Sometime ago, a self acclaimed prophet went to Ibadan zoo saying he wanted to replicate the feat of Daniel in the den of lions. Coincidentally, his name was Daniel. He wanted prove that his own Daniel could do what Daniel did in the bible.
He was permitted to enter the lions house in the zoo. At first, the lions were hesitant so it looked like a miracle was happening. Not long after, the lions pounced on him and injured him badly. Eventually, he lost his life. Did God deliver Daniel in the bible from lions? Yes, he did. Why couldn't he deliver this Daniel? I'll say that God did not send him to do what he did so God was not committed to his cause.
There is something I want us to learn about doing uncommon exploits. I call it uncommon exploits because they are not generic. For instance, praying healing for the sick, laying on of hands for impartation and some other things memtioned plainly in the bible can be done by faith because they are revealed in scriptures that we can do them.
However, there is no place in the bible where it is written that we are empowered to call down fire from heaven in a contest like Elijah did. Talking about Elijah in the opening text, we were told that the contest on mount Carmel where he called down fire was at God's command. It was God that commanded him to do it.
1 Kings 18:36 says, "At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. PROVE THAT I HAVE DONE THIS AT YOUR COMMAND" ( NLT).
The call for contest, repairing of altars and the eventual call for fire from heaven was at God's command. He wasn't presumptous neither did he do those things out of zeal to prove a point. God told him to do it. Same applies to the case of Daniel. It wasn't Daniel's choice to be thrown into the Lion's den. His enemies did but God came to his rescue.
You don't go calling for a contest like Elijah did and promise to call down fire from heaven. If God did not send you, you'll appear before everyone as a fool and phony person. Uncommon exploits are products of divine instruction not human presumption.
In as much as I believe in miracles and the supernatural acts of God, certain exploits/ miracles can only be performed If commanded by God. As I said earlier, we are empowered to do certain exploits written in scriptures ( Mark 16:15-17) but there are many other exploits that we must not attempt except we are commanded by the Lord.
For instance, Moses parted the red sea but he did at God's command. At that point in time, that was the miracle the children of Israel needed to cross to the other side. God instructed Moses to stretch his rod to the red sea and the sea parted. If you go to the beach today trying to replicate same when you are not commanded by God, you'll make a fool of yourself.
To my fellow ministers and zealous brethren who desire to perform special exploits for the Lord, always ensure to get a go ahead signal from heaven before embarking on daring mission. That you heard another minister do something that is uncommon doesn't mean you should go ahead trying to replicate same.
What some people do not know is that there is always an instruction from God to a minister to do those things. Those instructions come in the place of prayer before the programme or it might be on the spot but they may not tell you God instructed them to do it. They'll just go ahead and do it while you are there thinking it is an act of the will. No it is not.
Attempting to do uncommon exploits for the Lord when you are not commanded by God is tantamount to tempting the Lord. The bible says, "Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God"( Matthew 4:7).
