Ministry isn't what we do...
Ministry is who we as believers are in Christ. For the longest, I had the mindset that ministry involves consciously "doing" things in an effort to minister to others. For example, I used to go out and "do" street witnessing on Friday nights. Every Friday night I would team up with members of my bible college, go to a local university and hand out tracks. It was definately a good work and I'm glad I was able to participate. However, I can remember feeling kinda fake because it was almost like whenever Friday rolled around, I would flip my Christian ministry switch and hit the streets.
I later learned that God wasn't calling me to be a good Christian and only minister on a certain day. The Lord wanted my entire life to be dedicated to Him and His work. God expected me to be a witness, with or without a track in my hand. Many times we allow good works to be crutches in our walk and service to Christ. We get so caught up in "doing" whatever traditional ministry tasks have been given to us.
Lately there hasn't been a whole lot going on with Bread 'N Water Ministries, at least as far as releasing new music is concerned. The Lord's been giving me ideas for future volumes but there hasn't been a lot of "activity". Does this mean that I haven't been ministering lately? Does the lack of recording and distributing new music mean that I haven't been involved in ministry? After all, Bread 'N Water is the "ministry" the Lord has entrusted me with.
I kinda felt that way for the past several weeks. Life didn't feel like anything special because there wasn't a lot of "doing" going on. However, the Lord showed me that ministry isn't what we "do". It's who we are. We aren't ministers because of what we do. We're true ministers because of who we are. I heard it said many times and rightly so, that people aren't sinners because they sin. They sin because they're sinners. You aren't a liar because you might lie. You lie because in your heart, you're a liar. The same thing can be said of ministers.
However, issues come in whenever we allow ourselves and/or others to catergorize and shape our ideas concerning ministry. We have the mindset that our ministries only include certain boundaries. We believe that God only called us to perform certain tasks when in reality, the Lord has called us to present our entire beings as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto Him.
Yes, the Lord has given me a music ministry. Yes, I understand that music played a significant role in prophesying. However, I err if I believe that I'm not involved with ministry whenever I'm not "doing" something related to music. Sure the Lord has given each of us certain responsibilities. However, we should never allow those individual callings and responsibilities to place God in a box.
If we examine the life of Christ, we find Jesus doing and performing many different tasks. He is the Great Physician but He did more than heal the sick. He is Our Heavenly Moses but He did more than just deliver God's people. He is the Great Teacher but He did more than just teach concerning the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus did whatever He saw His Heavenly Father doing. Out of His personal relationship with The Father, He did whatever was required of Him at any given time. That's why the same Jesus who hung naked on a cross also washed His disciples' feet.
This shows us that while there may be different priorities concerning our ministry, there is never a limit. There is never a point where we as believers fail to perform a certain task because "that isn't our calling". Jesus said that if anybody gives a person a drink of water in His name, they shall in no way lose their reward. Therefore, we as ministers must understand that there are many different areas of ministry that aren't "traditional" in nature.
When was the last time you saw a handing out water ministry? When was the last time you saw a minister spending countless hours perfecting the craft of washing disciples' feet? The point is that there are many things that need to be done in the name of Jesus. However, we've allowed this "activity mindset" to replace our true relationship with Christ.
Many times we allow things to become "idols" in our lives. Often times they can be very good things. Jesus told the church at Ephesus that He knew about all their works and labor, but He warned them that they had left their first love. In all of their activity, they forgot the One they were doing all the work for! I pray that we never get so involved in our "ministry" that we forget the Person we're working for. It may sound crazy but it isn't hard to do.
I've come to realize there's more to "ministry" than just Bread 'N Water. Even though I've been called to "minister" thru gospel rap, the Lord also expects me to "minister" in other ways. A couple of months ago, the Lord put it on my heart to "minister" to people online. There's many different Christian forums that I'm associated with in one aspect or another. It's amazing how many people have prayer requests that seemingly go unnoticed by other believers.
I can sense the presence of God whenever I began to intercede on behalf of saints I've never even met. I may not know them personally, but the Lord does. This has absolutely nothing to do with Bread 'N Water. Nevertheless, it's still "ministry". These are the type of things that often go unnoticed by men, but Our Heavenly Father sees all.
Therefore, I make it a point to lift up and encourage the saints of God however I can, whenever I can. I don't limit myself to just the "calling" that God has placed on my life. I realize that if I'm truly a minister of God, then it shouldn't really matter to me in what aspect I serve. A servant does whatever his or her master tells them to do. Certain activities may become common but that doesn't preclude their master from assigning new tasks.
I said all of that to say this: We as believers need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in our lives. If the Lord shows us things that need to be done, we should make it our job to satisfy them, nomatter how "trivial" they may seem. We have been bought with a price. We are children of God only because of what Jesus did for us at Calvary. We now have the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us. Therefore, because of our relationship with Christ, we should be seeing many different kinds of service. We should recognize that we aren't this or that because of what we "do". We understand that we only "do" certain things because Christ in living inside us.
