In the early 1970s, during the beginning
of my first visitation by the Lord during a Billy Graham crusade on television,
the Lord called me to consecrate myself to Him.
I honestly did not understand
then what He in His Great Wisdom was telling me. However in the years to
come, I begun to understand what He had been saying to me through His wonderful
Holy Spirit.
My best times with Him have
always been time of oblation or the time from early morning hours (dawn)
until about early afternoon. Few around me really understand that unless
they themselves have been called to meet Him during those hours.
Since then, ( when the LORD
first called me) I have always spent these hours in prayer, worship, and
the study of His Word. I would often worship God for hours, writing articles
like this one or even singing songs to Him that are birthed by His Spirit.
The Presence of the Lord has
always been my strength and there is where I have found His Power to be
hidden. To my amazement I knew that my quality time with Him had not been
well spent and for a small period during the time of November 2008 that
is exactly what happened.
This situation was not bringing
peace to my spirit and I felt as if my Master was not well pleased with
me.
One thing that I have learned
is that if the enemy cannot get your attention with the world and the things
of the world, the enemy will overpower you or at least those in ministry,
and try to completely deplete your energy and your strength with absolutely
NOTHING at all.
When you really begin to examine
the things that we are worn out with, you will find that they are easily
taken care of through prayer. It is so easy to wear ourselves out even
when we are doing ministry but it is easier to wear yourself out ( even
when you know this revelation) by trying to correct the problem through
the flesh.
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If we let ourselves be led by
the problem that is harassing the vessel that we are ministering to, we
can be led astray by error. We must always keep a sound mind at all times
and minister under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Even our good deeds that we
do within the Body of Messiah when they are done without regaining strength
in His Spirit will drain us of His life and his Presence.
So, I always say that. . .If
The RESULT IS;
No
Presence of God?
Then
There Is No Power of God.
No Power of
God?
Then
There Is No Anointing of God.
No Anointing
of God?
Then
There Is No Signs and Wonders.
And If there
Are No Signs and Wonders From God?
Then
You have a dead vessel.
If you are a
dead vessel, then you have a dead church.
The prophet Daniel speaks of
a time at the end of the dispensation before the return of Messiah for
His believers when the angel of darkness, the enemy, the devil will attempt
to. . .
"And he (the devil)
shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the
saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they
shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing
of time."
Dan. 7:25
KJV
This is something that we as
leaders must be totally aware of. We know that it is not God's intention
for us to do His will without Him being Present or us having His Presence.
We must, I repeat, we must operate in the realm of the Spirit of God with
complete accord and oneness of Spirit with the Ruach-Ha-Kodesh, the Holy
Spirit of God.
The Anointing or Power
needed to accomplish God's purpose comes when we spend time in His Presence
alone with Him. That only takes place through prayer and intimacy with
our Saviour Jesus Christ. This takes place in the realm of the seeking.
It is there in the
Holy of Holies, in the realm of the knocking, in the Presence of the Ark
of the Covenant of Jehovah God that the Cloud of Glory is manifested in
our lives.
We need to be closed in with
God and cross the ripped veil that was brought down by the Lord's death
on the cross in order for all of us to be ever replenished of His most
Holy spiritual vesture that will provide insulation from the world and
its ways.
That veil is represented by
His FLESH, declares the book of Hebrews.
However, as the life of Jesus
begun to bear fruit and influence in my life and affect those around me,
the Holy Spirit would connect me with people with a kindred spirit. This
happened in order for them to be activated into a new level of the Spirit.
With time, as in
all things, as I got connected wtih more and more vessels from all over
the world, I would find find myself weighed down and depleted.
Not knowing and discerning
why, I continued on this path until I realized that I was in desperate
need of a time of refreshing.
As I examined my time management,
I found that I was omitting precious time with the Lord in my usual morning
devotional. And this was no good.
At times, I found myself cutting
my devotional time by half hour and at times up to an hour in order to
minister to those in need. This all depended on how many people were calling
me personally by phone or requesting prayer through the Television/Radio
program.
At times we have been known
to receive 500 phone calls and over 4,000 email in one day. The manpower
was just not there and these ALL were PRAYER REQUESTS.
Ministering to people,
after all is my calling. The Lord specifically has called me and has said
to me "FEED MY SHEEP". This He has repeated to me on several
occasions.
But on many occasions, ministering
to people would extend way into the wee hours of the night. This situation
would heavily deplete me and robbed time from me and the LORD to be together
in Communion.
The RESULT?
