A MIGHTY TSUNAMI OF INCREASE

[Rev. Darla Winn Lassiter]

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You Control Your Degree of Fame

In 2007, while in the Spirit, I was told that a mighty tsunami of increase was coming to me. Later in 2008 the Holy Spirit spoke again concerning this and told me that I must be firm-footed or this mighty tsunami of increase would knock me off my feet. I wasn’t sure just what this meant. Could it cause me to fall away from God? I began to seek God because it sounded serious. And, as I did, He revealed to me exactly what it was He was endeavoring to get over to me.

He said that I am not to go through big platform doors just because they are opened to me. Many times those who are called to speak to the nations will go through big platform doors such as Christian television every time they are invited.

Even though these may be programs that are a great blessing to the Body of Christ, it sometimes causes pastors, road ministers, and teachers who have Bible training centers, evangelists, and apostles to grow in fame quickly and become in great demand. But, because they go through this type of door every time they are invited, they lose sight of where they are supposed to be and what they are called to do. In the process of gaining popularity and being in high demand, their ministries become out of order.

There is nothing wrong with increase, but it is easy to get sidetracked when increase comes. If not handled wisely (being firm-footed) it will knock you off your feet. It will cost you. The Spirit brought to mind two prophets, powerful in God, who had hit the Christian television scene, appearing frequently on one particular evening program. They were on the program several times a week and soon were the ones hosting the program and doing the interviewing. The Spirit instructed me that although there is nothing wrong with interviewing, they were not called to do it. They are the mouthpiece of God in the earth, and they had started doing more interviewing than actually ministering.

Simply because big platform doors are open to us is not a reason to go through them. We should be even more sensitive to bigger doors than to smaller ones. It’s about preaching the Word, not about how big we can get. I don’t know that there is anything wrong with going through a door opened by man, because you can operate in the anointing and be a help to people. But it is the God-opened doors that we need to make sure we enter. There are doors opened to me by man, but because I bring every invitation before my Father, He is the one to say go or not.

Because man opens the door doesn’t mean I can’t go through. Some people are hungry for the things of God and that is their motive for inviting me. But some people’s invitations are motivated by lust. They think I can magically fix their church problems caused by such things as poor leadership.

Bottom line: We control our fame by behaving wisely, by being sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and remembering that it is about preaching the Word where God calls us. Going through the big platform doors is what brings increase in fame and fortune, but it should not be our motive for responding. Our motive should be to preach the Word to increase others, therefore advancing the Kingdom of God.

Regarding the two prophets God mentioned: I dealt with both of their ministries at different times. One was so out of order that they went through three ministry coordinators in one year. And they never called me back. The other one was a bit more in order but treated me as though I was not important. She also did not return calls.

Do I have issues with these prophets? Not at all, but I did learn from them as the Spirit was teaching me how not to act when increase comes. As a matter of fact, I was sympathetic toward their ministries. I have no idea what it takes to run a ministry of their size so who was I to judge if they were out of order or not -- until I dealt with two other ministries and had a much different outcome:

John Copeland, Kenneth Copeland’s son, wrote an article I wanted to put in my magazine. I called KCM on a Tuesday to ask permission to reprint it. I left a message in the ministry’s voice mail and thought it would be forever before I heard back from them because of the size of KCM. However, the next day, Wednesday, I received a call back from the woman who was the head of his publishing department. She apologized for not getting back to me sooner, saying, “Brother Copeland doesn’t like for us to take so long to return calls; please forgive me.” She shouldered the responsibility, making sure that I looked upon Brother Copeland favorably.

My chin was on the floor. I didn’t think she took a long time to return my call at all. It was just the next day! I was amazed. This is EXCELLENCE. As big as his ministry was they treated my call as important. As though my little magazine (small, as compared to theirs) was just as important as theirs. And of course they did give me permission to reprint the article, but I was amazed at their integrity. This reflected their entire ministry. It reflected the heart of Brother Copeland, who flows out of God’s heart.

Later, I contacted Jesse Duplantis’ ministry, inviting him to a big event that I was hosting. This was another great experience. They called me back when they said they would, and treated me with great respect. I later got a letter from Brother Jesse, addressing me by name and stating the name of my event, regretting that he could not accept my invitation as he was booked up years in advance. In his unique sense of humor he said that he was literally praying for the rapture because his schedule was so full. This was another picture of excellence. The Spirit needed me to see how it is supposed to be done. We cannot dismiss integrity and good behavior because we have a mega ministry.

The first two prophets I spoke about got off the mark and it cost them. One ended up marrying wrongly, which ended in a divorce. About a year or so afterward, I saw her on Christian television with her own program. She had a young girl on the program with her. They were in a kitchen making a special kind of popcorn, with an open Bible on the table, discussing the popcorn and how to make it. This prophet is a mouthpiece of God and she was spending money on a program that did not have anything to do with preaching the Word. I don’t hear much about her any more.

The other one ended up in a divorce after several years of marriage. This one’s ministry being out of order may or may not have been the cause of the divorce but it certainly didn’t help matters. It appears this one is standing strong, and still does Christian television, but finally does more preaching than interviewing.

It is not my heart to point a finger or judge anyone. My whole point for this chapter is to endeavor to teach the importance of being firm-footed when increase comes.

Some ministers go through a divorce even though they have not been off the mark. Their spouses elect to leave but this puts no guilt on the one left. I personally know ministers who were on God’s path for them, walking in obedience, when their spouses have chosen to leave. Different storms can hit our lives even while we are walking in obedience to God, because others with whom we are in covenant, make wrong choices. That is why it is important to marry correctly and to make sure we are associating with the right company.

Big platforms are not about us; they are about proclaiming, declaring and teaching the Word of God to advance the Kingdom of God. Preparing a place for the precious fruit of the earth to come into The More Excellent Church.