Monday, June 25, 2012

Spending to the last ebb...


It is impossible to out give God…but I want to make it my aim to try. I look at the men and women who have gone before us….
·         Job
·         Apostle Paul
·         Mary with her alabaster box
·         Amy Carmichael in India for 53 years, the last 25 confined to a sick bed in constant pain
·         Hudson Taylor and the 100’s of missionaries serving through China Inland Mission (The Stam’s, The Khun’s, The amazing trio, etc)
·         And every servant of the Most High God who has accepted the intimate invitation and is serving today….

All I can say is…Lord, please give us your heart…. My precious brothers and sisters – please hear me…God designed you, before the worlds were framed, on purpose. He intentionally shaped your soul and the graciously equipped you by His Holy Spirit to SERVE! You and I have been commissioned to take this glorious agape love and to lavish it upon EVERYONE around us!  

Please stop buying into the myth that ministry equals teaching, or evangelism, or counseling, or any other narrow exclusive thing; because ministry is ALL THOSE THINGS AND SO MUCH MORE! 

·         Ministry is the reason you love to bake. It's your opportunity to bake chocolate chip cookies for those rough, gangster-looking young men you pass every week on your way to the super market. Using your enthusiasm for baking can say, “Jesus loves you so much He sent me here with this cookie to tell you so!”

·         Ministry is the reason you manage a department of employees under relentless pressures, deadlines, and goals. As your staff members watch you walking through each hardship with perfect peace they see Jesus.

·         Ministry is the reason your cell phone has unlimited texting. You CAN send a heart to your spouse to remind him/her she/he’s still the one! You CAN send your unsaved aunt a sweet compliment and show here that Christ’s love is genuine, it takes action, it’s more than church and Bible verses, it brings joy to the heart!

·         Ministry is the reason that in a recession your business is flourishing. Cheerfully giving to your church, to missions, and to anyone or any organization God leads you to is joining in the work. My husband always says, “If you were to picture missions as a sword, the missionary is the tip; but the strength is in the blade and the Body supporting us is where we get our strength>"

·         Ministry is the reason you were chosen to be mommy to your 4 darlings under the age of six. EVERYTIME you cook, do homework, teach, nurse, clean, or encourage in Jesus’ name you are making a heavenly deposit! You may be raising the next Billy Graham or Amy Carmichael; perhaps it’s the future president of IBM or a Special Ed teacher, or maybe another mommy or the mechanic who fixes the car with honestly….no matter which one they each represent the future and – YOU are privileged to set the surest foundation of agape in that heart.

·         Ministry is the reason you have been counted worthy to suffer with this debilitating or maybe even terminal illness. This is a hard calling to swallow….
o   You see not very many soldiers in the army of the Lord enlist for this dangerous job that demands such extreme sacrifice.

o   Jesus, the Commander in Chief, carefully selects only the mightiest men and women of valor, the ones who know Him so well that they recognize His cause is even worth dying for.

o   He knows that He can trust you, just as He trusted Job, to keep pressing onward.

o   Here in your weakness, His strength will be made perfect…

o   His peace will be visibly manifested and an undeniable legacy will unfold before every eye that scrutinizes you.

o   Hold fast dear one, before you know it this “light and momentary affliction” will be swallowed up in the glory of eternity.

o   You have been chosen because Jesus knew YOU would cling to Him until that moment when you see Him face to face and it finally makes sense. 

What I am trying to show you is simply this: LIFE IS MINITRY!
·         Your role in the Body of Christ is VITAL. We need you!

·         Nothing is insignificant – scripture teaches us the exact opposite is true- so will you join us in reaching souls?

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