iShineInMinistry

Jeremiah 12:2

You have planted them, yes, they have taken root;

They grow, yes, they bear fruit.

You are near in their mouth

But far from their mind.

We love when the people of God that we minister to seem to just 'get it' and do what is good in the sight of the Lord. They seem to understand the blessing of discipleship and want to get to that next level in their relationship with God. We do Bible studies, pray together and may even share similar interests or hobbies.

They love spending time and just having a close relationship...great things begin to happen in their lives and as they hear of our testimony, the joy from our hearts spreads; they want an amazing walk with God that grows more and more as they take steps in faith.

Somewhere along the lines of discipleship we must remind ourselves (and keep reminding ourselves) that the goal is and always will be to make disciples of Jesus. Might you be spending time with someone, pouring into their life and making them more into your image? Is the fruit they are bearing a mimic of the things they admire about you? Are they drawing closer to God? Are they turning into a clone of your walk with God? What fruit are they really bearing?

As we spend time ministering to and mentoring other ladies, we need to be careful that our heart's desire is always to make them draw closer to Jesus. Sometimes our pride can even get the best of us and we feel flattered to be thought of so highly; but we need to always search our hearts and let God reveal our motives when we are raising up ladies and being Titus 2 women. The best thing we can ever do in the lives if the people we serve and disciple is help them grow in faith as they walk with the Lord. Let us all remember this as we pray, encourage, counsel and bless the people we minister to...the best thing we can ever do is give them more of Jesus and let them bear true fruit as they grow in their faith.

John 15:1, 4 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

What fruit are the ladies you disciple bearing? Have they become mirror images of your walk with the Lord? Are they bearing true fruit, abiding in Jesus? How can you be mindful of this as ladies admire your relationship with God, so that you always point them back to Him?

Ecclesiastes 3:1

To everything there is a season,
 A time for every purpose under heaven

God blesses us abundantly with wonderful seasons of ministry that allow us to truly put the great commission to work in our everyday lives. We can be leading Bible studies, serving as the room mom in our child’s class, holding girls’ discipleship classes, taking short term mission trips or organizing weekly outreaches to the homeless…the possibilities are always endless with God! One thing that we can be certain of is that God can work through any event, teaching or ladies’ tea to speak truth and life into His people and bring others into His kingdom. The thing we can’t be certain of is if we will always be in the positions that we currently hold to be able to share God’s love.

We all have seasons of life, some may seem more full or important than others. We love the times when God calls us to lead, to be that prayer warrior or to head up that committee for Children’s Ministry. While we do love these chances to serve and put Spiritual Gifts to use, we have to also be excited to trust and obey when God tells us that season of ministry is coming to an end. Although we may not know what the reason is, we can trust that God’s ways are better than our ways.

You may be in a ministry that you have served in for weeks, months, years or even decades! You love it so much, or maybe you don’t- but you are just so used to doing it you cannot see yourself doing anything else. God may be getting ready to bring you to a different season of ministry. He may be raising up someone that you have so lovingly discipled over the years, or He may just be saying you need a season of rest alone with Him. No matter what the case, we need to be ready to listen and get out of the way of what the Lord is doing in our lives and the lives of people around us. As God tells us to move out or move on, we know that He has a greater plan, bigger than any of us and more amazing than anything we can imagine because it will ultimately be for His glory. Trust, pray, believe and step down if God is showing you this step of faith to take. The only place better to be than serving God faithfully is in His perfect will and if it is time to move on, let go and let God!

Isaiah 43:19

Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it?

Have you been serving in a ministry for an extended amount of time and it may be time to step down? Are you desperately holding on to a title, a ministry or a position and you know that God has shown you that it is time for a new season or a new ministry (or a rest)? Allow God to help you transition to the new phase He is showing you and trust that He will be able to guide you through this new step of faith.

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.

Joshua 24:15 ?...choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

We all have day-to-day, moment-to-moment decisions that have to made in our lives and sometimes our plans seem so small and insignificant. Even in what appears to be a small choice, we can open a door to allow other decisions to become easier, both good and bad. As we conclude what we are going to do with our lives, we absolutely have to make our decision to follow Jesus top priority; if not, we open the floodgates for small changes that morph into compromise, which then redirect us and can potentially get us out of God's will and on a downward slope to backsliding- we sometimes even fool ourselves!

We all know our weak spots- for some (like me) it could be coveting pretty things, for a single girl hoping for marriage it could be attention from guys (whether or not they are saved), for another girl binge eating could be the issue; or you can have other temptations that are easier to hide such as impure thoughts, thinking highly of yourself without outwardly voicing it (but it's seen in your actions) or being self-centered. I think each of these issues can really go back to being focused fully on self. This is why we have to completely decide to follow Christ. If we don't, we will forego the opportunities to die to ourselves and then skew our self-absorbed actions and little by little trick ourselves into thinking we are still godly and doing godly things.

We can pick out the things to do as our reasonable service that we prefer rather than presenting ourselves fully as a living sacrifice. We can be bossy leaders that pretend we are serving when we are in fact just telling others to do what we should be doing ourselves. We can love the giftings God has graciously blessed us with to the point where we stop even thanking Him for what He has done in our lives and take the credit for ourselves! There is no way to be a light with this kind of insincere heart...which is why we must decide.

We need to decide to give all of ourselves to Jesus; not just 30%, 70% or 92%, but all of our hearts no matter what the cost or where it takes us. We must decide that Christ lives in us and we have been crucified. We can't do this easy, breezy, cookie-cutter Christian girl facade and expect the lives in our sphere of influence to be encouraged as we only pick the 'fun parts' of our faith. We need to decide to fully follow God, to serve Him with all we have, without making excuses in those areas we may struggle in and be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. What will you decide?

Do you only choose to serve in ways you prefer? Do you only decide to follow God in similar ways that your friends follow Him? If you were the only Christian in your home or workplace, would you fully decide to follow Him or just go with what everyone else does? Do you allow a little extra compromise in those areas where you struggle a little more?

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

James. 3:17-18 "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peace-able, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy...

Sometimes my first thought when dealing with people is to help them understand a point I'm trying to make. Sadly, communication is not everyone's strong suit anymore, probably because of the joys of modern technology, which allows us to just shoot off a message without fully explaining anything. Texting, tweets and emails allow us to just get to the point, whether or not the receiving person understands doesn't always concern us as long as we have "said it". I am not one of these people. I love to explain and communicate in such a way that there is no misunderstanding; I love the gift of thoroughness. Unfortunately, sometimes people just don't get it...in those times, I have two choices.

I can talk until I'm blue in the face in hopes that something finally clicks. This usually causes me frustration and I begin to flesh out and wonder "Why aren't they as smart as me?" Yes I know this is the exact opposite of a gracious and humble way to respond, but that's just where my mind wanders first. Then, I have to remember to be loving and kind, esteeming others higher than myself and choose to be peaceable and gentle as I figure out how to respond to the situation. Usually what ends up happening is that I get to be willing to yield with regard to my speech and just shut my mouth.

I think in our culture the desire to always be the person who is 'right' can also make us the person that is self-righteous. When we are constantly in that state of trying to make everyone understand that what we think is better, we are erring on the side of prideful and arrogant, two things that Jesus was not in His character. We always need to remember to stop, pray, think, listen and respond in a godly manner; otherwise we may be right with a dulled light for Jesus.

Let's make an effort to put on those attributes that make us kindly affectionate to one another, gracious and loving, so that as we communicate our words and actions will always bring glory to God.

How do you respond to be people when they don't understand you? Are you an argumentative person that always wants to be right? What character traits of Jesus are you showing in these moments?