Wednesday, 4 December 2013
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
MINISTRY AND LIFE PART 5
MINISTRY AND LIFE Part 5Matt 7:3-5; Luke 11:39-40; 6:39
(Pay attention to your life first!)
When Jesus appeared to His disciples after His ressurection, Thomas was not there. When Thomas arrived and those who had seen Jesus told him what they saw, he said 'Unless I shall see the print of the nails in His hands, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe.' John 20:25. However after few days, Jesus showed up again when Thomas was there and after the general salutation, He called out to Thomas and responded to the desires of Thomas as if He was there when He spoke. I thought that Jesus would have rebuked him for his seemingly faithless action instead I saw Jesus taking His time to show evidence and proofs to Thomas.
This incident did not really make much sense to me until I got to Acts 1:8 and I saw that the empowerment of the HolySpirit in the life of the believer is for him to be an effective witness. How would Thomas have witnessed to what He did not see. I think Thomas was saying that 'I dare not lie, if I must be a correct witness, then I must be given the privilege to see what others saw. I cannot be in their class of witnessing if I am just witnessing what they told me and not what I saw.'
When Thomas saw those proofs, he worshipped in fear and trembling. He could have joined others to witness earlier however his witness would not have been with a reverence to the One he was witnessing about. The power of witnessing Christ is in our reverence for Him as we witness and this reverence is born out of Divine Revelation of Christ.
How pathetic is it nowadays that many of us ministers launch out in the Name of Christ without any encounter with or revelation of the Christ we claim to represent. Our lives have not been affected and influenced by the person and presence of Christ yet we want to go about ministering to others about Christ. Can the blind really lead the blind?
Little wonder, we see many christian gathering and organisation falling into the ditch of avoidable scandals and errors because the leader (minister) is blind yet releasing to the people who he does not have. He speaks to men in the abundant of what he has heard from others and read from others without any real encounter with Christ from those words. Such men have the word of God but do not have the revelation of the God of the Word. The revelation of the word and the God of the Word will transform the life of anyone who receives by reason of the light. Revelation exposes our own wretchedness and releases grace for transformation before we are empowered to proceed to be used of God to minister to others. Check out the life of Isaiah (Chap 6), Peter (Luke 5) and all those that God uses, we will realise that those men have a direct, personal and progressive encounter with God which first changed their lives before reflecting in their ministries.
How long would love to remove the mote in others' eyes while the beam in your own eyes is still intact? I wish you can respond to God positively this hour and ask Him for a personal encounter with Him and direct revelation of Him.
Prayers: Lord, please grant me a personal, private, progressive and precise revelation of Thee and you grant me grace of encounters with Thee. I'm tired of running only on others revelation, please grant me a right view of you personally
Monday, 2 December 2013
MINISTRY AND LIFE PART 4
MINISTRY AND LIFE Part 4Prov 25:4; Mal 3:3-4; 2Tim 2:21
"Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer." As I look critically at the life and ministry of Prophet Isaiah, I saw a man who though has the calling of God upon his life wasn't yet fitted into the matrix of God's standard of ministry but has started the work of the ministry. He had been ministering to God's people before the day God opened His eyes to see the wretchedness of laboring without concise divine activation. He kept ministering to men seemingly in the name of God, unfortunately the God that he claimed to represent wasn't even pleased with him. How the minister needed to be ministered to.
However, God in His infinite mercy attended to Him by revealing to him the impurities within him. Friends, my fear is that many of us launch out to represent the God who we are not in allignment with. We represent the Holy God with impurities and stains in our hearts and life. We minister to others in the Name of God who is not pleased with our lives. I am scared that many of us do not have the understanding of the Holiness of God. The service of God is holy and it takes holy vessel to represent God in holy service. Before you go far in what you are doing, can you find time to ask for the light of heaven to illuminate your heart and reveal to you those hidden impurities of your life.
Glory to God who did not discard Isaiah, he responded positively to the revelations of God and His holiness and this prompted God to command his cleansing. Only purged and cleansed vessels are fit to be used in Holy service to the Lord. I do not know the state of your heart presently but I believe God knows and His Spirit within is already prompting your heart to the hidden sins lurking somewhere within you. Your response to His prompting would determine your deliverance. The finer has no vessel for use until the dross and impurities have been taken away from the silver. If He took time to cleanse Isaiah, then He can cleanse you too.
If you must be used for a higher purpose, then you must be ready to humble yourself before God for a serious purging process.
Prayer: God, please purify me from my sins and I will be clean. Wash me and I'll be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart and renew a loyal spirit within me that I may be fit to minister in your presence.
Sunday, 1 December 2013
MINISTRY AND LIFE PART 3
(What I do versus Who I am) John 14:6; 10:10; 6:35; Mal 3:3-4
Ministry is another word for service which involves what you do with God for the good or the advancement of His kingdom and for the betterment of mankind. It involves doing something. The life of man before God represent His total being i.e. Who you really are in God's view. While men, Christians and the church authorities celebrate and encourage more of ministry and service, I see God saying 'you look at the acts while I look at the heart'.
God is more concerned about your life, your being, about who you really are in His sight because He knows that what you do is either directly or indirectly a reflection of what you do. You do excellent works because you are an excellent person since excellence is a spirit and a nature.
Your ministry is the outflow, expression and release of your life. Your ministry cannot be better than your life. This is why God places more emphasis on our lives than on our ministry. Martha wasn't wrong for her acts of service but Jesus was just showing her that her life and being is of paramount importance to God than her acts and doings.
In God's due order, He does not do through you for others what He has not accomplished in you. Ministry to God is the expression of the Divine impressions in your heart. It is also an outward manifestation of your inward connection to God. If you are not so connected to God for Him to impress life and light on your heart and in your light, how do you think God would use to transmit light to His people.
In ministrations, ministers release who they are to the people they minister to. Ministry is not just about words, songs, write ups etc but about the life of the minister. Little wonder Jesus said the words I speak to you are spirit and life. This is why when an adulterous preacher speak about holiness, the people may be listening to his words but their lives and spirits are receiving from the outflow of the spirit of adultery within him.
Jesus first became a shepherd before he started the acts of shepherding. The disciples were first made to become fishers of men before they were commissioned to the acts of fishing for men. Until you become holy, you can't do holy works let alone preach on holiness. Who you really are is of paramount interest to God than what you do.
Prayer: Search me, oh God and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts and see if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)