Ministry 101 – Your confidence

Have you ever wondered when or how you can ever feel “You are enough” and confident about it? No matter how many times you’ve practiced, you think you didn’t do enough. No matter how many schools or classes you’ve taken, you haven’t learned enough. Do you ever feel confident doing your ministry?

It is funny to think that Moses felt the same way you and I sometimes think when God chose to use him in a mighty miracle. He thought he couldn’t speak well, or people won’t listen to his leadership. But Moses had the highest education as a son of Pharaoh. He could be confident more than anybody.

Ministry 101 – Power

A lot of the people have almost any appliances that they need in their homes. It may not be everybody, but you have basic stuff that you use every day. They sure make your life easy to live. Can you imagine a life without the refrigerator or lights on the ceiling? All those things you live with every day, not really thinking they are in the house, are useless if they have not plugged into power. The things that have to use with power are meaningless without power.

Your Christian life and ministry life is the same way. It’s powerless and meaningless when you have not plugged into the power source.

Did you forget something?

Have you ever seen the people who are desperately need something from God but forget to give thanks and praise Him as soon as their situations get better? I hope you aren’t one of those people. But it’s true. Your desperation pushes you to seek God more when you are in pain, struggle, and confusion. But as soon as the desperation is gone, your heart is also gone from God.

There is a story in the bible talks about 10 desperate people who needed healing on their bodies. But only one out of 10 came back to Jesus and praised God for it.

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distanceand called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” – Luke 17:11-19 NIV

Can you imagine how you would feel if only one of your children thank you after Christmas morning is over? Everyone else is off their own thing with the gifts they received, but only one child is sincerely appreciative. God has so many that kind of children. Some people come to God only when they need something from God. But they’ll never return to give God praise for it. He might ask you,

“Did you forget something?”

God can bless you more than you think you deserve. Ephesians 3:20 says,

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us

But you have your part to play as a recipient of the blessing. That is praising God for what He has done for your life.

Why does God need to be praised?

1. God doesn’t share His glory with anyone

I am the Lord; that is my name!
I will not yield my glory to another
or my praise to idols. – Isaiah 42:8 NIV

God deserves to be praised, and He does everything for His glory. He will not share His glory and praise with anyone.

2. God holds your life

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. – Colossians 1:17 NIV

Your life is in His hand. He holds your life together. Without Him, your life will continually fall apart. He deserves praise because He is always at work behind the scene to bless your life.

3. God has the power to change your life

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. – 2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV

God has the power to change our life. He is the one heals, restores, and transforms your life from glory to glory.

Let’s not forget who deserves all the praise before you enjoy all the goodness in your life. God deserves all your praise, worship, and adoration!

Ministry 101 – Wait for the power

Receiving the promise from God is a wonderful thing, and exciting! You have a God-given purpose on the earth. And that calling is something that only you can accomplish. Have you figured out what your ordained ministry for life? Or are you still waiting to discover?

One thing that you need to be careful is not to create the fruit of the flesh. Because of the excitement of the future ministry, sometimes you forget to wait for God’s timing. “I got this, Lord!” That’s not a way of a partnership with God. God is the author of your life and calling. God, who began the good work in you, has to take your life to the completion. Without Him, you can do nothing!

Ministry 101 – Passion is contagious!

Passionated leaders produce more passionated leaders and followers! Let’s settle with the fact. If you see people around you have a lack of passion, you might need to examine your own passion for ministry.

Passion is contagious!

You are a ministry leader, whether you have a position or a title. God called you to do a unique ministry that flows out of your life. Your passion for God and His Kingdom will produce more passionate Christ-followers and ministry leaders.

“Follow the leader…” 

You sing it sometimes. But people didn’t say that for nothing. It’s true that however you live your life with passion, people around you will respond. When you serve God and His people with passion, they will receive passion from you. It is contagious! But if you don’t have passion for yourself, people will respond to that as well.

Ministry 101 – Nothing to offer?

Some people never find a way to give themselves in ministry… Although God gave each person gifts and callings, they just can’t figure out their purpose for life that God has given them. Are you one of those believers?

