IT IS GOD’S ITINERARY, NOT YOURS

6 NOW WHEN THEY HAD GONE THROUGH PHRYGIA AND THE REGION OF GALATIA, THEY WERE FORBIDDEN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT TO PREACH THE WORD IN ASIA.
7 After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.
8 So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
9 AND A VISION APPEARED TO PAUL IN the NIGHT. A MAN OF MACEDONIA STOOD AND PLEADED WITH HIM, SAYING, “COME OVER TO MACEDONIA AND HELP US.”
10 NOW AFTER HE HAD SEEN THE VISION, IMMEDIATELY WE SOUGHT TO GO TO MACEDONIA, CONCLUDING THAT THE LORD HAD CALLED US TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THEM."
Acts 16:6-10 (NKJV)

A minister should know that he cannot prosper where God has not sent him.
If you strayed from God’s original will and plan for your life and ministry, He can use anything as a rod to chastise you, correct you, and re-order your steps back to the right path (Jonah 1:1-4,8-17; 2:10; 3:1-4).
If reproach, ridicule, and disdain seemed to be an order of the day in your life, it means you may have transgressed or done contrary to the commandment or instruction given you by God.

If God instructed you to do something, and you disobeyed, He may allow or permit you to be dishonoured; your effort, work, or labour may not be rewarded, and He may allow your ministry not to be accepted.
God may even allow calamity or predicament in your immediate family, in the life of your spouse or children.
God can permit unpalatable and unforgettable experiences to bring you back on the right track—path (Jonah 1:2-17; 2:10; 3:1-4).

Note: God at times speaks through circumstances like some of the ones that are mentioned here:
• If you are an evangelist, an itinerant minister, you are being invited for programmes without any honorarium, or appreciations; though such a thing is common, but looking at it from a different stance, it could be a sign that you have erred or derailed from God’s plan, instruction, or will—the labourer is worthy of his wages (Luke 10:7; 1 Timothy 5:18).
• If you experienced calamities, either in your personal life or any member of your immediate family; such a thing could also be a sign that you are disobedient to God or you have derailed from what you are told to do. God may be speaking to you through the calamity or predicament or distress you are experiencing, or you currently find yourself in.
• If no one seems to receive your ministry, it could also be a sign that God is calling your attention to something.

If you are not at the right place that God wanted you to be; you may be uncelebrated and your words might be made ineffective—your words be made irrelevant and be disdained:
17 “NOW IT HAPPENED, WHEN I RETURNED TO JERUSALEM AND WAS PRAYING IN THE TEMPLE, THAT I WAS IN A TRANCE 18 AND SAW HIM [Jesus] SAYING TO ME, ‘MAKE HASTE AND GET OUT OF JERUSALEM QUICKLY, FOR THEY WILL NOT RECEIVE YOUR TESTIMONY CONCERNING ME' " (Acts 22:17,18 NKJV).
God will only honour you, your words, if you are at the place He sent you (1 Samuel 2:19,20). However, where you are not sent by God, you become a ridicule, reproach and a by-word (Acts 22:17-21).

If God actually called you and sent you, He is concerned about where you go and what you do:
• Your itinerary had to be ordered and directed by God (Acts 16:6-9).
• Every invitation had to be prayerfully considered. Remember, you are sent to a company of people known by Him alone (Acts 22:17-21; Galatians 2:7,8).
• No matter how you try, those you are not sent or assigned would not accept your ministry and your person (Acts 22:17-21).
• The city or nation which God has not sent you would never be opened to you and your ministry (Acts 16:6-9).

Ministry assignment is geographical, thus, you may not prosper just anywhere you go, except where God has sent you—assigned you (Acts 16:6,7; 22:17,18,21). Thus:
• Money should not be your goal and motive in the ministry work (1 Timothy 6:5-11).
• Money should not give you direction in the ministry work.
• Money should not be the basis, reason why you go to minister in a place (1 Timothy 6:8-10).

The truth is:
If money was your goal, the motive behind what you do, in the ministry work; you will not get it and eventually miss God.
God watches the hearts and every action is weighed by Him (1 Samuel 2:3; 1 Chronicles 28:9).
If your motive of doing whatever you are doing was wrong, even if it was a good thing, God will not reward you.
God is looking for the people with a sincere and loyal heart: “FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD RUN TO AND FRO THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH, TO SHOW HIMSELF STRONG ON BEHALF OF THOSE WHOSE HEART IS LOYAL TO HIM" (2 Chronicles 16:9 NKJV).
In some instances, If you are sincerely wrong, He would have mercy on you, if your heart is right and flexible.
God hates stubbornness, rigidity and being stiff-necked.
If God is left behind in your assignment, you are on your own and any calamity can strike.

I pray that you will not miss God, and you will not leave Him behind in all your endeavours in Jesus’ mighty name.
Peace!