There are times when going elsewhere helps you see your ministry more objectively. That happened to me many years ago. I was finding it difficult to move in the anointing in our fellowship but in an outreach fellowship one evening was amazed at how freely and powerfully the Spirit of God flowed.
I realized that it was not me who was the problem. After the leadership at home was sorted, the Holy Spirit flowed freely again in our Sunday meetings — a blessing to the church and a relief to me personally! (In hindsight, I don’t blame some members for wishing that I would move overseas because that was where my heart was. I asked the Lord many times to release me, but he never did.)
After each return from the Philippines, where the people were so spiritually hungry and thirsty, the apostolic anointing lingered for a week or so at home and then lifted as I resumed my pastoral role. Renewal was only a seven-hour flight away but was no answer to the needs of people at home.
An older pastor once said: “Everyone’s a hero somewhere else.” I don’t doubt that! “Somewhere else” is where those you minister to know you less and so accept you more! Not because you act any differently but because people see you as one sent to them by the Lord and so are more open to the Lord using you to heal them — much more than those who know you so well at home. I refer to this attitude as The Nazareth Syndrome (Luke 4:22-24).
We need to hunger for the Word and thirst for the Spirit before God can satisfy the same needs at home. We try to pray down revival from heaven when we should encourage our folk to be more open to rise up and receive it.
I’ve found that you can lead those who know you well to the water of life, but it’s not always easy to get them to drink deeply. Maybe there are times when God directs the water to far-flung fields so that people at home can develop a thirst for the creek water flowing in the back paddock.