iShineInMinistry

Luke 12:48

…For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required…

I don’t know about you, but I find that I have a very ‘active’ (translation busy) life. There are so many tasks, commitments, duties, chores and assignments that seem to come from every direction. I am sure you feel the same way. We are working, serving, living, running errands, helping others, taking calls, praying with friends in need, going on tea dates to encourage someone, the list can keep going! These are all great things to be doing and of course we love blessing others and keeping our lives ordered since God is a God of order. But, do you ever look around and feel like you are moving in fast forward compared to everyone else? Do you sometimes wonder, “How come everyone else seems to have less things going on?”

We never want to be playing the comparison game, but when the same people we notice have less also observe and ask why we are ALWAYS SO BUSY, we do begin to wonder. It may seem overwhelming at times, or we may want to take some things off of our plates; nevertheless, we know God has specifically called us to those things, so it would be disobedient to get rid of things just for the sake of doing less. God is the one who is equipping us to do the multitude of tasks and ministries that are set before us, so we need to answer the call and get to it!

Think of it this way, God seems to have gifted us in some unique ways, now we get to be used for His glory, as humble vessels, ones that get to serve others and encourage the body! We are allowed to be one of the members of the body of Christ that works with all of the other parts to make His perfect plan come to pass. Yes, we may hit the pillow quite hard at the end of the day after getting to do so many wonderful things; but we would much rather be tired from doing the things God has called us to than other meaningless, trivial things in life. What a blessing to be used by the Lord, have the opportunity to serve Him, then be able to lead by example and trust that God is going to show up as He calls us to do the work of the ministry!

Galatians 6:9

And let us not grow weary while doing good…

Do you feel like you have much more to do as you serve the Lord? Do you feel honored that God would allow you to be part of so many things for His glory? Be blessed that He doesn’t need us for His plan, but is kind and gracious enough to let us receive gifts and use them for His glory!

Luke 12:48

…For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required…

I don’t know about you, but I find that I have a very ‘active’ (translation busy) life. There are so many tasks, commitments, duties, chores and assignments that seem to come from every direction. I am sure you feel the same way. We are working, serving, living, running errands, helping others, taking calls, praying with friends in need, going on tea dates to encourage someone, the list can keep going! These are all great things to be doing and of course we love blessing others and keeping our lives ordered since God is a God of order. But, do you ever look around and feel like you are moving in fast forward compared to everyone else? Do you sometimes wonder, “How come everyone else seems to have less things going on?”

We never want to be playing the comparison game, but when the same people we notice have less also observe and ask why we are ALWAYS SO BUSY, we do begin to wonder. It may seem overwhelming at times, or we may want to take some things off of our plates; nevertheless, we know God has specifically called us to those things, so it would be disobedient to get rid of things just for the sake of doing less. God is the one who is equipping us to do the multitude of tasks and ministries that are set before us, so we need to answer the call and get to it!

Think of it this way, God seems to have gifted us in some unique ways, now we get to be used for His glory, as humble vessels, ones that get to serve others and encourage the body! We are allowed to be one of the members of the body of Christ that works with all of the other parts to make His perfect plan come to pass. Yes, we may hit the pillow quite hard at the end of the day after getting to do so many wonderful things; but we would much rather be tired from doing the things God has called us to than other meaningless, trivial things in life. What a blessing to be used by the Lord, have the opportunity to serve Him, then be able to lead by example and trust that God is going to show up as He calls us to do the work of the ministry!

Galatians 6:9

And let us not grow weary while doing good…

Do you feel like you have much more to do as you serve the Lord? Do you feel honored that God would allow you to be part of so many things for His glory? Be blessed that He doesn’t need us for His plan, but is kind and gracious enough to let us receive gifts and use them for His glory!

Proverbs 19:21 There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.

Chances are if you are a woman in full-time ministry you may exhibit the Spiritual Gift of Administration. You can plan, put together, make things lovely and be as efficient as a multi-million dollar party planning corporation! You can make center pieces, order all logistics and still manage to allow God to speak words to you to put a teaching together. Since planning could basically be your middle name, it comes as no surprise that you may sometimes get a little too detailed and possibly leave little or no room for the Holy Spirit to become part of your itinerary.

Of course we would not say something like that outright; but we may start to look at the clock, as the worship leader feels led to pray and sing one more song that the Lord just laid on her heart. Or, we may want to redirect that new lady in our Bible study group that seems to have gone off on a rabbit trail because she is fretting about a major trial happening in her household. What if that song is the song that God uses when a wayward wife wants to rededicate her life to Jesus? What if we took the time to stop and pray for the frantic lady that seems to have gotten off track of question number four? What if we know that we have a schedule that God has shown us, but we are willing to allow Him to ultimately be in control of all aspects of the ministry?