I later learned that God wasn't calling me to be a good Christian and only minister on a certain day. The Lord wanted my entire life to be dedicated to Him and His work. God expected me to be a witness, with or without a track in my hand. Many times we allow good works to be crutches in our walk and service to Christ. We get so caught up in "doing" whatever traditional ministry tasks have been given to us.
Lately there hasn't been a whole lot going on with Bread 'N Water Ministries, at least as far as releasing new music is concerned. The Lord's been giving me ideas for future volumes but there hasn't been a lot of "activity". Does this mean that I haven't been ministering lately? Does the lack of recording and distributing new music mean that I haven't been involved in ministry? After all, Bread 'N Water is the "ministry" the Lord has entrusted me with.
I kinda felt that way for the past several weeks. Life didn't feel like anything special because there wasn't a lot of "doing" going on. However, the Lord showed me that ministry isn't what we "do". It's who we are. We aren't ministers because of what we do. We're true ministers because of who we are. I heard it said many times and rightly so, that people aren't sinners because they sin. They sin because they're sinners. You aren't a liar because you might lie. You lie because in your heart, you're a liar. The same thing can be said of ministers.
However, issues come in whenever we allow ourselves and/or others to catergorize and shape our ideas concerning ministry. We have the mindset that our ministries only include certain boundaries. We believe that God only called us to perform certain tasks when in reality, the Lord has called us to present our entire beings as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto Him.
Yes, the Lord has given me a music ministry. Yes, I understand that music played a significant role in prophesying. However, I err if I believe that I'm not involved with ministry whenever I'm not "doing" something related to music. Sure the Lord has given each of us certain responsibilities. However, we should never allow those individual callings and responsibilities to place God in a box.
If we examine the life of Christ, we find Jesus doing and performing many different tasks. He is the Great Physician but He did more than heal the sick. He is Our Heavenly Moses but He did more than just deliver God's people. He is the Great Teacher but He did more than just teach concerning the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus did whatever He saw His Heavenly Father doing. Out of His personal relationship with The Father, He did whatever was required of Him at any given time. That's why the same Jesus who hung naked on a cross also washed His disciples' feet.
This shows us that while there may be different priorities concerning our ministry, there is never a limit. There is never a point where we as believers fail to perform a certain task because "that isn't our calling". Jesus said that if anybody gives a person a drink of water in His name, they shall in no way lose their reward. Therefore, we as ministers must understand that there are many different areas of ministry that aren't "traditional" in nature.
When was the last time you saw a handing out water ministry? When was the last time you saw a minister spending countless hours perfecting the craft of washing disciples' feet? The point is that there are many things that need to be done in the name of Jesus. However, we've allowed this "activity mindset" to replace our true relationship with Christ.
Many times we allow things to become "idols" in our lives. Often times they can be very good things. Jesus told the church at Ephesus that He knew about all their works and labor, but He warned them that they had left their first love. In all of their activity, they forgot the One they were doing all the work for! I pray that we never get so involved in our "ministry" that we forget the Person we're working for. It may sound crazy but it isn't hard to do.
I've come to realize there's more to "ministry" than just Bread 'N Water. Even though I've been called to "minister" thru gospel rap, the Lord also expects me to "minister" in other ways. A couple of months ago, the Lord put it on my heart to "minister" to people online. There's many different Christian forums that I'm associated with in one aspect or another. It's amazing how many people have prayer requests that seemingly go unnoticed by other believers.
I can sense the presence of God whenever I began to intercede on behalf of saints I've never even met. I may not know them personally, but the Lord does. This has absolutely nothing to do with Bread 'N Water. Nevertheless, it's still "ministry". These are the type of things that often go unnoticed by men, but Our Heavenly Father sees all.
Therefore, I make it a point to lift up and encourage the saints of God however I can, whenever I can. I don't limit myself to just the "calling" that God has placed on my life. I realize that if I'm truly a minister of God, then it shouldn't really matter to me in what aspect I serve. A servant does whatever his or her master tells them to do. Certain activities may become common but that doesn't preclude their master from assigning new tasks.
I said all of that to say this: We as believers need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in our lives. If the Lord shows us things that need to be done, we should make it our job to satisfy them, nomatter how "trivial" they may seem. We have been bought with a price. We are children of God only because of what Jesus did for us at Calvary. We now have the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us. Therefore, because of our relationship with Christ, we should be seeing many different kinds of service. We should recognize that we aren't this or that because of what we "do". We understand that we only "do" certain things because Christ in living inside us.
posted by Son of Man at 12:39 PM
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