iShineInMinistry

Philippians 2:13

for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

It is time for all things new and all things spring…kind of. With February already coming to a close, mission trips, ladies retreats, spring Bible studies and all sorts of other wonderful events and outreaches will be underway. There will be planning and praying, fun and fellowship, outlines and outings. All of this blessed fun is enough for us to just explode with the joy of the Lord.

Do you absolutely love the calling that you have as a woman in full-time ministry? Isn’t it so exciting to hear a praise report from a lady in your Bible study group or see God’s provision come through with the donations you need for an event? Isn’t it just the best when you are setting up an event and a new volunteer shows up? You get to spend time serving as well as meeting a potential new friend. Every part of the ministry has an opportunity to bring great joy as the Lord continues to use you for His glory.

When you are sitting with your team members, study leaders, retreat overseers, staff, or other people that you serve with on a daily basis, remember to thank the Lord for them and each of the wonderful gifts He has given to them. Remember to praise the Lord for all of the amazing ways He continues to show His faithfulness in the ministry where you serve Him. Give thanks for those moments that seem difficult and remember that God is in the middle of those situations as well. Pray without ceasing and praise the Lord at all times as you walk in this calling that is such a blessing and an honor.

I hope that you will always be thankful for this opportunity that you have to be a handmaiden of the Lord, ready and willing to be used as He sees fits. Love your calling and happy serving!

Psalm 146:5 (NET)

How blessed is the one whose helper is the God of Jacob,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God.

Are you loving the calling that God has placed on your life? Take time each day to thank Him for the amazing blessing of serving in the ministry and always be grateful in this season.

2 Timothy 4:2 (NET)

Preach the message, be ready whether it is convenient or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and instruction.

I love this instruction in the bible because it shows us that we need to always have our mind on things above, whether or not it is a church-service day, retreat weekend or random Saturday at the salon! Sometimes we get in the habit of "turning on" and "turning off" when we work in full-time ministry, forgetting that our calling is not only contained in the walls of our church or ministry building. Let's look at this scripture and make sure we are obediently following it as we worship the Lord in every area of our lives!

We need to always be ready first off...even when it is not convenient for us. Inconvenient means times when we are at the super market trying to get dinner for the night last minute or when we are out getting a latte at the coffee shop and someone "accidentally" cuts us in line...or when we are at our friend's house just talking about nothing in particular. God can use whatever instance He wants, so we must not limit His timing and plans with the confines of our timing and plans.

We must be ready to help someone through patience and instruction in the "fun parts" and "not-so-fun parts". Sometimes we get exhort and encourage; but sometimes we have to graciously correct too. No matter what the case and the response, we must remember to be patient and helpful. When we exhort and pride begins to rear its ugly head, we need to graciously instruct.  When we have to rebuke someone that does not have a teachable spirit, we also get to graciously instruct. How do we do this?

We prepare our hearts, stay filled with the Holy Spirit and make ourselves ready, allowing ourselves to be rebuked, reproved and exhorted as God reveals areas in our lives that need to be worked on. We have to make sure we are in the right place first before we can really do this in a way that patiently instructs, rather than harshly criticizes and tears down. Let us make sure that we get ourselves ready, tell ourselves it is always convenient because it is priority and have a heart of humility so that the Lord can effectively use us, in the church and wherever else we go!

Matthew 5:16 (HCSB)

In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is...self-control.

The Lord moves so powerfully in the ministry as we are daily filled with His Holy Spirit and have the fruit of the Spirit manifesting in our lives. One of the hardest evidences of fruit in our entire society today is that of self-control. Our world tells us to follow our hearts, have “YOLO” moments and do what “feels good”. The problem with this is that our hearts are deceitfully wicked and we can only trust in the Lord with all of our hearts to walk in a way that is pleasing. This is true in our day-to-day lives as well as in the ministries that we oversee.

When we are being stewards over the ministry God has given us to oversee, we want to make sure to be in His will, doing everything to His glory and make sure that we are bearing fruit as He entrusts us to serve His people. As we prep and plan, place things in order and make sure that we have crossed every t and dotted every i, we must be careful. Our self-control in being diligent can quickly slip into a spirit of becoming a control freak. We have everything “just so” then a volunteer steps in to assist us and afterward we re-do everything they help with so that it looks the way we want. However, what we should be doing is making sure it is the way that the Lord wants.

As we pour out our hearts through service and ministry, let us continue to yield to the Holy Spirit and let Him lead the way as His vessels of honor. Let us have the fruit of the Spirit of self-control without becoming overly controlling of the situation to the point where God is no longer the center. I pray that our hearts will always check our motives and make sure that we serve in a way that is pleasing to Jesus and a wonderful example of a godly woman to the women we minister to on a daily basis.

When your plans do not look exactly as you have planned do you get in the flesh? Make sure that as you practice self-control it stays in Spirit and does not flip to control-freak mode. We need to be flexible so that we are willing to move as God moves!

Hebrews 4:1

...a promise remains...

What big plans have you made for your life that have not come to fruition yet? Have you come up with a “Plan B” and “Plan C” just in case things don't work out as you hoped and planned? Do you doubt the God of the universe when He makes a promise to give you a future and a hope? If you are coming up with alternatives to God's plan for you and making a new path for yourself to walk in...Guess what?? You doubt the God of the universe!

Do you think that He ignores our prayers? Or perhaps that He does the Lord's version of pranks, where we have a moment when we are sure He has spoken to us; but when the plan takes too long (in our opinion) it is like God is saying, "Just kidding! That's not really going to happen."

God is not making a fool of us or trying to make us crazy. He is orchestrating every single part of our lives to bring forth His sovereign plan. He sees us, He hears our prayers and He knows the exact moment when the promise He gave needs to come to pass.

When we have those times when nothing but the promise is all that remains, trust that God's faithfulness is the only thing we really need. He will move, He will bless and He will make a way out of no way. Trust, obey, wait and see...He always keeps His promises!

John 11:41-42

...“Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me...

Are you fidgeting trying to be still and know that He is God? Remember that so many people in the Bible were given promises; then they had to wait, and wait a little longer…and still wait a little while longer until they walked in their calling.

Proverbs 16:3 (NET)

Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

I love making to-do lists – on my iPhone notes app, on cute stationary, on fun notepads and pretty much anything that is nice looking with a pink pen! I especially enjoy putting a check next to the things that I have finished. Right now, however, I find myself being so busy that my list cannot dwindle down my list before I have to add five more additional tasks. I feel like my life is becoming one endless litany of duties to accomplish and this feels like a bottomless pit, not like a lot of fun. Usually in particularly busy times of life I am able to find a bright side to all the mayhem, taking place in my life. Today, all I want is to take a nap and put on frumpy clothes. Of course what I want to do will not allow me to cross anything off of the list, so I feel like it is not really an option for me.

When we have overly busy moments of life we need to get on our knees before the Lord and place everything before Him. He will direct us and help our hearts to know what things are truly the most important and how to proceed with every duty staring us in the face. He will show us how to prioritize, delegate and hold off on certain things so that all we do is pleasing to Him.

Let us make sure that all we do is pleasing to the Lord and that we let Him establish the things He truly called us to do in this life of ministry.

Colossians 3:17 (HCSB)

And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.