As we get seasoned in doing things well (praise the Lord for the giftings He gives) we have to remember that the One who has blessed us with these gifts is the one who is truly in control of that study He led us to start or that outreach He gave us the vision to put on during the summer. God has so many ways He wants to intricately and intimately speak to His people, including you and me. So, let’s place our plans before God, put the clipboard (or iPad) down and allow Him to make the most of these moments of ministry He so graciously allows us to have as we serve Him.

Jeremiah 33:3- ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

When God gives you the vision to put something together, do you take it and run without leaving room for Him to work? Will you pray over your gift of planning and ask the Lord to show up in the events, ministries and Bible studies He has given you to lead?

Acts 8:29 Then the Spirit said... “Go near...

It's summer time and we know what that usually means- VBS, summer mission trips and other fun activities that allow us to serve the Lord with gladness. Many of us ministry leaders will be in charge of these outreaches and trips, planning, prepping, working, building...busy!

There are so many intricate things that go into making all of these activities and outreaches happen. I know it can be a bit frantic when they all seem to occur at the same time. These ministry moments where 'all hands on deck' happen can be so intimidating as we come up with ideas, go to Plan A, Plan B and Plan C trying to make it all work out.

The hours can be longer and the fast pace can get us all out of sorts. At some point we may come to the end of ourselves after hitting a roadblock or making a mistake. All the mayhem may result in us asking ourselves, "How did I get here?"

We know ourselves, our setbacks, failures, the things we are not so great at...and yet here we are working in full-time ministry, doing a multitude of things all for the glory of God. Praise Him that we don't do this all in our own strength, otherwise we really would be in trouble; however, just knowing ourselves is what make us question our ability to be that person in ministry leadership.

Like this area of scripture in Acts, we know that God is the one who led us to step out in faith and into this calling. All that was and is required of us is humble obedience. So even when situations look totally beyond us, we can know that God will be faithful to make something out of the nothing we feel we have to offer. We got here because we were faithful to answer the call, be led by the Spirit and obey when God told us to do something. We are not here because we are so smart, thorough, organized, or anything else. We are here because God said to be. He won't leave us in the midst of all the things He has called us to do, so even when we sit in the middle of what seems to be utterly overwhelming, we can know that God has told us to be here and we are exactly where we should be, serving Him in Spirit and truth!

When ministry gets too busy and overwhelming do you start to question why you are there? Do you start to think you really aren't the person for the job? Please remember to pray and ask the Lord to help you to remember that He called you and to give you strength in those times of weakness and doubt.

Matthew 5:37 But let your “Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’…

The life of a woman that loves to serve the Lord is filled with wonderful opportunities to be a blessing to people in the body of Christ. Whether you are a listening ear, a memory verse teacher at VBS or a prayer warrior interceding for those in need, you get to be a vessel where God’s love shines through on an often basis. We all know that women in general sometimes have a hard time declining requests to be a help to the people we call friends, neighbors and church family; nevertheless, God made the word ‘no’ for a reason and sometimes we just have to put it to use!

Since we as women are helpers naturally, it is in our make-up to just want to step in and assist with things as the need arises. “Can you lead this Bible study group?” “Are you able to serve in Children’s Ministry this week?” “Will you be singing in the Christmas Choir?” “Can you provide a benevolence meal for a family please?” The list of opportunities to serve goes on and on. For some reason, we think we are supposed to say yes to every single request that comes our way. Sometimes we don’t even pray about it or we feel God prick us in the heart specifically to pass this chance up and we agree to do the task anyway. Now, while we may be doing great things that are godly, when the Lord specifically tells us ‘not this time’ and we say yes anyway, we are being disobedient. That was not our spot to fill; we are potentially stealing someone else’s blessing and simultaneously giving the opportunity for pride to rise up as we feel that “everyone just needs us!”

Galatians 1:10 (ESV) asks the question that we should inquire of ourselves in those moments of not allowing our no to have a chance to be a no.

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

We really need to check our hearts and make the decision to be pleasers of God when we are saying yes to too many things and allowing our task lists to pile up. Not only do we lose our focus and the point of serving, but we then give the enemy the chance to sneak in during our potential pride, potential weariness during burnout or potential bitterness towards those who may not be doing as much (according to our standards). Please remember when you serve the Lord to do it with gladness, to do it with a prayerful heart and do it with a heart to serve God and say ‘no’ as He leads. When we do this, we will do all the things we are truly called to do with our whole hearts and we will be so much more useful for His kingdom!

Colossians 3:23 (NKJV) And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward…