that God can only use in a service (usually a relative, a friend or an elder). They give no room to the Spirit of God to do what He wants and use whomever He wants to use. They have strayed from their relationship with their Father and have taken Him for granted. I mentioned earlier that we are to be profitable servants. We have taken this to mean that we bring more people into the kingdom of God. This is true but we need to be profitable in our relationship to God! We need to be closer to Him, to hear His heartbeat, determine if He is still our first love and make sure that we are pleasing Him in our actions and deeds. In Psalm 63, David wasn’t concerned about his son Absalom killing him, but he just wanted the Lord’s presence (v.1). In his wilderness experience, David said that his soul"thirsteth for God."
What are our motives in ministering to others? Are we trying to get acclaim for ourselves or are we trying to help people have a closer relationship with God. Are we trying to introduce them to our Father and allow Him to draw them into their own personal relationship with Him? As soon as someone gets saved in church, this person is "pounced on" by the leadership in the church. They try to "corral" them into membership as soon as possible. They see the new convert as someone they can convert to their church and in a lot of these situations; all they see are dollar signs. They see the new convert or visitor as someone else who they can bring into membership, to increase their tithes and offerings. Of course, membership and belonging to a church is very important and there are some sincere ministries. But some just see the new convert as an addition to their cash flow. How long will God put up with this?
How many ministers also take time and pray with their members, even after the service is ended. Some ministers think that their job for that service is over after the final benediction. They fail to realize that God drew those people to the service to get help and they need to check with Him to see if He is satisfied with how His people were ministered too! Are they leaving the same way they came in? Of course, some people can’t get blessed because of their attitude but some are seeking more of God and to hear from Him. Again, some ministers in the way they conduct the service feel that they have a prescribed plan of what they want to do, not allowing God to meet the needs of His children. Some of his people just need a short prayer and a hug from their Pastor after a service is over or even in the middle of a service. SOME OF GOD’S CHILDREN ARE BEING NEGLECTED AND HE IS READY TO GIVE THE POSITIONS, DUTIES, ( CANDLESTICKS) OF SOME OF HIS MINISTERS TO OTHERS, WHO ARE MORE SENSITIVE TO HIS HEART.
Jesus mentions in Revelation 2 v. 4, 5 that some have left their first love, for them to remember where they have fallen and repent and do the first works or else He will come quickly and remove their "candlestick" out of his place. It is very interesting that He uses the term his (place). He could not only remove their duties but could remove them. They could go"home" earlier than they anticipated. God is not playing around. He is looking for repentance. Just in case though, He always has a ram in the bush! He always has somebody who He can promote to replace. Remember, God called Joshua to do what Moses could not do, that is, to bring the people into the promise land (Joshua 1 v. 2).
We need to continually allow God to conform us to the image of Jesus. This is not an option. Paul says that we are saved through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth (2 Thess. 2 v. 13). Conforming to the image of Jesus is a process that God wants to do in our lives. Our walk with God is not just ministering to others about Jesus but allowing God to change us. If one refuses to allow God to change him or her to the image of Jesus, they also run the risk of their "candlestick" being taken away. We need to continually go to the Epistles in the word (Romans to Revelation) and allow the Spirit of God to point out things in our lives that need to change. He can point out scriptures that we need to apply to our lives.
Please remember that we are called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ and conforming to the image of Jesus. Our ministry is secondary to our relationship to God. When we our in a proper relationship with our Father, it flows and shows in our ministry to others. We then have the Father’s heart and allow Him to minister to His children anyway and anytime that He wants. This will protect us from Him removing our "candlestick." He is just calling us to a closer walk with Him, so we can find out where we are missing the mark. Remember; hold onto your "candlestick" by holding onto Him!