For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. — Psalm 75:6-7
Spiritual promotion comes from the Lord God.
That is so simple that some people miss it. Promotion does not come from any man. Promotion comes from God. He is the Judge. He is the One who puts down one and sets up another.
Get your mind, heart, and spirit in tune with the Lord God Almighty, and off of man. Take your mind off yourself, your strength, your ability, your education, your connections, and what somebody else is doing. Promotion comes from God, not your ability.
Now that does not mean you sit around and do nothing. Faith is not laziness. Faith acts on the Word of God. But there is a difference between acting in faith and trying to work something up in the flesh.
There are people who are trying to promote themselves. They are trying to get in the right circles, be seen by the right people, shake the right hands, and get somebody to open a door for them. But if God does not open the door, you better not walk through it. And if God opened the door, no devil, no man, and no circumstance can keep it shut.
We must remember that Jesus is the Head of the Church. We can come up with plans, programs, ideas, and methods, but except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. It is possible to build something and God not be in it at all. You can even have man’s approval and yet not have God’s approval. You can have people pat you on the back and still be out of the will of God.
I would rather be in the lowest place God assigned me than in the highest place man could put me. Why? Because if God puts you there, His anointing will be there. His grace will be there. His help will be there. His supply will be there.
When promotion comes from God, it comes with the ability to stand in that place.
Promotion And Humility
We can learn something about this from the life of Saul in the Old Testament. Samuel said to Saul:
When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? — 1 Samuel 15:17
Notice that phrase: “When thou wast little in thine own sight.”
Saul was promoted when he was little in his own sight. He was not promoted because he was big in his own sight. He was not promoted because he thought he knew more than God. He was not promoted because he had his own plan and wanted God to bless it.
He was promoted when he had the attitude, “God is the boss, not me.”
That is a safe place to live. That is a safe place for any minister or believer. That is a safe place for a church. Stay little in your own sight. Do not get high-minded. Do not get lifted up. Do not think you are the one who made it happen.
Understand that God is the source of every good thing in your life, the anointing, every increase and every harvest. Pride will cause a person to lose what humility helped him receive.
Saul got to the place where he disobeyed God and then tried to cover it up with religious talk. He said he had performed the commandment of the Lord, but Samuel heard the sheep and the oxen. In other words, Saul’s disobedience was making noise.
You can say all the right things, but disobedience still makes noise in the spirit.
Partial obedience is still disobedience. Delayed obedience can become disobedience. Obedience mixed with your own plan is still not full obedience.
If you want to walk in God’s promotion, stay with what God said. Do not “improve” on it or add to it or take away from it. Just do what He said.
Do Not Compare Yourself With Others
One of the greatest traps in the Body of Christ is looking at what somebody else is doing.
You look over yonder and see what they are building. You look over there and see what they are preaching. You look at what seems to be working for somebody else, and then you are tempted to copy it.
Yes, we can learn from others, but anything you receive from anyone else needs to be sifted through the Holy Ghost and the Word of God. If it is not God, do not get in it and certainly do not build your life or ministry on it.
Your promotion is not in copying another man’s assignment. Your promotion is in obeying God’s assignment for your life. If some people look like they are passing you by, stop looking at them. You are to run your own race, not theirs! Look to God. 
If you will stay faithful, pray, seek God, obey Him, and keep your heart right, the day will come when God will raise you up. And when He does, you will weep a good cry and say, “Lord, how did You bring me here?” That is the right spirit.
Receive It By Faith
Promotion from God is received by faith. You are not going to earn everything God wants to bring you into. Now do not misunderstand me, there is work involved. Harvest is work. When harvest time comes, the farmer does not sit on the porch and do nothing. He gets out there and brings in the harvest.
But there is a difference between working your faith and working the flesh. You cannot manipulate or pressure God. You certainly cannot earn the anointing by natural effort. You receive from God by faith, and then you obey what He tells you to do.
Our sufficiency is of God.
So quit saying, “I cannot, I am not able, I do not have what it takes.” If God called you, God will equip you. If God opened the door, God will help you walk through it. If God set you in that place, God will anoint you to stand there. That does not mean you become careless. That means you become dependent. There is a big difference.
Worship Keeps Your Heart Right
When Noah came off the ark, the first thing he did was build an altar unto the Lord. He turned toward God, worshipped, and put Him first. That is one of the safest things you can do when you are believing God for promotion. Worship Him. Keep your eyes on Him. Thank Him for His goodness and mercy.
Sometimes we are so busy confessing, believing, standing, praying, and pressing that we forget to worship. Those things are important, but worship keeps your heart turned toward God. Promotion is dangerous to a proud person, but it is safe to a worshipper. Why? Because a worshipper knows where the help came from.
Stay With God
Promotion comes from God, not man. So do not chase man or recognition or a title or a platform. Seek God. Obey God. Stay faithful where He put you and when the time comes, He will promote you. 
Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. —1 Peter 5:6
Do not get weary in well doing. Do not try to force open a door God has not opened. If you do, and you walk through it, you will come to regret it. There is no anointing or divine ability in a position God has not called you to. It’s only your ability and your talents and eventually, they will fail.
Promotion comes from the Lord.
Say it out loud: “Promotion comes from God. I will not look to man. I will not trust in my own ability. I will humble myself under the mighty hand of God. I will obey His Word. I will follow His Spirit. I will receive by faith everything He has for me, in Jesus’ name.”
God is with us!
