How do you view ministry?
What do you think ministry is?
What really is ministry?
Let me just say on an 11 month missions trip you would expect to do some sort of ministry right? Well what I didn’t expect was such a looming feeling that I would have when it came to ministry. I had such a hardened heart for the ministry I was doing and I did not know why. I questioned, struggled, and His answer came through a sister in Christ. I had very misguided expectations and a contorted conception as to what ministry truly is.
I was so troubled by the ministry I was doing in the first couple of months. I was washing cars, painting a door or two, cooking meals for a few people, or simply just talking to those around me. It felt as if I was doing a daily routine just as if I was back at home in the states. I thought “I am on an incredible mission trip, where are the starving orphans? Where is the homeless man I can speak to? Where is my chance to share the Bible and speak into peoples lives bringing them to Christ? Where are my big emotional changes that MAKE ME FEEL GOOD?”
WHAT?! What am I thinking? Am I really wanting adoration or admiration to happen through ministry to show that I am worth something? Is His affection not good enough? Am I thinking that I can not be a part of His grand design and just another little, minuscule puzzle piece forgotten or lost. This was and still is an incredibly hard lie that festers inside of me. How can I serve God if I do not feel like I am serving Him? Am I truly serving Him or am I simply serving man?
‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’
Man, reading that over and over and OVER again God hit me right in the face with a truth so hard that I almost fell out of my hammock. “…you did it for me”, I am doing it for Him. Since giving my life to Christ, since being made a new in Him, through Him, and for Him I now see the lies of ministry implanted in my head. Most importantly I see the truths of ministry and I now want to just cast out the lies:
Throw away the lies of:
viewing ministry as a one sided relation,
seeing all the “little things” are not ministry,
believing the skills and abilities that I possess are not worthy of ministry,
slandering others gifts as improper for ministry,
struggling with a distorted “church” view of ministry,
accepting the belief that I am not able to do proper ministry,
The absolute lie that I am not serving God through my ministries.
I want to encourage you all to see the beauty of you gifts and the impact you all have through ministry. Ministry is nota specific thing, or action, or church based event. It is everywhere, everything, and everyone can participate in serving our Lord God Almighty. My prayer for you is that you have the strength and discernment to press deep into the lies of ministry that may have been spoken over you and to cast away those lies and break the chains that restrict you. I am here to simply encourage you by saying that YOU are WORTHY, and YOU are serving Him in your everyday life through the name of Jesus Christ. Amen
Your true heart comes through in your desire to break free of the Devil’s hold on you. You are a true and beautiful creation of God and He made you perfect in His image; remember this.
