peace . love . joy

Ministry sure is fun! Especially in the "joining" stage where you want to be everywhere doing everything! You want to be on stage in the worship team, you want to be behind the scenes folding the bulletins, you want to be up in the AV room controlling the microphones and slides, you want to teach the younger ones about God.. Really exciting stuff!

Then someone comes along and advises you to think it through, to really seek God and His direction for your life, to ask His instruction on where you should head at the moment, and most of all, that someone gently warns you about spreading yourself too thinly, about serving in too many ministries, about burning out. Almost like cold rain on your parade.

I don't know about God's specific instruction for each one of you reading this post. I don't know if it is His will that you serve in only one ministry, or if you should serve in many. I don't know the intricacies of your individual design, your blueprint as God made you.

But I will say this:
wherever God leads you to, however the situations, whomever you meet, whatever area you end up serving in,
never neglect God.

Some people start off well, with them in the passenger seat and God in the driver's, cruising down the road of service in preparation for His Kingdom, for His glory and to bestow honour and praise to Him. But somewhere along the line, they've switched places with God in the car, and even further sometimes, even kicking God out of the car! They serve people without God leading them on. They are people who serve because they were told to serve, whether by people or by God at the beginning, but have lost sight of their direction, lost sight of the reason, lost sight of God.

I'll let you in on something:
service is a neutral term for a neutral thing.
It is the service for whom that really matters because that person or entity dictates the actual act that constitutes the service.
Serving in ministry pleases God if and only if it is done for God and with God.
Serving without a genuine desire to please and to love, this coming (usually) from an understanding of some sort of the character and the works of God, I would venture to be meaningless even. This kind of service is empty. I probably would not go so far as to say that that angers God, but I would say that it most definitely displeases Him, and to some extent hurt Him.

How then, you ask, does one keep serving in full consciousness that it is for the Lord?

The answer is a simple, but not so simple one.
Simple to say, but not so simple to actually do.
Serve with the Lord.

Seek His counsel and presence. Do not stray from Him. In an excited moment, in a downcast and dreary one, do not walk or run and lose your way. Hold His hand and clench it tightly to your breast. Ask Him and speak to Him as often as you can manage. Remind yourself and walk daily with Him.

"Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!"
~ 1 Chronicles 16:11

Sometime we feel bogged down, or drained for whatever reasons. Sometimes we get so excited we charge ahead and pause only to pray for God to bless what we have planned, only to end up feeling disheartened and tired. Sometimes God speaks very clearly and instructs you on what you are to do in that instance, but sometimes God sits back and lets you choose which way you want to act. Choose wisely and when unsure, ask. Ask God, ask other believers.

Ministry for God should draw you closer to Him with you realising that you need to lean on Him, you need Him to serve.. Well, Him! In ministry, especially those that require servants to give and give, to pour oil into others' cups, without expecting much for mutual return, it can sometimes be as though you were a sponge squeezed dry and laid out in the sun to bake. That is why you must daily walk with God. Take a turn around the garden, just you and God. Let Him pour His oil into your cup. Let Him fill you so that you may go and fill others. Draw your strength from Him for His oil never runs dry. Praise and thank God for that!

And most importantly, obey Him. If He calls you to wait, don't stubbornly plough ahead just because you think it right for sometimes your intentions are noble, and your actions are good, but the timing is just not right. You have no way of seeing this, but God sees. Trust in His perfect timing and wait. If He calls you to take a break, to take a turn with Him around the room, grab a kitkat and rest in His presence. Take a step back, spend some concentrated one-on-one time with Him. If He calls you away to another ministry, do not be burdened by fear and uncertainty, choosing to cling and linger in a comfortable pasture. Go.

Never spend a day without the Lord for it is one of the surest paths to forgetting about Him, forgetting about His big plan for your life, and forgetting to keep an ear open to the smaller directions He injects as we go from day to day, moment to moment.

"Even youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
~ Isaiah 40:30-31

Now go and serve.
Serve the Good Lord.
Serve with the Good Lord.

Remember not to leave His side.
And remember to daily draw oil from the One whose well never dries out.

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies - in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

~ 1 Peter 4: 10-11