Enjoying God and Other Rare Events - Steve Sampson

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Too Much Imitation, Not
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Enough Revelation
here is only one Billy Graham. For every “original” that
God raises up there are thousands of imitators. But God
does not run out of ideas. He is the Creator. Oh, how we limit
God when we pattern our life and ministry after someone else.
The grace (divine enablement) God gives to each of us is as
different as we are from one another.
The day I realized that I was not called to be like someone
else, I was set free. God will not anoint and put His blessing on a
rubber stamp or a quick-copy duplicate of another minister. Each
of us is a Designer-original!
In a day when Bible schools crank out hundreds of
graduates, it is a temptation to get on the band-wagon to preach
a copied, successful message that God has given to someone
else. But second-hand revelations will not build the kingdom of
God. Each of us must have his own revelation of truth. Only
what God has made life to us will bring life to someone else.
God uses various ministers to stir our hearts. In fact, the
mark of an anointed message is that we are stirred to serving
God more, and to follow Him more fully. However, a common
mistake is to get impressed with the person, and thereby pattern
our experience after his. Those whom God used gave an account
of their experience as God spoke to them. Also they may not
have told their failures. God intended to use the minister not to
be imitated, but that we might seek the Lord for an experience of
our own.
When the mantle of God’s anointing fell upon Elisha, he
took the mantle and striking the water said, “Where is the Lord
God of Elijah?” 2 Kings 2:14. He did not imitate Elijah but
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