Tom with kids in Kuwait

Tom with kids in Kuwait
Tom with kids in Kuwait

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Ministering to others--how hard can it be?



I have found ministry and ministering to people to be quite simple and strait forward.  I don’t know what all the fuss is about.  At the beginning of each day, I petition the Lord for a few things to help shape me, prepare me, and equipment for the ministry ahead fully expecting that he will give me eyes to see the need and ears to hear those in need, as well as the wisdom and courage to act.

But like I said, I do ask for a few things first, some basic ABC stuff.  I ask God to help me be,  and I am thankful because I am:

Alert to the need presented
Accepting of the person as a child of God
Anxious for nothing as God’s intervention is sought

Blessed to be ordain for this very challenge
Beckoned to be in this place and at this time to serve
Boasting only in Christ and not myself

Casting my net where the Master directs
Counting the moment’s challenges among my blessings
Counseled by the Counselor who walks beside me

Discerning without condemnation
Delivering a return on my Master’s investment
Doubting not that God will provide the increase

Entrusted with talents by my Master
Empowered by God’s love
Equipped with the word of God

Fixed on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith
Faithful and just with others as God is to me
Favored by God to have his trust in this ministry

Guided by divine wisdom
Granted gifts from above
Giving cheerfully.

Hopeful that God’s will be done
Holding all thoughts captive and obedient to Christ
Humble before God through my service to others

In prayer continually
Intuitively responding to the call of God’s Spirit
Inseparable from the love of Christ

Justified before God and so aware the magnitude of this gift
Jealous for God as he is for me
Joyful in all circumstances for my joy comes from the Lord

Knowing the truth and sharing it in love
Kneeling before God fully humbled by his grace
Knocking on doors to find those in bondage to sin

Love, love, and more love in everything I do and say
Lamenting with empathy and mercy the plight of those in need
Lost to the world and claimed by Christ

Making the uncomfortable, comfortable
Moved to compassion
Mastering my impulses and human nature so not to impede the ministry

No fear of anything in this world
Needing nothing more than Christ
Never doubting the word or the Word of God

Offering only my best efforts, my first fruits
Ordering my life for purposeful service before guiding others
Owing nothing but the debt to love one another

Praying continually
Proclaiming the good news at every opportunity
Pursuing a godly life

Quietly and secretly making my offerings
Quickly choosing listening over speaking
Questing always for the inspiration of God before speaking

Resisting the Devil and temptation
Renewing my spirit through God’s Spirit
Repenting of sin and following Jesus as a way of life

Seeking God’s Kingdom first in everything I do
Serving others so that I am last in this world
Searching for God in all of his creation

Trusting in God and not my own understanding
Tithing without second thought
True and faithful to the One who is Faithful and True

Unwavering in my faith
Understanding of other’s situations
Unflinching in my love for God and all of his children

Victorious in Christ permitting myself neither despair nor self-pity
Vocal in speaking the voice of truth without regard for the world’s judgment
Vehement in protecting the oppressed

Worthy of the ministry set before me
Wasting neither time nor resource as a good steward of that entrusted to me
Wanting nothing in return from those who are helped

XII times XII in my forgiveness
Xylotomy resistant, choosing to examine the plank in my own eye instead
Xeroxing messages of love for those who don’t live online

Yoked only to the Lord
Yanked by the Spirit and casted into experiences that refine me
Year-round faithful, not a two timer

Zealous for God and his ways
Zion’s own now and in the time to come
Zestful and exuberant in all I do in response to God’s love.

This ministry stuff might really be a challenge if it wasn't for God taking me as a lump of clay and shaping me each and every day.

I can hardly wait to see what the ABC’s of tomorrow look like!












No comments:

Post a Comment