There’s not even one person that born without any skills or passion. You are made in the image of the Creator. If God is so creative and intelligent, you inherited a part of those His characteristics. Some people say that they need to find themselves. But the fact is, it’s a journey of knowing Christ more and more and discover who you are in Him.

Treasure all things in your heart

Everything that God does in your life is no accident. God knows from the beginning to the end what events happen in your life. They might be surprises for you. But they are never surprises for God who made you and made all the plans for your life.

God does things beyond your imagination. Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV says,

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

God’s thoughts and ways are higher than yours. Many things that take place in your life sometimes don’t make any sense at all. That’s what happened to a Jewish teenage girl, Mary. But God saw her faith. She treasured all things in her heart that happened in her life and her son, Jesus’ life.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. – Luke 2:19 NIV

Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. – Luke 2:51 NIV

Mary watched how God moved in her life from the moment Angel Gabriel announced the news about the birth of her son, Jesus. She believed what she has heard from Angel and what she saw God is doing through the life of her son, Jesus.

She treasured all things in her heart.

How about you? Your name may not be Mary, but God is doing unimaginable things in your life. If you say that you don’t see anything going on, open your eyes and find God in your life! He is at work, and your part is to search for Him. You may not have a visitation of the angel. But you have the Holy Spirit who lives in you.

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the work of God’s hand. And treasure all things in your heart!

What are the benefits of treasuring all things in your heart?

1. It deepens your faith

By treasuring all things in your heart that God did in your life deepens your faith. Believing God is not for making you feel better. But believing Him is to see His mighty power!

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. – 1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV

Seeing God’s power is lifechanging. Your faith is something that pleases God’s heart.

2. It glorifies God

And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
    and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
    of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
    for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. – Luke 1:46-49 NIV

When you treasure the work of God’s hand, you’ll acknowledge His glory. Mary glorified God before the message from the angel come to pass. How about you? Do you praise Him before the promise comes?

3. It gives you hope

By treasuring all things that you’ve seen God is doing, your heart will be filled with hope. Your hope resonates with the person of Christ.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. – Romans 12:2 NIV

Waiting on the promise to come is challenging. But Mary believed God. Jesus Christ is the hope of glory.

You may not know exactly what God is up to. But if you sense what God is doing right now in your life, treasure all things in your heart. Someday, you’ll witness the glory of God.

The power of the gathering

Do you know how long does it take to form a new habit? According to Dr. Maxwell Maltz, it takes 21 days to adjust and form a new habit. I’m not sure if you feel that is too long or too short. But within 21 days, you can retrain yourself to do something new.

It’s been over 4 months since churches had regular services in the United States. The believers were told to stay home and not to gather at church. You’ve been watching the church services online and couldn’t have much time for fellowship with other believers for 4 months. Do you think a new habit has formed in many believer’s lives? If it only takes 21 days to form a new habit, what have 4 months created in them?

How about you? Are you excited to get back into the gathering with other believers? Or are you like some believers that formed “a new habit” who feels more comfortable at home and not seeing people in person? This quarantine season did a strange thing to Christianity. But the Bible commands us not to neglect to meet other believers.

Stop chasing the methods!

Life could be so much easier if you could fix your life in Step 3 methods. 2 + 2 is always 4. But life won’t follow that method. Of course, steps given by the professionals are great suggestions, and probably good starting points to get to where you want to be. But chasing the methods have no end.

Especially when you are seeking the healing of any kind. Whether your mind, emotional, or spiritual, methods could set a course, but never give you the complete healing. Because of the sin-nature, you chase the methods to work and earn what you’ve lost – Peace with God and resting His love.

Ministry 101 – Accepting the ways of God

Do you always agree with what God wants to do or His ideas for something in your life? If God made you a robot, you probably did. But He created you in His image with intelligence and free-will. Sometimes, your free-will wants to think things in different ways than God.

When you are in ministry, you will find many ideas and inspirations that you want to apply to your ministry work. Well, God gave you that creativity in your soul, so it’s reasonable to have ideas. Even though they seem like good ideas to you, God has His own plans even before you came up with those ideas. Zechariah’s story was one of those situations.