I was no longer able to be
woken up by the LORD in the early hours of mornings. So for a season I
stopped rising up early in the morning. Even though I did for decades in
order to worship my Master, it was no longer possible.
I have learned that at times,
ministry or church growth robs pastors and ministers of quality time with
HIM. When this begins to happen, those in leadership need to be very careful
in discerning the very dangerous but subtle trap of the enemy.
Although as leaders we are
to edify, train and counsel the Church, we need to be very cautious not
to sacrifice (perfect word for this situation) our time with our Saviour.
Like I said earlier, this
situation happens very subtle. It does not take place over night but over
a period of weeks, months even years. As the ministry grows, at times it
does at the expense of your relationship with Jesus. And this is the reason
why, when NOT caught on time, so many have lost the Presence of God in
their lives and in turn have lost the Anointing which is the POWER of GOD
in their lives.
The RESULT?
No Presence of God?
No Power of God.
No Power of God?
No Anointing of God.
No Anointing of God?
No Signs and Wonders.
And If there Are No Signs
And Wonders From God?
You have a dead vessel.
If you are a dead vessel,
then you have a dead church.
If there are No Signs
and Wonders in the ministry God has given you, then the fulfillment of
Mark 16 cannot be a reality in your life nor in the lives of those who
you are ministering.
So what happened to me just this
last Thanksgiving/Christmas season? Well, I found myself in a ministry
that was being bombarded by thousands looking for the Presence of God but
I was ministering to them with limited Anointing Power and barely able
to sustain myself and the ministry.
Between an itinerary that
takes me to a different state and city every month, a weekly television/radio
program and preaching the Gospel in person, I would find myself completely
exhausted to get up early in the morning to worship GOD.
The results of not spending
quality time with the Lord can be devastating as I can tell you today.
I certainly do not
want to end up dried up like a prune and with no OIL. I do not want to
be part of the five virgins that were found at the time of the Bridegroom's
return with empty lamps.
The Lord did not call me to
promote a religion but to minister to those who are bound by sickness,
fear, addictions and to help them establish a relationship with HIM.
I cannot do that without the
Presence of God and limited manifestation of HIS POWER.
The fact that this revelation
has been given to me by HIM that lives, and I have listened to His warning,
is proof that I have returned to a balanced schedule where wisdom and true
stewardship of His Gifts is in full operation in my life.
As I returned to my normal
quality and precious time with the Lord it was as if I had heard Him say
to me, "WELCOME BACK EDMUND, I HAVE MISSED YOU".
As I begun to minister again
to those under this umbrella with the POWER of ALMIGHTY GOD, I was impatiently
waiting to see if any one would notice the difference in our meetings,
surely the results were NOTABLE MIRACLES right away.
Our " A NIGHT OF
WORSHIP WITH THE LORD" in Reno nevada the last February was more than POWERFUL.
I saw my father been healed by the Lord from a clogged vein leading to
his heart. Hundreds and hundreds have received the Lord through this ministry.
Those requesting prayer for
their health have had their blood pressure normalized, diabetes has disappeared,
people's blood have been cleansed from diseases that at times can be fatal
and so many other miracles have taken placed that can only take place under
the Great Power and Anointed direction of God.
When I received this revelation,
yes, I cried, yes I repented before the LORD and I readjusted all my priorities.
I would no longer sacrifice my precious time with HIM in the mornings.
I would spend my time with Him in the early hours of the day.
This always comes
with a great PRICE at times.
OH! But the results and clarity
of His voice, His Presence and His power is all worth it.
Yet, I still thought that
the people who had recently joined Shout Of Victory Ministries needed my
full time with them.
However, I knew I would not
have the same time for them as before since the Lord was calling me yet
and again to a more personal time with HIM. To read the book of Phillipians
yet and again and to place my life completely on the Altar of Sacrifice.
Surely I have done that before
LORD. Oh but I want ALL OF YOU. I want areas of your life you are not even
aware that you are holding back.
Please read
THE BOOK OF PHILIPPIANS on
our web site
I announced this to The Shout
Of Victory Ministry team and the entire voiced their support. They expressed
that they wanted THEIR pastor to spent quality time with God in prayer!
They themselves were experiencing my life and it was affecting theirs.
Like the book of Hosea says.
"Like people,
like priest."
Hosea 4
The people become like their
pastors, like their priests, like their preachers. I pray that as you minister
to others and build them up to new levels of His Holy Spirit, that your
relationship with the Lord will not be affected. The burden that we carried
from the people that we minister to, can weigh us down when we neglect
FULL time and daily spending quality time with YESHUA (JESUS).
In My Own Words,
Edmund DeSoto
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