Over the last several years, and especially over the course of this last year 2021, God has really been speaking to me about consistency and faithfulness. These are character traits which are found in every great man or woman of God in history, as well as the scripture, and they are often overlooked at the expense of desiring things like power or gifting. Things like power and gifting are flashy, visible, and build a ministry quickly like nothing else. After all, it does say in God’s word that your gift will open doors for you and bring you before kings and great men (Prov.18:16). But the scripture also says that the diligent man who excels in his work will stand before kings and great men (Prov.22:29).
As the story often times goes in the spirit-filled church, many build their ministries through power and gifting, but lose them through lack of faithfulness and diligence concerning the little things that matter the most. Many get an audience with the king through gifting, but fall out of favor with the king because of their lack of diligence and consistency. I want to be one who breaks this trend. I want to be someone that is not only used by God to do great things, who not only has a great anointing and great spiritual gifts, but also stewards the increase in the anointing and favor wisely and faithfully so as to be trusted with more, even unto the day I die. This is my heart’s desire as I look to the future and how I want to build my life and ministry moving forward.
A WORD ON “BEING TRUSTED BY THE LORD” FROM BENNY HINN’S EARLY DAYS
If you’ve been following along with my written articles in the latter part of 2021, then you know that I’ve mentioned Benny Hinn a few times as I’ve been expounding on biblical principles in my writing. Benny made a profound impact on my early development in the Lord, even going back to when I was a teenager, and recently I’ve read through one of his books again called “The Anointing”, which was and has been once again a great blessing to me as I’ve read it and meditated on some of the stories and truths contained in it.
About a quarter of my way through this book I came upon a precious story of his from His very early days in ministry where Kathryn Kuhlman’s friend and partner in ministry, a woman named Maggie, gave to Benny a very anointed and powerful piece of advice as they were driving through the streets of Pittsburgh one evening.
Maggie talked about how Kathryn Kuhlman only came into the anointing which she carried when Benny saw her, the last ten years of her life. This shocked Benny when He heard it for the first time because He just assumed that she had always carried that anointing (which you’ll see in a moment as you read this excerpt from the book). But Maggie went on to say that the reason that God gave to her that anointing was because He could trust her, and I’ll tell you saints,... this story has deeply moved me as of late.
As I’ve just stated, God has been highlighting to me the importance of faithfulness, consistency, and discipline concerning the basics of Christianity, Christian character, and walking in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. But on a personal relational level with the Lord, have I been a person over the course of my life and ministry that God can “truly trust” with real power, real anointing, and real authority? I can humbly say saints, no I have not. But it has now become one of my chief aims to change that.
Simply put, for this short article today dear reader, I want to share with you this brief story from Benny Hinn, found in his book “The Anointing”, on pages 59-60. I want to challenge you with the same challenge which God has placed upon me this last year. Don’t focus on the “wow moments” in the faith. Don’t focus on the explosions of power, the great doors of opportunity and favor, or on the mesmerizing gift(s) that you desire to walk in. All of those things will be a simple, pure, and natural fruit of a life lived in faithful, daily, consistent obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. All of those things will be a natural fruit of a life lived in such a way that God can trust you in all things.
Are you faithful to your spouse, in purity, in having eyes for only him or her? If not, then how can God trust you to be faithful to him in all things, staying pure and set apart for him in the faith?
Are you faithful to care for your children and those whom God has put within your care, including spiritual children and weak people that need your love and leadership? If not, how can God trust you with a greater scope of authority and influence to care for his children in the body of Christ and in the world on a grander scale?
Are you faithful to do the basics of the faith everyday consistently, such as prayer, meditating the word, worship, and waiting on the Lord, even when you're not having powerful prophetic experiences or magnificent revelation; even if it feels boring and dull at times? If not, then how can He entrust to you greater revelations if you can’t be faithful in the simple and calm elements of the faith, not just the exciting engaging elements?
These are the kind of questions we really need to ask ourselves before the Lord, with an open and honest heart, if we’re truly serious about stepping into a new dimension of authority, power, and anointing in the Holy Ghost in 2022. I pray that you, my dear reader, would join with Benny and I and make this your prayer for 2022: “Lord, make me an anointed vessel you can trust”!
BENNY HINN’S STORY OF HOW GOD CALLED HIM TO BE A TRUSTWORTHY ANOINTED VESSEL
“Maggie and I were driving through the streets of Pittsburgh late one night after a service. The streets were deserted, and when we came to a stoplight, Maggie turned to me and said, “Do you see that building there on the left? This is where Miss Kuhlman and I lived for so many years in the early days.”
It was rather an old apartment building. After a moment’s silence, I said to her, “Maggie, tell me what Kathryn was like in those days.”
As Maggie thought for a moment, the anointing of the Holy Spirit came upon her and it was as though God had stepped into the car. And she said: “Benny, I’m going to tell you something right now… and don’t ever forget it.”
Maggie was a powerful person, and she had my full attention. “You have a lot more than she had when she was your age. The power of God that you saw on Kathryn was only on her in the last ten years of her life.”
I was stunned. “Maggie, I thought Kathryn always had that anointing.”
“Oh no,” she said. “In the earlier days she didn’t have any anointing on her compared to what she had when she died.”
Then she looked sharply at me in the dim light. “Do you know why God anointed her the way He did?”
I shook my head.
“Because He could trust her with it.”
There were several seconds of silence. And she pointed the forefinger of her right hand directly at my face and said evenly but forcefully: “And if He can trust you” - I felt as though God were talking to me - “if He can only trust you.”
Her finger held steady in my face for a moment, and everything was stone silent as we drove on through the dark streets.
In my hotel that night, I could hardly talk. I was shaken. I spoke as seriously as I ever had in my life: “Lord, please make me an anointed man You can trust.”
- Benny Hinn, “The Anointing”, pg.59-60.
In His Service,
Stephen Powell