The only lasting motivation for ministry is because we want to please Jesus Christ, out of a deep heart of gratitude.
Now I don't deserve to be saved, much less be in the ministry. All that God does in us and for us and through us is by grace through faith. So out of a deep, abiding, heartfelt gratitude for the fact that I'm saved, I want to give my life to Jesus Christ, and I want to serve Him in any way possible.
I know that your heart is like my heart, and my life goal is to one day stand before Jesus Christ and have him say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
At that point He says that it will be worth it all. You won't be in heaven five seconds and you'll be saying, "Why didn't I serve more? Why didn't I give more? Why didn't I love more? Why didn't obey more?"
Hebrews 11 is the classic chapter on Faith. Verse 6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." Does that imply…if I'm not ministering in faith, I'm not pleasing God? The Bible is even more specific than that. It says, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." If I'm not ministering in faith, I'm ministering in sin. That's strong stuff!
Faith is visualizing the future in advance. It is seeing the future in the present. Every great achievement began when somebody saw it in advance. We didn't put a man on the moon until one day JFK stood up and said, "Let's put a man on the moon." When he said that, the technology had not even been invented.
Faith is believing when I don't see it. Some things have to be believed before they can be seen. The world says, "Seeing is believing." God says, "Believing is seeing." You have to see it in advance!
Has God ever told you to witness to somebody when you didn't have time? Has God ever told you to leave a comfortable church ministry and go to an unknown quantity? That's ministering in faith. It's obeying when you don't understand it.
Abraham is a classic example of obeying when he didn't understand. He was about 75 years old, and God asked him to give up all his security - right at an age when Abraham should have been getting Social Security!
God said, I want you to leave, Pick up everything and get ready for the greatest adventure of your life.
The scary part of it is God gave Abraham no details.
Abraham says, "Where are we going?"
God says, "You've never heard of it."
"How long is it going to take?"
"You'll find out."
"How will I know when I get there?"
"I'll let you know!"
Sometimes, God will tell you to do something in your ministry, and you'll think "There's no way this is going to work!" Yet, God says, "Do it!"
And guess what? It works!
"In faith Abel was commended as a righteous man and God spoke well of his offering."
Isn't that interesting? Giving and Faith go together. God uses money to test our faithfulness.
God watches the giving of a Christian. The Bible says, "if you have not been faithful with unrighteous mammon, who will entrust you with true spiritual riches?"
There is a direct relationship between how I use my money and how much of God power I experience in my life. It influences how much God can bless my life. I think God expects leaders to take the lead in giving. You cannot out give God.
How do you develop persistence? How do you develop the kind of persistence that keeps you in a position when God has put you there, when every bone in your body says, "Move or quit the ministry?" Where do you get that kind of persistence"?
"It was by Faith that Moses left Egypt and was not afraid of the kings anger. He held onto his purpose like a man who could see the invisible."
Notice the key to persistence is that last phrase - he could see the invisible. Only as we see the invisible can we accomplish the impossible. The key to persistence is to keep your eyes on God. Keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Corrie Ten Boom says, "If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you'll be at rest." It all depends on where you've got your eyes.
A good illustration for this is Joshua. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell after the people had marched around them for seven days. Jericho was the most fortified city in the world at that time. God said "There's no way a bunch of slaves are going to take this things, but here's what I want you to do; March around the city seven days and then I'll cause a miracle."
What were they doing seven times a day for seven day? Thanking God in Advance! Praising God in advance.
"When you pray believe that you have received it and then you'll be given what you've asked for." (Mark 11:24)
Don't beg. Just thank God in advance. Make your request and then be continually thanking. If I were to write out a check for $1,000 and give it to you, would you wait until you've cashed it to thanks me? (You might!) No, you'd thank me the moment you made the request and the check was offered.
Ministering by faith does not exempt you from problems. We all know that from personal experience. (Hebrews 11:39 - 40) Anybody can trust God in ministry when things are going great. Big deal!
Real faith is developed in the valley of ministry, when the situation looks impossible, when the people look hopeless, when the tide has turned again you, and when you're tempted to ask yourself , "Why is this happening to me?" This is a test!
Faith is trusting that if you don't get it, God has a better idea—a far, far better idea. In Abraham's case, it took God five more years to reveal the better idea, but He did. And don't you think there were some real questions during those five years?
Faith is trusting even if you don't get it.
"Without faith it is impossible to please God."
If you are not ministering in faith, then you're not pleasing God, and if you're not ministering in faith, then you're ministering in sin.
Application…How will that change your priorities and perspectives as you move into this new year?