Things that have Killed the “Moves of God.”

THINGS THAT HAVE KILLED THE MOVES OF GOD

God always moves with His Holy Spirit upon men and women who are yielded to Him and who meet Him in faith. He also moves upon individual congregations that earnestly seek Him in prayer.

But then there are times when God moves with His Spirit upon His church at large, to transform the church, and through the church touch the world and society in general.

Such “moves of God” come with their own divine purpose and design, but humans can mess things up and "kill" that which God intends to do.

Here are some things that can kill moves of God:

1. THE LOVE OF MONEY. Whenever the Holy Spirit moves, people begin to see heavenly things as far more important than earthly, temporal things. They develop a more “relaxed” relationship with their material possessions. We see in the Book of Acts that when revival came, people gave like never before: “Neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles’ feet; and distribution was made unto each one according to their need.” Acts 4:34-35

Note that the Apostles did not keep the people's offerings for themselves, but they gave them to the poor.

Generosity always accompanies a move of God, but when preachers begin to take advantage of people’s generosity, and instead of giving to the poor, accumulate wealth for themselves, such greed after money can kill the move of God.

God wants to bless us so that we can finance the spread of the Gospel to all humankind and help the poor, but when there is an unduly strong emphasis on money for the sake of the accumulation of wealth and to promote wealthy lifestyles, it is an abomination that can kill the purposes of God.

2. THE EGOS OF MEN. When God moves with revival, He always graces certain people whom He uses in extraordinary ways to lead others into the purposes of God. However, God prefers to use humble and broken people, because those with strong egos can kill the purposes of God.

During the Welsh revival, God used a coal miner named Evan Roberts. Evan Roberts was a man of prayer. During their great services, when the Holy Spirit would move, people could hear his loud anguished cries of “Jesus, bend me!” That cry defined the Welsh revival. Evan Roberts was a man of prayer, of tears, and of brokenness. That is why the Welsh revival was a revival of tears. It brought a nation to its knees in repentance, and transformed that nation.

During the Pentecostal revival at Azusa Street, the man that God used as pastor and leader was William Seymour. It is said that when the Holy Ghost would move, Seymour would hide his head behind his pulpit, lest he draw the attention of the people to himself instead of the Spirit of God.

In contrast to this, I have watched great purposes of God being destroyed by the egos of unbent and unbroken people who believed that they were God’s chosen vessels greater than and above all others.

There is great power and safety in humility before God and before people.

3. PUTTING GREATER EMPHASIS ON SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS THAN ON THE WORD OF GOD. In the late 1980’s and into the 90’s we saw God move in mighty ways in certain segments of the body of Christ. The big mistake that was made was that they put “spiritual manifestations” above the Word of God.

One pastor told me, “I have not preached the Word for the past six months. Every Sunday when I arrive at the pulpit with my Bible, uncontrollable laughter breaks out and we laugh all morning at church. This is what God is doing.” Well, when the laughter died, his church also died and he had to shut it down.

I always say “When there is no bread in the House, the children will starve.”

Because there was no Word to feed, guide, correct, or to bring balance, all kinds of things went on in these meetings. From laughter, people soon went on to strange things such as actually acting like animals, barking like dogs, and clucking like chickens. Yes, there were those people who were undoubtedly touched by the Holy Spirit, but alongside that which was of God, demonic manifestations and the flesh also flourished. Nobody seemed to know what was of God and what was not. It was an “anything goes revival.” And THAT is what killed it.

On the other hand, I have pastor friends who had this “laughter” in their church at times, but they stayed with the Word and did not allow any foolishness. They stood strong and their churches have done well.

When the Holy Spirit moves, He always moves hand-in-hand with the Word of God. We must always emphasize the Bible, the Word of God. The Word must always be preached, and the legitimacy of every spiritual manifestation must be tested against the Word of God.

If the Word of God is sidelined and not given its rightful place, the move of God will die.

4. NOT EMPHASIZING THE GREAT COMMISSION. The Great Commission to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” is the supreme task and mandate that God has given to the Church. Any move of God that does not include the Great Commission, but morphs into something self-serving whose end goal is all about “self and one’s own spiritual life,” is doomed to die.

The great thing about the Azusa Street revival is that from that little place in Los Angeles, the Gospel went to the corners of the earth. Those who were touched at Azusa Street touched every nation on earth with new Pentecostal movements that preached the Gospel and planted churches. A great example of this is the Assemblies of God, whom after over a hundred years, are still emphasizing soul-winning and church-planting.

If a move of God translates into soul-winning and church-planting, it will live. If not it will die.

LASTLY, let me emphasize this, that any move of God that moves away from strongly emphasizing the Word of God and pointing to Jesus Christ, emphasizing and glorifying Him in all things, is ultimately doomed to die. If it does not emphasize the Great Commission, about reaching the lost with the Gospel, it is doomed to die.

Jesus said about the Holy Spirit, “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” John 16:14

Originally posted on Facebook by Pastor Christopher Alam