Did you know that ministry is not a place or just in the clergy, but in every individual? Christianity is not something to be believed, but something to be LIVED. Not one of us, as a Christian, is meant to be a pew-sitter while only some of us have ministry gifts. God has given each and every one of us ministry gifts and it’s up to us to put them to use.
(1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 18, 20, 27)
“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body- whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free- and we were all given one Spirit to drink…But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be…As it is, there are many parts, but one body…Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
Do you see that?? God said we are ALL part of the body and we ALL have a function. As the body of Christ, we must all function as we were designed to function in order for the body to be complete. God has given each of us ministry capabilities. It doesn’t say that only some people were baptized by one Spirit into one body, it says ALL.
So what exactly is ministry then? There’s nothing in scripture that says you have to reach a certain height in your development as a Christian before you can begin ministering- ministry is part of God’s plan for your growth! Ministry is NOT primarily a position, primarily a profession, or primarily a performance. Ministry IS a choice to serve from a motivation of love for God and others. It IS a flow of the Holy Spirit through you, released by faith and obedience to meet the needs of people. When we obey and have faith, the Holy Spirit functions and that’s when we are able to truly minister. (Without the Holy Spirit we are simply serving, and even non-Christians can do that.) We can minister through prayer and warfare, meeting a felt need, skillfully serving, developing friendships, declaring truth, and discipling. Do you think you can do any of these things? I KNOW you can because it says so in the Bible…it is not by wisdom or knowledge that we’re able to minister, but by the Holy Spirit: 2 Corinthians 3:6 (Amplified) says, “[It is He] Who has qualified us [making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient] as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ]...”
So stay plugged into God and start pouring out...the Holy Spirit in you won’t ever run out!
No comments:
Post a Comment