TESTIMONY: RULES OF ENGAGEMENT – PART 2

… Please start reading from part 1 for a quicker and better understanding of this title.

2. AVOID SEEKING MULTIPLE SOLUTIONS AND MULTIPLE ADVISERS

The second is a little different from the first, though the players might still be the same. I will illustrate this with two Bible examples – David and Rehoboam his grandson. Let’s see them in that order.
1 Samuel 17:38-40
17:38 And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.
17:39 And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.
17:40 And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.

In Bible days, a complete soldier’s uniform comprised many heavy metals shaped for both offensive and defensive purposes. Aside training, a soldier needed a well built body structure and strength to effectively bear a complete armour, David had neither of these. He was a youth, frail and untrained. This comes to say that it is not how much of spiritual skills you have to win with God. As good as those may be, what is most important is how much faith you have in His ability to cover for your inadequacies.

Humans often seek solutions to what they don’t have rather than look inward and make the best of what they have and what is available for them. “Saul armed David with his armour, he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also, he armed him with a coat of mail.” These were solutions Saul had, that may have worked in victory in the past but appeared unfruitful at this time. Nevertheless, he put them on David, though he had no experience in using them. “I cannot go with these; for I’m not used to them and haven’t proved their effectiveness” said David. This was in complete contrast to many of us, who out of respect and not wanting to offend the other party, would have gone ahead with another man’s armour and end up in more trouble. Saul had multiple weapons that were to him a complete armour but David was quick to “put them off.”

Had he gone to meet Goliath with those, he would have met his waterloo, for a victory with any of those borrowed weapons will return the victory back to Saul, who as king had the best arsenal the nation could afford at his disposal. Any unwise soldier would have considered it an irrefutable honour to share same armour with the king of Israel but David chose to be different. Fighting with unproved weapons, just to please the magnanimous giver is a key step toward defeat. Any advise that is pushy and does not allow you to think through it and decide for or against it, is unlikely to originate from God. Watch out for multiple advise and multiple solutions to the same problem. They often breed more confusion than alleviating the challenge that drove one to them in the first place.

Sometimes the answers we seek are with us, we only need God to open our eyes to see them, Hagar is a fitting example in this. She and her son were dying of thirst when her bottle of water ran dry, she couldn’t help her situation even though she was practically sitting by a well. She placed her young child a little distance from herself so as not to see him die in her hands. Her eyes were closed to the well until an angel came and called her attention to it. It was then that her eyes were opened. She fetched the water, and she and her son were revived. If you seek answers to the same questions from too many sources, you are likely going to end up with multiple contrasting solutions that will be problems in themselves. This will lead us to the next example on this same issue, learning from the error of Rehoboam in 2 Chronicle 10.

Israel was at a cross road, a wise and highly demanding king was gone and the people asked for a socioeconomic reform from the new king Rehoboam. It was a very challenging time for his young government and he rightly sought for advise and counselling but from different sources and he got different contradicting answers he did not bargain for. He was left confused and so was his pick. It is alright to weigh opinions and pick the most favourable but this is rarely in one’s best interest when it comes to spiritual things. If you ask a thousand prophets under the influence of the same Spirit the answer to the same question, they are likely going to have the same answers. Once there is disparity, be sure the spirit of confusion is at work somewhere.

To engage the services of different pastors and prophets, to go from one camp to another and from one prayer mountain to another is to willingly walk into spiritual confusion by oneself. That was the undoing of Absalom and Ahab who had several counsellors and prophets in their services. As the number of their counselors grew, so was their confusion. God always has one answer for one problem. He showed Hagar a well, David had a sling and it was all he needed to kill Goliath. Jesus told Peter to catch a fish and in its mouth was the coin they needed to pay the group tax. There is always one God-sent answer to each of our difficulties through Christ Jesus. Once people start suggesting multiple solutions like Saul did for David, it is a call to be careful, the spirit of confusion may be at the corner looking for an entry point into a carefree victim.

This is the second rule of engagement we must all watch out for and guard against during times of sowing (days of trials and difficulties), when our testimonies are in the making, less we prolong or damage the possibility of early and timely harvest (time of victory and testimony).

Olumofin Kehinde Benjamin, writes for Praying Parents Prayer Group (3pG).