BEFORE YOU START YOUR MINISTRY - EMEKA ANSLEM

A ministry is not a career path, neither is it a motivational idea you write in your journal after listening to an inspiring preacher. A ministry is a holy calling, a divine assignment birthed in the heart of God and delivered into the life of a man or woman. It is not your ambition — it is God’s intention.

Every calling from God carries a purpose. Sometimes it comes with clear instructions, and sometimes it comes in just one word — but that single word burns so strongly within your spirit that you know heaven has spoken. Yet, here is where many miss it: the call is not the commission. The fact that God whispered His intention to you does not mean you should start running immediately.

When God calls a man, His first requirement is not “Go,” it is “Wait.” Before the ministry, there must be preparation. Before the announcement, there must be consecration. Before the fire falls publicly, it must first consume you privately.

The tragedy of our generation is premature manifestation. Too many zealous men and women, after hearing God’s voice, rush out to plant churches, start platforms, or launch organizations without first allowing the Spirit of God to ground them in the secret place. They want to be known before they are grown. They want to be seen before they are formed. They want to speak before they have listened. No wonder so many ministries begin with fire and end with ashes.

The pattern of God has never changed. John the Baptist, though burning with fire from his mother’s womb, remained in the wilderness until the day of his showing to Israel. Jesus Himself, the Son of the living God, disappeared from the public eye for eighteen long years, only to be led into the wilderness for forty days before His ministry began. If the Son of God could not bypass the wilderness, then it’s not wisdom to bypass the wilderness in pursuit of ministry.

The wilderness is not punishment; it is preparation. It is the furnace where flesh is stripped and the Spirit is strengthened. It is the classroom of silence where you learn the voice of God without the noise of applause. It is the safe space where your weaknesses can be exposed and corrected without public ridicule. If you fall in the wilderness, nobody writes about it. But if you fall on the stage, nations will talk about it for years.

The wilderness is where you learn to say no to food so you can say yes to fasting. It is where you sacrifice sleep so you can hear the whispers of the Spirit. It is where you deny yourself of pleasures so that your senses can be trained to obey the voice of God. The wilderness is not glamorous, but it is glorious. It is not attractive, but it is necessary. It is not public, but it is powerful.

Beloved, the call of God is a high calling. It is an eternal assignment. It cannot be approached casually. Ministry is not sustained by human wisdom or creativity; it is sustained by consecration. Every true ministry begins with consecration, is announced through consecration, and lasts by consecration. The measure to which you deny your flesh is the measure to which the Spirit of God can work through you.

So, before you start your ministry, I ask you: have you tarried? Have you waited? Have you been hidden? Have you embraced the wilderness? Do not make the mistake of rushing ahead of God. The call is an invitation to prepare, not a license to begin. Wait until He announces you.

This book is my heart’s cry to a generation of called men and women. My prayer is that as you read, you will laugh, weep, rejoice, and reflect. But above all, I pray that you will be provoked to seek the Holy Ghost afresh. May these pages burn within you a holy hunger — a hunger to wait until you are sent, to grow before you go, and to stay until He clothes you with power.

Before you start your ministry, pause, step back, enter the wilderness. For only then will you be ready to stand, to last, and to finish strong.