I have been talking to Daddy God this week about why I often struggle to receive a word given by certain preachers. Often the very preachers are bringing an awesome word of how Daddy God had reached them at a low point in their lives and brought revelation and healing. Something jars in my spirit, and I find I need to stop listening. I have been asking Daddy God about it, and believe I have my answer.

I love the testimony of Daddy God working in someone’s life. Like all people who have met Jesus, there is a story of how He has touched a life. For me, He reached in and found me at two times – once when I was fifteen and later in my early thirties. For those that know me well, I am always telling stories about Daddy God. Like Paul, I can’t stop telling of what I have seen and heard. I love the testimony, and keep them close to my heart.

I have loved the teaching of Pastor Bill Johnson on the testimony being the spirit of prophecy. How the declaration of the testimony of what Daddy God has done releases an atmosphere to see the same repeated. I have taken the word to heart, and seen the same when ministering to people. I have taken this word to heart.

So why am I having trouble hearing the testimony of others? Well it is not the testimony that is the issue. The issue is with the teaching that commonly goes with the testimony.

What I have worked out is I struggle with the implications a lot of preachers will add to a testimony. The common implication is that their experience in God is a pattern that others should follow. They develop sermons around their experience that essentially says that the circumstances that led to their testimony is God given. That somehow, if people will follow the exact steps that Daddy God took them through, that is the only way to healing.

I will give an example. I remember hearing a dear brother speak in a church I was attending. Daddy God had saved him at a moment of extreme doubt, where he was contemplating suicide. I was so blessed to hear how Daddy God had touched this man. He went on to preach that it was good to be in doubt because Daddy God will come and save you. Obviously such a statement is contrary to scripture, but the man “spiritualised” his experience, and made the assumption that the way Daddy God dealt with him was the best Daddy God had for him, and consequently Daddy God would deal with everyone else in the same way. The man didn’t realise that Daddy God loved him so much, that He dealt with him where he was at. Daddy God reached down and lifted him up. He couldn’t see that being in a place of deep doubt is not Daddy God’s best for any of His children.

Daddy God has built in me a heart that has an expectation (i.e. faith) to see what is described in scripture be experienced in mine and other’s lives. My heart is not moved by what I see or experience. If I experience less than there level of scripture, I bless Daddy God and continue to have an expectation of His very best. For many years now, Daddy God has told me, I am the God you expect Me to be. I continually finding that to be true.

Because I have a heart of expectation, when I hear the testimony and then a word that suggests that the way Daddy God dealt with them is the only way, my spirit is grieved. I have real issues with deriving a formula from a testimony, because in most cases, it is a formula to achieve less than Daddy God’s best.

In the past, this has led me to have some issues with the various deliverance ministries around (i.e. Elijah House and the like). Don’t get me wrong. I believe in deliverance and have seen many people come into freedom through it. I served under a noted prophetess for many years who was well known for seeing the most afflicted people getting set free. My issue is that these ministries tend to reduce deliverance to a formula – say these prayers, renounce these thing, break these chains, look for these bitter roots, etc.

The problem I have is that these formulas are saying to people that this is the only way to get free. That type of assertion just kills me. You see, if you have an expectation for the greater works, Daddy God may use an excruciating series of deliverance ministry to get someone free. But the Kingdom is increasing. The person who was delivered then releases the testimony of God’s goodness. They have two choices: release faith for someone to experience exactly what they experienced or they can realise they have won something in God, and release an expectation for greater things. The next person gets delivered instantly.

There is a maturity thing here. It takes maturity to realise Daddy God will reach us any way He can. He will use every situation and circumstance for His glory and our benefit. Maturity comes in when we realise He reached us where we were, and that He does not necessarily need to deal with others in the same way. Maturity is able to step back and bless Daddy God for reaching us, but realise He still has much more for us, and He is trying to bring us into that.

My hope is that the Body of Christ comes to an understanding of the importance of releasing a testimony with an expectation of greater things. I have got to say, my spirit is weary of brothers and sisters releasing an expectation of the same as they have experienced or worse, less than they have experienced. My heart is grieved by it every time, because it is a “lesser” gospel.