Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.  1 Timothy 4:16

Take heed to yourself so that you can become a mega church pastor. The ministry depends on you because you are the shepherd. If you go down everything will go down with you. You must invest in yourself.

You must protect yourself and you must help yourself. The work of taking heed to yourself involves four main things just as the work of pastoring a church involves four main things. The four main things we need to do to take heed to yourself are: Waiting on God, catching the Anointing, catching revelation and receiving guidance from the Holy Spirit (W.A.R.)

The Work of Saving Yourself: WAR WAITING(W) ANOINTING(A) REVELATION(R)

1. Waiting

We must wait on the Lord! Learn our lessons well. In His timing He will tell where to go, what to do and what to say. Pastors and shepherds should make it a point to get away from their busy schedules and wait on God for even longer periods. Jesus himself retreated to the wilderness and mountains to pray. Praying for whole days on retreats is a very important aspect of a pastor’s schedule. Waiting actually involves pausing, slowing down and not rushing headlong into things. The ministry is spiritual from beginning to end. Full-time ministry always involves prayer and ministry of the Word.

…It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables…But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
Acts 6:2-4

Peter made it clear that his work was not arranging tables nor organizing food for his church members. His duty was to pray and minister the Word.

2. ANOINTING
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. Acts 10:38

You will receive several anointings in the course of your life. Different gifts will be imparted to you at different times. These different gifts are given to you at different times depending on what you are doing in the ministry. You cannot go around doing the good work of building large churches unless you are anointed to do so.
The anointing is the Holy Spirit and Jesus taught us to pray for the Holy Spirit. You must spend hours and hours praying for the Holy Spirit. God will give you what you ask for.
Apart from receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, (Acts 2:4) several other impartations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit took place. Jesus breathed on the disciples at a meeting and asked them to receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22).
On another occasion when the disciples were assembled they were filled again with the Holy Spirit and empowered for miracles, signs and wonders (Acts 4:31).

3. REVELATION
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him Ephesians 1:17

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.  John 14:21

How to minister with the Presence of God You must seek to obey the will of God when He shows it to you. It is the key to the presence of the Lord. The presence of God will come on you because you are obeying the words and instructions to your life. Read for yourself the promise of the presence of God:

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and
make our abode with him.  John 14:23

Revelation is an instance of communication and disclosure that God gives to His servants. God discloses His word and His will to those that He loves. Have you ever thought about it? Revelation is the one thing that sets you above your congregation and enables you to lead them. Think about it. If God has revealed
something to you that He did not reveal to others, He must regard you differently. Revelation is what sets you apart from the ordinary Christian. Kenneth Hagin shared how he had prayed for the spirit of wisdom and revelation for years and years on end. It also became my prayer as I sought after the Lord.

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth.  2 Timothy 2:15

Receiving revelation is key to the success of your ministry. Revelation has several parts to it. Revelation can be from the Word of God or from visions and dreams. A pastor must spend his time seeking revelation from God. The spirit of revelation is evident when a person preaches or teaches the word of God.
Revelation from the Word of God is the most beautiful kind of revelation and you must spend time seeking for it. “No man ever spake like this man,” is what they will say when the Spirit of revelation is upon you.

Ten Ways to Receive Revelation

1. You receive revelation when you listen to anointed messages from preachers and teachers of the Word of God. (Ephesians 4:11-12).

2. You receive revelation when you study the Word of God in relation to sermons and messages you have recently heard. (2 Timothy 2:15).

3. You receive revelation when you study the Word of God and search for the deeper meanings of words in the Bible. (2 Peter 1:21).

4. You receive revelation when you have discussions with fellow pastors, teachers and prophets. (Acts 13:1-3).

5. You receive revelation when you read the real life stories of men of God that have gone ahead of you. (Acts 1:1).

6. You receive revelation when you study the dreams and visions of well-recognized prophets. I have received much revelation for my life by studying the visions and dreams of Kenneth Hagin and Rick Joyner. (John 20:17-18).

7. You receive revelation when God reminds you of something important. Don’t take it lightly when you suddenly remember something you have forgotten. (John 14:26).

8. You receive revelation when the Lord puts a burden on your heart. (Jeremiah 23:32-40).

9. You receive revelation when God impresses something on your heart through the inner witness. (Rom 8:16).

10. You receive revelation when God speaks to you through a dream or a vision. (Acts 16:9).

One of the key aspects of revelation is the guidance that it brings. You must be led by the Holy Spirit in all that you do for God. Every detail matters to God. He wants to know and He wants to direct. You cannot just have a radio programme because everyone is doing it.

When you are led by the Spirit of God, you become a son of God. A son of God is a supernatural being who operates under the powers granted by his heavenly father.

Being led by the spirit of God makes you have a supernatural ministry. It is supernatural to have thousands of people gathering every Sunday to listen to your wisdom. Kenneth Hagin said the difference between ministers is their ability to be led by the Spirit of God.

One of the key duties of a minister is to wait and seek for supernatural guidance concerning everything that he is doing. Waiting on God for supernatural guidance is no small task. It is a big job and will take up hours, days and weeks of searching for the will of God.

Two Missing Ingredients

There are two things that are often missing in a minister’s life: the manifestations of God and the presence of God. Supernatural guidance and obedience to God’s will are the keys to the manifestations and the presence of the Lord. You must relate with ministers not just by their good doctrines. You must relate
with them because you sense the presence of God in their lives.

Why should you bother to get close to ministries that have no spiritual glory on them; from whence the glory of the Lord has departed? Why do you have something to do with someone whom God is not with?

How to Minister with the Manifestation of God
The key to the manifestations of God is obedience to His Word. Whether this Word came through the reading of the Bible or through a dream, you must obey it. It is the only thing you can do to show Him that you love Him. God will manifest Himself to you when you obey His instructions. Read for yourself the promise of the manifestations of God:

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. John 14:21

How to minister with the Presence of God
You must seek to obey the will of God when He shows it to you. It is the key to the presence of the Lord. The presence of God will come on you because you are obeying the words and instructions to your life. Read for yourself the promise of the presence of
God:
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” John 14:23