HOW APOSTLE JOSHUA SELMAN HANDLES ATTENTION FROM LADIES
Flashback to the M3 (Ministering, Minister and Ministry) summit which held on the 19th – 21st February, put together by Pastor Dele Osunmakinde which featured Pastor Poju Oyemade, Pastor Godman Akinlabi and Apostle Joshua Selman.
Pastor Joshua Selman was interviewed by Pastor Dele Osunmakinde and was asked how he handles ladies’ attention.
The interview went thus:
Pastor Dele Osunmakinde: For a young Minister like you, focused and single, how do you handle the attention of sisters?
Apostle Joshua Selman: I think the issue of sisters is not limited to whether you are married or not. It is only minimized when you are married. The keys to handle it is
1) Have values and principles.
As a Minister, knowing the situation, challenges and peculiarities of a person can make you emotionally connected to that person. Even if the person misbehaves, looking through the lens of the person’s issues can make you have compassion on that person. Now, that compassion can be dangerous. That is why you must balance it with values. Values like visitations, counselling, inviting them to your house to come and cook rice. It may not be seen but you are near Sodom. It is important to have values and be strict on it. Even though, a lot of people will misunderstand you. And again, it’s more dangerous today because of the presence of social media. There are all kinds of platforms that create connection and the devil is really out to see how he can bring people and young Ministers down through this avenue. I think the key is to set very strict values. Proper understanding of the grace of God is also key. If not, it can become a license to do just anything. My encouragement for people will be to create standard and values and trust God for grace.
2) Be visionary
In the Bible, vision helped people stay on course. Lack of vision is what sponsors distraction. There is a way you can be visionary that you look at your time, it is 8am. You look again, it is 10pm because you are so occupied with things to do. Being consistently idle will distract you.
3) Build a community of like-minded people.
Having a community of Kingdom-minded people can help sustain Kingdom values. Walking in isolation is very dangerous. A community life creates a system of checks and balances.
4) Practice periodic retreats
I’m shocked that people minister for a very long period of time without retreat. I’m talking about an intense heartfelt retreat where you pray and go before God with the sincerity of heart, not a 2 hour retreat and anything he tells me at that moment, I believe. No arguments whatsoever. Even if he says I’m an armed robber. I say yes Lord. Then I pray for Him to show me mercy before I disappoint myself. Because God doesn’t have future. He speaks in the now so when God speaks, he might not be speaking about your now.
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