This document discusses ways that Christians can experience a spiritual decline or "go down" spiritually. It begins by examining examples from the Bible where people like Abram, Samson, and Jonah made decisions that led to spiritual problems. The document then lists behaviors that can indicate a spiritual descent, such as allowing the mind to dwell on strange ideas, despising correction from the Holy Spirit, and prioritizing earthly desires over spiritual ones. It emphasizes the importance of beginning one's spiritual walk rightly with God and avoiding compromising situations. The final sections warn against unnecessary separatism, relying on past spiritual experiences, and manipulating one's ministry calling. Overall, the document provides advice for maintaining spiritual health and avoiding a downward trajectory.

1. WHEN WE GO DOWN
SPIRITUALLY….
Dr. Oyewole O. Sarumi
Pastoral Leadership Academy
E-mail: leadershipmgtservice@gmail.com

2. OPENING SCRIPTURES
• Gen 12:10-11
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went
down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe
in the land. NKJV
• Judg 14:1-2
Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman
in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. NKJV

3. • Ruth 1:1
Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that
there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of
Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he
and his wife and his two sons. NKJV
• Jonah 1:3
3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of
the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going
to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go
with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. NKJV

4. INTRODUCTION
• Why does Christian fall from grace?
• Fall starts from little-little foxes [sins] that we overlook or don’t
care about.
• They are gradual omissions which could be fatal.
• A plunge into a sinful adventure is calamitous.
• David’s own was when he looked at Bathsheba with lustfulness.
• King Saul’s own was honour of men rather than God
• What’s yours ma/sir?

5. WE GO DOWN SPIRITUALLY, WHEN…
• We allow our minds to roam freely and incubate strange ideas
• We despise the quiet restraining voice of the Holy Ghost
• We refuse to subject our human desires to the discernment of the Word
• We attempt to bend the sacred rules to accommodate our whims and
caprices.
• We refuse to own up to our inadequacies

6. • We begin to shift our principled position on the righteous demand of
holiness
• We permit our untamed self life to assert itself over and above the
divine imperatives for our lives
• We let the vision of our lives get supplanted by unprofitable earthly
desires. Col.3:1. Rev.2:4-5
• We erroneously regard the troubling circumstances of our lives as acts
of divine omissions that must be rectified by carnal methods. Gen.16:1-
4

7. GOING DOWN SPIRITUALLY MEANS….
• Downward lane of spiritual experience..
• Slipping off the path of divine approval..
• Embarking on downward spiritual trend…
• Climbing down the spiritual ladder…
• The process of backsliding on course..
• Leaping into spiritual low waters…
• A steady but certain spiritual decay setting in….
• A calamitous fall from grace….

8. 1. BEGIN RIGHT WITH GOD…
• When we begin right with God and continuing, we can hardly fall into
spiritual anomie.
• Have a clean break from our sinful past
• Do not seek help from Egypt no matter the attractions.
• No true help in Egypt – its full of compromise, lies deceit and failure.
• Famine will come, stay put with God – this famine sent Abram to Egypt

9. THE WAY OF EGYPT
• While in Egypt, Abram followed the way of Egypt:
• He falsified his identity
• His true marital status
• He brought back Hagar which is smearing God’s name till date
• Same famine and delayed blessings led Elimelech to move down
to Moab. There, he lost his posterity and name forever in Israel.
Ruth 1:1-6

10. THE DANGERS OF SPIRITUAL
PROSTITUTION
• The Word of God never came to Abram again until he left the way of
Egypt and returned to Canaan – Gen.13:1-14.
• In Gen. 38:1-26, we saw the odyssey of Judah as he went down from his
brethren and got entangled in marriage with the cannanite:
• Tragic marital crisis
• Lost his two sons in quick succession
• Had adulterous affairs with his very daughter in-law

11. • He traded away his signet [spiritual authority], his staff [ spirit of
presence], his bracelets [spiritual virtues]
• Got a big smear on his testimony
• NOTE: We can easily trade off our finest Christian virtues when
we get entangled in unwholesome relationships in:
• Marriage
• Business
• Ministry

12. UNNECESSARY SEPARATIST TENDENCIES
• Let’s be careful of unnecessary separatist tendencies.
• It may cut us off from godly admonitions of fellow brethren.
• Judah went down alone to Timnath and got hooked with harlot that
finished him
• Samson was a lone ranger and fell into the trap of prostitutes.
• We need to trust God to lead us into fruitful relationships that will
enlarge our spiritual horizons and help fulfil our ministries – Acts 9:11-
17, 9:27, 13:2, 18:2-5

13. BEWARE OF RESIDUAL ANOINTING
• Rom.11:29 says “for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance”.
• Samson keep graduating from one level of immorality to another
demonstrating the Lord’s presence and power until it was finally
quenched on the laps of Delilah.
• You can’t continue in the place of God’s power once we still cherish
some secret sins.
• Be not deceived by the seemingly flow of anointing even when neck
deep in sinfulness
• It takes quite some considerable time for the anointing to finally dry up

14. • Eli was still blessing God’s people years after an irreversible judgement
had been passed on his ministry.
• King Saul reigned for 40years and brought many victories to Israel long
after he has been rejected by God.
• If you keep trusting in residual anointing, you are destroying your
testimony now and in eternity: I Tim.5:24

15. STOP MANIPULATION OF MINISTRY
• Many regards ministry as personal vocation to be manipulated at will.
• Many regard ministry as personal empire where their word is law.
• This is Diotrephes’ spirit which confers false eminence on mere mortals
at the expense of the Lord of the Church.
• It is a competitive spirit that sees other as threat to our well entrenched
position – III John 8-10
• Ministerial callings cannot be pigeon-holed to fit our petty expectations.

16. JONAH – THE MANIPULATOR
• Jonah – a real prophet that was entrusted with a special repentance
message for the people of Nineveh.
• In contradictions to God’s instructions, Jonah went down into a ship
heading towards Tarshish.
• He even went down in the ship to sleep off the task he was running
away from
• His disobedience brought waves of troubles, crisis and anguish to
innocent people on the ship.
• When we go down trying to evade our spiritual responsibilities we are
more likely to pull down others with us!

17. • Jonah’s ministry became a spring board of trouble and crisis and sorrow
to people rather that be a lifesaving mission.
• Don’t play pranks with your callings with God for anytime we go off
tangent, we are courting divine displeasure.
• When we don’t serve God cheerfully where He placed us is to invite
divine wrath Duet.28:47-48